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Technology promises rapid and profound change. Figureheads need to ensure progress is thoughtful and supported by skills, according to Lisa Trickey: an LGA advisor and former Dorset Council digital head

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It’s 2035.

Quantum computing is now available to organisations and artificial intelligence is ubiquitous. Through the convergence of technologies such as robotics, sensors and biotech, new products have emerged. These innovations have radically changed health and social care. Public sector services are joined up with shared identity management across central and local government. This has enabled councils to truly reimagine the services they provide with new delivery models enabled through technology.

As individuals this has helped us to:

• buy back time and capacity to invest in human relationships
• spend time developing our skills and knowledge
• do the activities we value and matter to us most.

In an alternative future scenario, the digital divide has deepened, poor decisions have broken trust and confidence in public services, customer satisfaction is at an all-time low and there are many stories of public sector technology project failures.

We must ensure we create the right future – and that requires digital leadership.

Curiosity and kindness
For over a decade, I’ve been developing digital skills at Dorset Council. This has included building the technical aptitude needed to adopt new toolsets to increase efficiency and collaboration, through to understanding and visualising the experience a customer has with a service, and what is meant by digital accessibility. 

Effective digital leadership became a priority to shift the work of the team from tactical service-based interventions to a more systemic approach across the council.

What do I mean by digital leadership?

There’s still a tendency to associate digital leadership exclusively with digital and technology professionals.

Digital leadership requires thinking, behaving and acting in a way that enables teams to navigate continuous change and leverage technology in a safe, ethical and sustainable way. It means focusing on people and conversation to understand problems and create richer experiences and human connections. It involves leading with positive energy, curiosity, bravery and kindness. Combined, these things foster trust and hope, leading to community and followership both inside and outside an organisation.

Digital leadership offers a more sustainable way to deliver change, helping to build inclusive workplaces and a culture of learning, directly addressing recruitment and retention challenges.

Profound change
A senior local government leader recently said to me that “micro behaviours really matter when it comes to creating psychological safety and a learning culture”, all of which is crucial for enabling change. Today, we are witnessing accelerated change, particularly evident in the rapid evolution of AI over the past couple of years.

AI adoption in the workforce is inevitable. Jobs will change as profoundly as they did with the internet, but with the pace much faster. Government investment in AI aims to drive economic growth by augmenting the workplace and working alongside automation. This, coupled with good service design, would contribute to responding to our capacity challenges as a sector.  

I have learned from experience that managers and leaders have a direct impact on outcomes. To harness the opportunities of digital technology, a change is required in how we think, behave, and approach learning so that it is continuous.

The Blueprint for modern digital government sets out a long-term ambition for the public sector with local government mentioned throughout. It includes a digital first operating model, the redesign of services and the use of AI.

It’s good to see the Blueprint recognising the skills and capability challenge across three areas: cyber, digital and technology professionals; the whole workforce; and managers and leaders.

Managers and leaders have a key role in ensuring digital is an integral part of strategies, plans and organisational narrative. No longer can we afford to work in service silos. We need to collaborate and create much wider networks and ecosystems, to utilise the potential of AI and other technology responsibly.  We need to complement traditional leadership theory and practice with new thinking and behaviours to create modern leaders who can operate effectively in a digital AI-enabled world. Where this is already happening, we need to recognise and learn from those people who are prepared to do things differently.

In the environment we now operate in, we need digital and technology experts to be involved in shaping strategy and policy to help organisations to understand problems and possible ways of solving them. The Blueprint refers to this expertise as a digital leader and requires one at a senior level in all public sector organisations. Identifying those people that can help the organisation is crucial. If you are a chief executive – seek them out, allow them to be heard, help to amplify their voice, or figure out if you have a gap.

Councils are very good at responding to change and are often the innovators of the public sector. With local government reorganisation imminent, there is an opportunity to reconsider how we design and deliver digitally enabled councils.

At the Local Government Association (LGA), we have been championing digital leadership for some time. We have examples of great digital leadership across the local government sector, however, our workforce survey in 2022 found that 57% of councils identified a skills gap for mangers and leaders to support digitalisation and the use of technology.

To support the sector, we recently ran digital leadership training for over 250 senior leaders in ‘non-digital’ roles. The challenge is that there are around 8,000 more who are likely to benefit from similar training. This means exploring different ways to deliver affordably at scale. 

This year, we worked with Apolitical to trial a first of its kind programme in local government ‘unlocking digital excellence’ aimed at senior managers. Learner demand far exceeded expectations.

We are also working with SOLACE to incorporate digital leadership as part of its  leadership programmes, including sessions to help leaders increase cyber resilience in their organisations in line with the governments new cyber governance code of practice.

Permission and support
Local government managers and leaders face many challenges and pressures. Our  AI use cases demonstrate what AI can offer to councils if used purposefully and responsibly. But our State of the Sector AI survey from 2024 identified 72% of councils that feel partially or entirely unready for adopting AI. Direct experience of using AI and awareness of our own biases is vital when it comes to AI governance and decision-making.

Councils are very good at responding to change and are often the innovators of the public sector.

However, digital maturity, investment and skills varies significantly across councils. With local government reorganisation imminent, there is an opportunity to reconsider how we design and deliver digitally enabled councils that serve digitally empowered communities.

To help councils understand the type of skills required to deliver the change we need, we published a Cyber, Digital and Technology skills and capability framework to assist workforce planning. Many councils are already using apprenticeships to help with the skills gap.

It is how I started my career. I’ve since used apprenticeships to develop a digital pipeline of talent, people into leadership roles, and establish new roles such as service design.

Learning is one lever of change that leaders can pull. Never has there been more of an imperative for leaders to give permission and support for the development of digital skills, digital leadership, and to ensure we have the right cyber, digital and technology professional skills across the sector.

We can all help to create the right future.