An excerpt from the Growing capability chapter of the State of the NSW Public Sector Report 2019, published by the Public Service Commission.
Digital government involves more than using the latest technology and software applications. It means going back to first principles: focusing on user needs and figuring out the best way to meet them. Digital capability requires a shift in mindset, to think about problems creatively and solve them based on the perspectives of customers and users while also harnessing the best tools and technologies.
The Public Service Commission is collaborating with the NSW Department of Customer Service to assess the maturity of the sector, and develop and implement a plan to ensure that NSW has a digitally capable, world-class public service. As a starting point, the PSC consulted with a diverse group of digital practitioners from across the sector, via interviews, design workshops, and drop-in sessions in Sydney and regionally.
This discovery phase found varying levels of digital maturity and a strong demand to improve digital capabilities. There are pockets of excellence in the sector, such as Transport for NSW’s Digital Accelerator, which encourages collaboration between the public and private sectors on future transport issues. Another example is the digital learning programs delivered by the Health Education and Training Institute NSW. However, the sector as a whole is not digital by default in all its functions.
The PSC worked with a group of representatives from the sector to co-design a digital capability set. The capability set, which will form the basis of learning pathways for digital learning in the sector, features six capabilities:
- Customer at the centre: The concept of customers at the centre is about putting people at the heart of processes and outcomes.
- Collaboration and agility: One of the most defining changes in the modern workplace can be captured by the idea of fluid collaboration across boundaries and hierarchies. Intentional collaboration creates many opportunities for team members and stakeholders to ensure clear alignment on outcomes, and change course when needed.
- Data, decisions and ethics: The use of big data represents significant opportunities to optimise service delivery, target operations meaningfully and increase efficiency. Data is also an asset with many layers of complex sensitivities across areas relating to security, privacy and ethics.
- Ideas to impact: This capability set draws on entrepreneurial, ‘lean’ operating models designed to deliver fast results with minimum waste.
- Enabling technology: Change is constant, and new technologies are ever evolving. While the sector cannot be aware of every new start-up, a digital mindset should put the sector in a position to identify and prioritise current and emerging technologies that will help deliver better outcomes to customers.
- Digital leadership: Digital ways of working and technology have the potential to advance the way government services are delivered. To make this a reality, the sector needs strong digital leadership. Leadership that transforms work, culture and mindsets to ensure the public system operates effectively in a digital way.
Some of these capabilities – such as collaboration, customer-centricity, and values and ethics – are discussed elsewhere in the State of the Public Sector report, as they are already part of the way the sector works. Connecting and reframing these core capabilities in the digital context underpins the Premier’s Priority for a world-class public service.
The PSC plans to refine these capabilities and test learning pathways to develop them with various project teams across the sector. Capability uplift will be evaluated and will form part of an evidence base to support decisions on digital learning at scale. The aim will be to ensure that any digital capability uplift program is feasible, compatible, sustainable and relevant.
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