Your persona
Well done for taking the next step towards excellence in digital strategy and working practices. Perhaps you’re working in a context where digital strategy is evolving or is as yet undefined. You may be less familiar with agile practice or techniques, or perhaps agile is currently less used in your work — it won’t apply to every project or initiative. However, the agile mindset is arguably beneficial and transferable to most professional contexts, and similarly, while some digital tools and technologies may be more or less useful and usable than others, the chances are you’re already embedding some in your general ways of working.
As someone in a leadership position, this is an opportunity to develop your skills and competencies in this area and support those you lead in their own upskilling. You can guide your team and department more effectively in the evolving digital landscape by systematically improving your understanding of digital strategy, agile working, and digital working.
Build your skills and knowledge
Study and understand your government's digital strategy by reviewing official documents, publications, or attending government briefings. Identify key objectives and priorities.
Digital Services Inventory: Create an inventory of your department's digital services. Document their purpose, user base, and key performance indicators (KPIs).
Culture of Adaptability: Advocate for a culture of adaptability and flexibility in your department, emphasising the need for continuous learning, experimentation, and agility in the face of digital transformation.
Agile Principles: Explore the key principles that underpin the agile mindset, including customer collaboration, responding to change, and delivering working solutions regularly.
Drive a culture of iteration and continuous improvement in your department. This could involve encouraging your team to review their work regularly and to make improvements based on feedback. Set an example - ask for feedback and plan to iterate on your own work.
Digital Transformation Culture: Create a culture that supports teams in achieving their digital transformation objectives. Encourage open communication, experimentation, and learning from failures.
Digital Tools Evaluation: Stay informed about emerging digital tools and technologies relevant to your team's needs. Periodically assess and evaluate these tools for potential adoption.
Lead the implementation of digital communication tools that enhance team collaboration and productivity. Ensure that your team is trained to use these tools effectively.
Create a community of practice
Share this assessment with peers. Create a community of practice where you can discuss your outcomes and strategise which priorities might align with ongoing initiatives and objectives.
Think carefully about your network or who you work with. Can you identify anyone who might be a source of information or inspiration for further developing your knowledge, skills and abilities in this area? An informal chat about their work could help bring the context to life.
Digital Strategy and Working is a common Q&A topic on Apolitical. If you feel you can support the community, consider responding to what’s been posted. You can learn from peers, but it’s also a great way to build empathy with colleagues at different positions and levels. For example, does How can you get senior management buy-in for a digital-first project? resonate?
Keep exploring
Apolitical hosts events with thought leaders discussing a variety of topics, including many focusing on digital work and strategy. Keep an eye out for what’s upcoming, and in the meantime, you can catch up on recordings from past events, such as: An introduction to change management.
You might feel ready to dive into a piece of structured learning. Our Digital Transformation in the Public Sector course could be an excellent place to start.
Take some time to explore Apolitical’s community articles, and consider engaging with the article creator by using the comment function. What is Agile working? could be a good place to start.
If you’re looking for inspiration for structured skill development, take a look at our Learning Plans where we have stitched together disparate educational resources into rich, diverse, cohesive and enlightening learning journeys.
What's next?
Not sure if this is the right persona for you? This diagnostic and its suggested outcome have been designed for illustrative purposes and may not reflect your level of awareness or competency.
Find a guide to the statements covered plus the scenario questions here: Digital Self-Assessment and Scenario Summaries.
Explore the other personae using the links below:
Leadership:Digital Explorer, Digital Consolidator, Digital Trailblazer
Non-Leadership:Digital Explorer, Digital Consolidator, Digital Trailblazer
⬅️ Government Skills Impact Tracker | Digital and Data Skills Hub ➡️