Digital Strategy 2022-2025

Workstream 5: Creating a digital culture across the Council

Digital is more than just technology or even having central digital and IT teams who work to improve systems and processes. Digital is about people as much as technology. It is both a corporate culture and an individual mindset, giving the ability for everyone to incorporate technology into their daily roles and take value from it and creating the conditions for genuine organisational transformation to occur.

It is important that all our people have a digital mindset and that the Council has a digital culture. We have a good track record in this and we are seeking to build on our progress to further embed digital leadership and user-focussed thinking, as well as giving our people the knowledge and skills they need to make the best use of new and existing systems.

We will continue to learn from others and will share our learning across the Mid-Kent Service partnership and in the wider public sector and digital community.

The intended outcomes for this workstream are:

• We have a visible and shared organisational vision of digital and what it takes to be a digital Council
• Our shared ICT team and Maidstone-only Transformation and Digital teams work together and with individual services to deliver true digital change
• The principles of the Local Digital Declaration are fully integrated into our decision-making around systems and digital issues
• Our people have the digital skills, knowledge and confidence they need to do their jobs
• All of our staff understand services don’t stay still, and constantly look for opportunities to improve service delivery
• Our senior managers are fully committed to and personify a digital mindset

To achieve this we will:

• Ensure digital is reflected in our current review of organisational culture
• Make sure communication and training is a key part of our roll-out of Microsoft 365
• Strengthen our guidance and support for teams when they procure ICT systems 99
• Work in the open across the Council to ensure all teams understand the improvements and innovation going on across the Council and how this could benefit their services
• Improve senior manager understanding of the Local Digital Declaration
• Identify, train and upskill a number of officers across the organisation, allowing them to support colleagues with IT systems and how to get the best out of the technology available to them
• Roll out refresher training on user-focussed service design
• Create and constantly review a roadmap of corporate technology and digital projects so our people can easily understand what is coming up and what this means for them