Canada’s Digital Government Journey
Honey Dacanay
Two panels from KC Green’s “On Fire.” Photo: KC Green
Sir Michael Barber, How to Run a Government
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Retrospective Time
STOP
STOP
Taking employee experience for granted
- 1 - Attracting
- 2 - Recruiting
- 3 - Onboarding
- 4 - Retention
- 5 - Development
- 6 - Offboarding
14
I met a public servant who told me I could help make government services that �people rely on simpler and easier to use.
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1 - Attracting
It takes 6-8 months from the day I make a verbal offer to get someone through the door. And they last here less than 2 years.
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2 - Recruiting
I spend all day just fighting to get to the work. Everything involves a long process, even just getting software I need for my job.
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3 - Onboarding
Apparently following the process and doing the paperwork is what’s considered rigorous and important. It trumps �shipping a good product that people need.
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4 - Retention
I have stopped advising developers to begin their careers in government. To do so is to become unemployable anywhere else.
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5 - Development
One year in and I had not shipped anything. All I learned about was process. And when I quit, I was told I just could not tough it out.
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6 - Offboarding
- 1 - Attracting
- 2 - Recruiting
- 3 - Onboarding
- 4 - Retention
- 5 - Development
- 6 - Offboarding
21
STOP
Working �non-stop
I worked 15-hour days, 7 days a week for 8 straight months. I was told to ‘take time off to not burn out’ but there was nobody else to do the work and so I just kept working.
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STOP
Losing sight of the long game
Our executive champion left, and it’s like they have been erased from history and we had to start from square one and explain what ‘digital’ meant. How did we not plan for this?
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Obviously I was always impressed by the digital team. But I did wonder if they were ever going to make the rest of government work better.
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?
START
START
Closing the gap between rhetoric and reality
Show me your budget or your org chart …
Policy
Infrastructure
Incentives
Talent
Service experience
Does it look like this?
Talent
Policy
Infrastructure
Service experience
Incentives
START
Tackling the structural issues
How we measure performance
Our entire team has to fill out those MAF templates and make sure our scores are good. Otherwise, our director gets a phone call from someone higher up.
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How we recruit senior digital leaders
Even if I want to stay in government and lead a team, I don’t qualify. Based on the job ads, what I bring to the table will not be what they are looking for, let alone value.
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How central agencies show up
How line departments show up
We asked [the central agencies] for leaner governance and what we got instead was a playbook with principles (AKA buzzwords) and some mandatory training.
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START
Showing up differently
The words �we choose
A talent for speaking differently, rather than for arguing well, is the chief instrument of cultural change.
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How we lead
Autonomy
Alignment
Actual, not symbolic, empowerment
People are nice and supportive in general, but they are so non-committal. I feel like my full-time job is to help people remember to trust themselves again.
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CONTINUE
CONTINUE Building communities
It feels so validating to hear others from all over going through the same things that we did, and we’re all able to help each other get through common challenges.
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CONTINUE Forging new relationships
I have to admit I was skeptical at first about the idea of two teams from different departments and functional areas working together, but now I can’t ever go back.
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CONTINUE
Developing more leaders
As I look back on my career, my only regret is not promoting people quickly enough in my own organization, or setting them up for a promotion elsewhere.
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A couple of �final thoughts
1 - Own the awkward�(We’re sorry)
2 - We’re still at our first phase
Sir Michael Barber, How to Run a Government
Phase 1: Do things differently
�Phase 2: Do different things
Canada’s Digital Government Journey
Honey Dacanay