By Edgardo Mosqueira and Miguel Porrúa
The COVID-19 context has put on the table of those who make policy decisions some questions that are repeated in most countries: What will help us reactivate the economy? What will help rebuild the trust of citizens in the states? What will allow the state to do more with less? And the answer repeatedly includes digital transformation.
With all our hopes for digital transformation, we cannot risk its success. However, there is a key element that seems to have been worryingly forgotten: human capital. As we discuss in the new IDB book, Digital Transformation and Public Employment: The Future of Government Work, the region’s digital transformation agendas typically include no more than a passing reference to the topic of human capital. On the other hand, civil service plans, where they exist, do not contemplate in depth the implications of digital transformation for human capital management.
Digital transformation and data
Does this divorce matter? The data suggests that yes, we are not well prepared to face the human capital challenges that digital transformation brings. Here are some facts:
- 64% of the 718 Latin American public managers we surveyed have participated in the last five years in a technology project that suffered difficulties due to lack of skills of the responsible personnel
- 51% of managers acknowledge having a severe or very severe deficit of data analysis skills in their teams, while 40% identify a lack of preparation around programming and software development issues
- 67% of managers believe that the resistance to change of officials constitutes a problematic or very problematic obstacle for the implementation of reforms that, such as digital transformation, can eliminate and at the same time create new tasks and roles within an organization
- Lack of skills was the leading cause of failure of Financial Management Information Systems projects around the world in the last 30 years – and resistance to change was the second.
Public servants are always said to be the state’s greatest asset. And it’s true. How do we prepare them for digital transformation?
Actions and Recommendations
Based on our research and the experience developed in executing digital transformation projects, we recommend four sets of actions:
1. Strengthen the mechanisms for attracting and retaining specialized digital talent.
Clearly, digital transformation requires governments to have digital talent. But at present, there is a general shortage of the necessary profiles. To attract and retain specialized digital talent, we recommend taking actions both to expand the supply of talent in the market and to improve the capacity of the state to attract it. For example, to create more technical and faster recruitment processes; and to offer different types of employment (short, medium and long term).
2. Invest in massive digital training.
Everyone will need training, for one reason or another: (i) digital specialists, to keep their skills up to date; (ii) institutional leaders, to familiarize them with digital transformation and help them visualize how it fits with the work of their institution; (iii) officials whose jobs have been modified or eliminated as a result of the digital transformation, to help them adapt to their new roles; and (iv) all officials, to encourage the use of the new technological tools that your institution has an increasing openness to future changes.
3. Create mechanisms to handle disruptions to work generated by digital transformation.
Digital transformation modifies many roles in the public sector and even eliminates some. To make the reforms viable, it’s important to contemplate adaptation actions that go beyond training: we must start with a diagnosis of which roles will be susceptible to change through digital transformation and expand internal mobility options to facilitate the relocation of officials whose roles were eliminated. This process cannot be carried out successfully without a change management plan with the necessary elements of information, participation, communication and training.
4. Ensure the joint work of those responsible for digital transformation, human talent management and budget management.
The digital government authority knows what changes are coming and what functions will be affected; Human resource managers know who public servants are, their competencies, and the options for training and mobility; and budget makers know the fiscal space available to fund recruitment, training, and other structural changes. Although it is not common to see all these actors collaborating on a shared agenda, this change must face the complex challenge of the digital transformation of the public sector.
In another era, we could think of digital government and public employment as two issues with separate agendas, but reality shows that it is necessary to connect both agendas for the success of the government’s digital transformation and what this implies for our countries.
Do you want to know why governments need to train public servants and invest in digital talent to drive digital transformation? Download the IDB publication and learn more here.
The original version of this blog was published in Spanish by the Inter-American Development Bank .
