Province of Noord-Holland – Digitization strategy in one week
The application
The province of North Holland wants to make great strides in digitalisation. This requires a solid strategy for the coming years. But with corona measures, it is not possible to meet physically. So Noord-Holland decided to develop the new digital strategy entirely online and asked Flatland to design, facilitate and visualise that in one compressed week, a pressure cooker.
“Our dot on the horizon is a vision of the future where ‘digital’ is in our DNA,” says Paul Strijp, adviser on new technology and data at Province of Noord-Holland. To get there, a conscious decision was made not to create a single digitisation strategy for the entire group, but a separate strategy for each provincial task.
Different tasks, in other words, but with the same core values and foundation. The province was looking for a way to start working on these issues with many stakeholders, virtually and in a short time.
The solution: a fully catered pressure cooker
With more than 125 people, we worked to formulate all strategies and create a joint digitisation strategy. “On a foundation with blocks like: data in order, ICT services, working differently, room to experiment, security & privacy,” Strijp said. And on top of that, we had to get the tasks, opportunities, different contexts and technologies in focus. That meant quite a job for everyone: to be complete, with room for broadening as well as deepening, and to realise all this in one week. A tight programme and well-prepared facilitation made it a great success.
Each day had a different programme and its own dynamics. The outcomes of the previous day formed the input for the next day, with which new teams set to work. Visual work forms and short pitches ensured that newly engaged people were up-to-speed in no time. Flatland’s visual strategist Simone Heemskerk, together with the province’s digi-strategists, took care not only of the organisation, but also of the content and common threads of the strategy.
Approach
Co-creating with different disciplines delivers a lot
In particular, working with all kinds of diverse colleagues provided a lot of mutual insight and understanding. One was putting people from ICT, data and technology together at (the virtual) table. “When these get talking to each other, the orientation of the technical people naturally broadens – from a traditional focus on business operations to a broader view from the social tasks.”
Result
Apart from a new digitisation strategy, the week also provided some valuable lessons: “It is possible to develop a strategy for the entire group in one week,” Strijp said. “You are amazed at the energy released. Save yourself a process of a year or even longer with sounding board and steering committees. Much more can be done digitally than we sometimes think – especially within the government!”
It proved very valuable to see the strategy being imagined along the way. Drawings stimulated imagination, provided a foothold and – literally – a shared image. Plus, visualising helped enormously for the focus and energy of the sprint week; after all, nothing is more tiring than watching only talking heads for a week. Visual work forms ensured that lots of people could work on the same topics at the same time. The visuals then prompted follow-up: has this been fully summarised and does everyone have the same picture in mind?
''Never imagined beforehand that this could be done so well online!''
We summarise the entire digitalisation strategy in a talking plate. As a constant reminder of the dot on the horizon and handy to share. And to stay in the mood of digital developments, Flatland also made that plate in 3D.
Paul Strijp looks back on the pressure cooker with satisfaction. “Digitalisation Strategy Week was a real experience. And an insane sense of digital team building!”
“Digital team building, there certainly was,” writes Hans van der Stelt, director of corporate affairs. “Beforehand, I would not have dared to think that this could be done so well online. That says a lot about the excellent preparation, involvement of everyone, set-up and excellent guidance of the week, technically, process-wise and content-wise.”
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