How the 20 “R words” inform the future of tech leadership in local government

As the pandemic began to wane, and the basic routines of life and work became more predictable, many realized that past pressures—the long endless hours that blurred time and day was clearly unsustainable which led to what has been called, the “great resignation.” Those in government technology were not exempt from the daily pressures of keeping all the tech running safely in a 24/7 mobile environment. In fact, many where on the front lines of what has been referred to as the “great pivot of 2020” where suddenly government IT had to pivot an entire enterprise within days towards a mostly remote work setting. In 2022, IT tech leaders witnessed first-hand the great resignation, where many highly trained and experience-rich staff were simply burnt out and left for greener pastures.

Having spent this past year speaking with tech leaders around the country—both large and small, city and county—led to the following list. Beginning with the great resignation the list grew from four in 2020 to no less than 20 considerations today. Hopefully this list can lead to a greater understanding both in terms of obstacles to be overcome as well as opportunities from which to exploit. When combined, they help to describe the future of tech leadership in local government.

Retirement and resignation
The aging of the public workforce has been an issue of concern over the last decade, but the post-pandemic environment provided the opportunity to reflect (another “R” word) and reassess their values and decide it was indeed time to retire. The pandemic helped accelerate latent plans.

Naturally, the need for skilled IT professionals has never been greater. Local governments are struggling to come up with innovative ways to attract talent such as four-day work weeks, flexible hours, working from home several days a week or more, or try and appeal to the value of public service for the common good and serve as an invaluable training experience for the future.

Retention
Between retirement and recruitment, nothing is more important than keeping qualified staff. This is where public managers struggle to offer IT employees greater professional development opportunities and workplace flexibility. Unfortunately, many local governments have reverted to past civil service mentality of the past and stymie innovative and successful ways to retain staff.

Reform
One of the reasons for the success of IT leadership in its initial response to the pandemic was the need to suspend cumbersome rules and provide drastically more workplace flexibility. Agile became the new normal, at least temporarily. Not only was the great pivot a great success, worker productivity dramatically increased. Today, many local governments are demanding workers return to work as before, emergency procurement rules have evaporated, and workers find themselves working under universal “everyone must be treated the same”—the civil service common denominator. This one-size fits all approach is antiquated and inhibits innovation. Even conditions such as providing functional (professional) titles that reflect the actual skills one uses is often not permitted. Many qualified network engineers find themselves tuck with titles (classifications) such as Tech 1, Tech 2, etc. While civil service job classifications serve a useful purpose, functional titles go a long way in providing a more accurate description of what one does and instills greater professional pride and recognition. Across the board incremental raises is another problem, where IT professionals can make up to 5X more in the private sector, yet when it comes to raises typically everyone gets the same percentage. Given the highly competitive marketplace, IT staff should have its own pay schedule and incentives package that is at least competitive with the private sector.

Refocus
The post-pandemic environment provided an excellent opportunity to refocus on the roles and responsibilities for IT leaders and managers. IT leaders have gone back and re-prioritized their core focus and have found innovative ways to decentralize some functionality by providing operating departments with more flexibility and ownership—thus allowing IT to refocus its resources on cyber-related issues as well as connectivity and network integrity.

Regain, rebound and re-imagine
Many local government technology leaders complained over time how they felt the role of IT was being diminished and taken for granted. Some lamented that the role of the CIO was looked upon as being the chief infrastructure officer whose main responsibility was merely to keep the network running and keeping the lights on. Post-pandemic thinking has dramatically changed how IT is viewed and has experienced new-found and well-deserved respect. Clearly IT has regained control of its original enterprise mission as its reputation has rebounded. The pandemic provided a time for reflection and the strategic thinking or as some call re-imagining the various roles of IT from the CIO on down. Here the underlying principle is what should we keep and what can be done differently?

Reinforce
Given the rise in cyber-attacks, especially during the pandemic, tech leaders have had to double-down their efforts and reinforce cybersecurity awareness. During this period, many new vulnerabilities were exploited due to off premise remote work environments, often put together in less-than-ideal conditions to satisfy the need for a quick and immediate shift to remote work. Despite the best cyber defenses, 80 percent of cyber incidents tie back to individuals. Cybersecurity requires continual programs and information aimed at reinforcing the importance of employee online behavior.

Retreat and re-engage
During the pandemic, many new hires had never met their supervisors in person while others simply lost the in-person human touch that virtual meeting simply can’t replace. We have all learned that as human creatures most of us crave human interaction -despite all the advances in technology. This does not mean we must all go back to the pre-pandemic office environment, but many tech leaders are hosting in-person retreats to foster better interpersonal relations, teambuilding and just plain old comradery.

Reassess, recertify and reinvest
In many IT shops, the pandemic exposed weaknesses or gaps in essential tech and leadership skills. Experiencing such gaps first-hand, IT leaders have developed strategic plans to provide training and retraining opportunities to address the gaps. IT leaders have also shared their concern that numerous IT staff have not kept current with their technical certifications, which is also being addressed—the requirement to maintain and keep current all certifications. IT leaders are actively seeking ways and resources to reinvest in their staff as both a better way to manage as well as an inducement for greater employee satisfaction.

Re-engineer
The pandemic fostered a renewed sense of innovation best defined as reviewing current practices towards process improvement for the near future. The post pandemic environment requires the rethinking of how we accomplish basic and mission critical tasks through the appropriate use of technology. For many, the pandemic hastened the move towards cloud-based solutions. For others, it meant moving towards a comprehensive citizen-facing customer experience, while for still others, it meant IT modernization, acknowledging that digital government is here to stay.

Reward and recognition
In the corporate world, there are monetary rewards for achievement and exceptional work. The public sector expresses its gratitude quite differently. Few public organizations are equipped with the means to offer monetary rewards regardless of contribution. However, there are other ways such as seeking out and entering external awards and recognition from tech publishers and nonprofit organizations like CompTIA PTI. At least being recognized is a huge morale booster which leads to greater employee satisfaction and retention. As they say, “if you can’t get a raise, get recognized.”

Return
It all started with the headline grabbing great resignation that was circulating throughout the media these past few years. Employees were leaving their jobs in alarming numbers having survived the pandemic but were seeking a renewal in their personal and work-related values. The public sector suffered as well and for many of the same reasons as their private sector counterparts. But as time passed a surprising number are either going back to their original workplaces or seeking similar positions in neighboring local governments. Some are only willing to work remotely or at the very least in a hybrid environment and others are simply seeking a change in venue and perhaps culture.

Tech leaders have confided that working from home was getting old. They felt that they missed the physical boundaries between work and home life. Others who retired say that they loved what they were doing, just not full-time. This leads to a great opportunity—perhaps seeking out recently retired tech professionals and offer them part-time slots? Instead of one unfilled full-time position, perhaps that responsibility could be better served by having two part-time professionals? Perhaps all of this could be summed up that could lead to “The Great Return.”

Dr. Alan R. Shark is the vice president public sector and executive director of the CompTIA Public Technology Institute (PTI) in Washington D.C. since 2004. He is a fellow of the National Academy for Public Administration and chair of the Standing Panel on Technology Leadership. He is an associate professor for the Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University, and is course developer/instructor at Rutgers University Center for Government Services. He is also the host of the popular bi-monthly podcast, Comptia Sharkbytes. Dr. Shark’s thought leadership activities include keynote speaking, blogging and Sharkbytes. He is the author or co-author of more than 12 books including the nationally recognized textbook “Technology and Public Management,” as well as “CIO Leadership for Cities and Counties.”