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The rapid changes of the digital age, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data, are not just a set of tools, or something that public sector leaders can leave to their technology departments – they represent a fundamental change in how the public sector can operate.
Local government leaders have always needed to think creatively to solve complex problems and deliver public value to their communities – across the myriad of functions that they peform.
Shifting to a digital mindset can open up new possibilities for governments – at a time where they are being asked to do more with less – but only if tech is used to serve the broader purposes of the organisation.

Eddie Copeland, is the founding Director of the London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI), the UK capital’s local government innovation team, which helps Greater London’s 33 boroughs to use innovation, data and technology collaboratively to solve problems.
He warns that governments need to see technology as a tool, but one that won’t fix problems on its own. Leaders need to set clear goals about how they want to deliver services to their communities, he says.
“We refuse to use the terms data-driven and technology-driven because it makes leaders think the technology and the data should tell them what to do. No, it’s the role of leadership teams to set the destination and find a path there using all the tools available to them,” Mr Copeland said.
“Step number one is to think about the outcome you’re trying to get to. Which specific people do you want to be better off in which specific ways because you acted?
“Because if you cannot name anyone – whether it is your staff or residents – who can do anything differently no matter how much information we give them, then data is not the enabler of your solution here.”
He said that local governments could be innovators and were a natural laboratory for experimentation because they “lacked the the political egos” of other tiers of government.
This article shows how Brisbane City Council regulators are using ‘regtech’ to do their work more effectively and deliver services to their community, while maintaing human ethical
oversight.
Mr Copeland said that governments needed to undertake basic work to ‘fix the plumbing’
before they would see benefits from data.
“What we have learned a lot is the critical bit of fixing the plumbing is to get your
information governance right. It doesn’t sound cool, but it is transformational.
“Engaging your information governance or your data protection lead from the design and conception stages of projects, can turn them from being a perceived blocker to an enabler of the things you want to do.”
Mr Copeland will be presenting a two-hour Masterclass, How to use data to make better
decisions, as part of ANZSOG’s upcoming Leading with a digital mindset: a Public
Leadership Masterclass series, a series of two-hour masterclasses which will explore how
digital, data and AI are changing public leadership and unlock tools, strategies, and mindsets for navigating the new techscape.
The series consists of five linked two-hour masterclasses by different presenters that will
introduce participants to new ideas and deepen their understanding of how digital, data and AI is changing public leadership and unlock tools, strategies, and mindsets for navigating the new techscape.
As well as the use of Data the series covers: Reimagining Leadership in the Digital Age,
Systems Thinking for Complex Problems, Digital Lessons from the Private Sector, and
Transforming Decisions with AI.

ANZSOG Practice Fellow, Martin Stewart-Weeks, is leading the masterclass on Reimagining
Leadership in the Digital Age and says that government leaders need to think differently
about how they practice leadership.
“There are some fundamental values and practices of good public leadership and effective
public administration that won’t change, but so much else about good public leadership
needs to be thought of, and practiced, quite differently.”
“It’s about how leaders wrangle the new tools and capabilities of the digital age ‘for good
and for all’”
ANZSOG’s Public Leadership Masterclass series are designed to re-energise and educate hard-working and passionate emerging and current government leaders and expose them to fresh ideas. The format is structured to allow for reflection and discussion with your
counterparts from across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
They are a perfect way for teams to get a deeper understanding of what other organisations are doing and a new perspective on their own challenges, while improving their ability to think strategically.
Mr Copeland says that governments using their own data well can unlock a cascade
of improvement in public services.
“They can make much more informed decisions about the technology they need and
they can reimagine their public services in the process. So, data is a great entry
point for bigger transformation in government organisations,” he said.