Tag: CIO

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Civic Engagement Local Government Public Engagement

Public Engagement and the CIO

(This is a reprint of a blog post contributed to PublicInput.com)

CIOs and IT see a greater role in public engagement

Modern-day government is adding democracy to their list of CIO priorities. In the 2020 State CIO Survey conducted by the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO), “Digital services and emerging technologies” took over as the #1 priority replacing cyber security which had held that spot for four years. While CIO/IT engagement with citizens has addressed many public policy areas, those exchanges were never as critical as in their new role that began in March 2020.

When COVID-19 struck, public officials retreated from conventional public engagement practices for the health and safety of themselves and for the members of their communities. Despite this, the imperative for local governments to remain open and continue dialog with residents and facilitate their participation in deliberations remained –particularly in times of crises

Many local governments were unprepared technologically and procedurally for a seamless transition from conventional, in-person meetings to virtual ones. As a result, the circumstances propelled by the pandemic set the stage for an incredible transformation in the IT government space.

CIOs and their teams became the central government employees in public meetings. They were the architects and managers to build and at times run the platforms for public bodies and the public to virtually connect and collaborate.

The expanding CIO role is being recognized by government leaders who are realizing their value beyond traditional technologists and as key players and enablers in the future of government-citizen collaboration.

“We have also seen concrete evidence that technology is expected by the general public and important for communicating and engaging at scale.”  CIO quote from NASCIO survey

Leveraging Technology

Most CIOs and IT staff were challenged early on in the pandemic to cobble together multiple technologies to replicate and comply with traditional in-person meetings and requirements.

Today, many have found end-to-end solutions offering the best fit to bring more diversity, equity, inclusion, and meaning to public engagement and decision-making processes.

Expanding the role and influence of CIOs and IT to ensure the government has a secure and manageable platform that improves both the quantity and quality of collaboration with residents offers both an opportunity and a challenge.

In this year’s NASCIO survey, “with responses being collected a full year after the pandemic began, one answer overwhelmingly stood out as the biggest driver for state governments’ need to digitize: ‘better online experience for citizens.’”

A survey from Emerging Local Government Leaders (ELGL) echoed this at the community level. Asked which areas of government where software and technology adoption were made during the pandemic would become permanent, 83% of respondents identified “community engagement.”

What does this new role of “democracy enabler” mean for CIOs and for their departments?

This larger role illustrates the importance of technology solutions to public engagement in governing today. The responsibility to contribute to successful engagement is spread across a broader spectrum of government employees, each contributing their talent to the process.

Public engagement is more than collecting input and feedback from residents. It is a central theme for public institutions to build and rebuild trust among constituents and the opportunity to collect more informed input from subject matter experts in their communities that lead to better decision-making for the whole.

Expect to see an ongoing role for IT as local governments continue to utilize virtual methods along with conventional forms of public engagement to provide residents and public officials with a blended, or hybrid environment that takes advantage of the benefits offered using both formats.

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Local Government Public Engagement

Public Engagement Effectiveness

(This is a reprint of a blog post contributed to PublicInput.com)

Enterprise Public Engagement

Applying enterprise approaches to public engagement helps government increase input and feedback for better decision-making, inclusion, and efficiency.

The IBM Center for The Business of Government connects research to practice in helping to improve government and to assist public sector executives and managers in addressing real-world problems with practical ideas and original thinking to improve government.  The“Seven Drivers Transforming Government” is the culmination of research with current and former government leaders that identifies seven drivers for transforming government in the years to come.

PublicInput is applying a selection of those drivers to interpreting the future of one of the government’s most important success components: public engagement.

Effectiveness

IBM Center for The Business of Government

Applying enterprise approaches to achieve better outcomes, operational efficiency and a leaner government.

Approaches to Engagement

When asked for examples of public engagement, many people may suggest a town hall or council meeting where members of the public are allotted a brief opportunity to provide public comments to their elected officials. Others may point to government initiatives around transportation or environmental projects where governments seek input or feedback from impacted residents.

Few people, if any, suggest an example of public engagement as a 24/7/365 service between the government and their constituents. On the surface, daily engagement sounds like a pretty massive undertaking. Engagement practitioners often wonder, can something like this be accomplished and what benefits can be realized for a government and a community engaged in on-demand collaboration around important policy issues.

The answer is a government with the ongoing goal of being more effective, both in terms of its operations and results.

Effectiveness

Effectivity has been demonstrated through the use of technology across government agencies –known as the adoption of enterprise solutions– to deliver mission-support services seamlessly across program and organizational boundaries.

The Future of Performance

IBM Center for The Business of Government

. . . the future of government performance relies not simply on greater efficiency, but also on increasing capacity to work effectively

How does this apply to public engagement? 

We saw firsthand at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic the critical challenge for state and local agencies to effectively use technology to continue their deliberations with public officials and the community. To continue public meetings in many jurisdictions, it took emergency executive orders, supporting legislation, and a corps of talented and hard-working CIOs and IT departments across the nation. Not only was the government less efficient in carrying out the basic function of public engagement, it was also noted among many jurisdictions and governing bodies as an ineffective way to inform constituents and to solicit input on public issues.

As the pandemic continued, most governing bodies adopted some form of information and/or communication technologies to continue meetings and public engagement, even without the efficiency or effectiveness required or desired. Today, a new era of public engagement and representative democracy is emerging through the use of dedicated public engagement technology platforms.

From these platforms, governments are realizing the benefits of blending virtual and conventional approaches to public engagement that increase and diversify participation. Data collected through the use of new public engagement models to organize and centralize public governance are creating more effective processes that can be realized across multiple departments.

Positive, Significant, & Lasting Change

 

IBM Center for The Business of Government

To achieve positive, significant, and lasting change, government leaders must focus on sound implementation. The focus on implementation involves the meaningful integration of operations across agencies via an enterprise approach.

24/7/365 Engagement

Governments need to consider what an enterprise approach to public engagement could look like with a 24/7/365 public engagement process. It will take a rethinking of how we use technology and how we define public engagement.

It will require the government and the public to change the narrative when it comes to public engagement. Instead of being selective where public participation or comments are sought, the government should be engaging the public on issues in every department every day. This cannot be accomplished without the use of technology solutions. Fortunately, we have the technology capable of enterprise deployment.

Governments must also consider how they can be more effective through more engagement. There is a vast ocean of knowledge among the residents in a community. Many who possess skills and expertise about challenges the government faces every day surrounding public policies would offer their input or feedback if given the right mechanism to contribute to it.

At PublicInput, we agree with those thought leaders who advocate governments should constantly be thinking about how they can tap into the community’s energy and enthusiasm and leverage that with public work being performed by the government on their behalf.

Enterprise Government

 

IBM Center for The Business of Government

. . . enterprise government focuses on mission support and emphasizes streamlining and integration of administrative services, as well as processes and functions that share common elements.

Public engagement can be a shared service —government-wide or department-wide– as a system that can be standardized, produced, and delivered, aligning enterprise approaches with problem-solving. That is, public engagement should look and operate the same across all government sectors and agencies offering governments a centralized, organized, managed, and reported system made more efficient through an enterprise solution.

Government Transformation

IBM Center for the Business of Government

Enterprise approaches that leverage modern management and technology systems and practices can enable progress across the public sector. The evolution of enterprise government can give fresh momentum to improving effectiveness and driving transformation in government. 

Adding “engagement” to public administration along with the basic framework of economy, efficiency, and effectiveness is a principal way of practicing the work of governance with more inclusion and equity creating more informed decision-making.

Categories
Democracy Gov2.0 Governing open data open government Politics Transparency

Embracing Incrementalism: Open Data program managers need excellent peripheral vision

locked

I recently delved into Mark Headd’s insightful blog post, “Don’t Hang Any Pictures,” where he imparts wisdom to those steering open data programs in local governments. He provides a practical list of “Do’s” and “Don’ts,” serving as a compass for smoother and more successful project implementation. As the title suggests, his central advice revolves around avoiding complacency. I’ll add another one: Incrementalism (think tortoise in the “Tortoise and the Hare.)”

In my 13 years of experience within local government, coupled with a career in public administration, I’ve come to recognize the significance of incrementalism. It’s not just a strategy; it’s a way of life within the governmental realm. You can push or pull as much and as hard as you like, but there will be limits in all directions no matter how determined or how gifted you are.  Why do you think they call the government an “institution?”  Regardless of determination or skill, pushing or pulling too hard encounters limitations inherent in the bureaucratic nature of government.

Moving in increments frustrates public administrators, legislators, and citizens. And it’s also deeply woven into the fabric of our democracy. The tension between the desire for swift change and the reality of incremental progress has been a defining characteristic of our government.

While some embrace incrementalism as a key to a successful public sector career, others resist or revolt, leading to premature exits from government service. Others, still, adopt the bureaucratic characteristic of incrementalism to piece together complacent, yet lack-luster careers in government characterized by lowered expectations and initiative, and a don’t-rock-the-boat mentality.

Elected officials face an additional layer of complexity, given the limited timeframe of their terms. Major initiatives, such as community revitalization projects, often span multiple administrations, demanding strategic planning to ensure continuity and dedicated resources over an extended period.

Integrating communication and information technology into government projects, particularly initiatives like opening data to the public, has to be the greatest challenge. Capping the speed and flexibility of electronic information and communication and applying rigid, even restrictive guidelines to its access and content in an environment known for moving slowly.

This challenge is keenly felt by CIOs, CDOs, and MIS professionals tasked with open data initiatives, facing the delicate balance of moving at the right pace, which may not always align with the elected officials’ or the public’s expectations.

Doug Robinson, the director of NASCIO, a boutique national organization of state and territory government CIOS, can attest to the ever-changing landscape of senior leadership positions within top IT positions. The turnover within this role is unparalleled, reflecting the dynamic nature of the challenges they confront.

Headd’s advice to “not get comfortable” and to recognize the temporary nature of public service is a sad reminder. While this may be true in certain cases, government IT professionals should not assume that short tenures are inevitable. Success in one administration can lead to opportunities in another, presenting an opportunity to contribute their knowledge and expertise to new open data challenges.

In conclusion, embracing incrementalism is not a concession to inefficiency but a pragmatic acknowledgment of the intricacies within the governmental machinery. It requires a delicate balance between pushing for progress and respecting the established processes, ensuring that the journey towards open data initiatives is both sustainable and impactful.