How should non-digital leaders work with and lead digital teams?

Throughout the Digital Excellence Programme courses, we are asking learners about their insights to key digital and data issues in government. We’ve summarised the takeaways from these conversations — you can read more.

Key takeaways:

• Technical and non-technical colleagues need a shared language for collaboration
• Communication and culture more important than processes

Everyone agrees that government would work more effectively if different teams and departments coordinated their action more closely. It’s seen as an important enabler for delivering projects and programmes with a large digital component, which is why it’s part of the UK government’s Service Standard and the DDaT essentials for senior leaders.

The more important question is why doesn’t it always happen? And how do you overcome the challenges that make it hard to do?

We asked learners on the Digital Culture course for their perspective.

We started with a quick poll to assess how confident they are in their ability to build and lead cross-functional teams. The majority hovered between ‘somewhat confident’ and ‘quite confident’ (70% in total), which suggests that there is a good level of awareness among non-DDaT leaders of this issue.

We wanted to understand some of the underlying factors that hinder or help leaders, below are some of the key takeaways from the discussion, which included 44 colleagues from 16 different departments.

1. Technical and non-technical colleagues need a shared language for collaboration

Communication recurred as the most prominent issue among learners — some 40% of the answers referenced it. Specifically, there was an emphasis on bridging the gap between the language of technical experts and their non-technical colleagues, to avoid misinterpretation and ensure project requirements are accurately translated. Clarification was also referenced as an important part of good communication — learners said that it’s necessary to verify there is a shared understanding at the outset of a project.

2. Good communication makes shared objectives clearer

Building on the theme of good communication, several learners (around 30%) highlighted the importance of ensuring that there is alignment between the different teams on the objectives of the project or programme. As one learner put it — speaking from an operational perspective — colleagues shouldn’t ignore important differences in the hope that they will disappear.

3. Respecting cultural differences in teams can build trust

The word ‘culture’ cropped up in several responses. Learners acknowledged that each profession operates as a kind of tribe with its distinct culture and norms. Paying careful attention to differences between teams and fostering respect for what each party brings to the table was underlined.

To achieve this, leaders invest their time in building strong relationships, fostering trust and ensuring alignment on objectives and ways of working. Practical ideas included regular check-ins and learning about the specific capabilities of the digital team you might be working with.

The most striking feature of the answers from this discussion is how much they focused on cultural issues – language, communication, relationship-building, understanding and trust – over process issues.

That may present an opportunity for good leaders to take the initiative in reorienting the beliefs and attitudes of their teams when it comes to working with digital colleagues. Even if they don’t have a detailed grasp of how to facilitate that collaboration, just making the case for why it matters could be a powerful step forward.