An interview with Gina Gill, CDIO at Ministry of Justice UK and Rob Stirling, Deputy Director of Portfolio and Controls at Justice Digital

Ways of working are changing as organisations implement digital strategies and harness emerging technologies to create seamless experiences.  With tools like artificial intelligence (AI) becoming increasingly prevalent, businesses must consider their impact on peoples’ roles across the enterprise. Navigating this transition will rely on identifying and developing the key skills that enable collaboration among multi-disciplinary teams.

In this podcast, we’re joined by Gina Gill, CDIO at Ministry of Justice UK, who gives us insight into how the organisation is driving its digital strategy by recruiting a diverse range of skillsets that align people and technology.

A Q&A with the Ministry of Justice

Very few business challenges can be handled in isolation. Modern day operations are so deeply interconnected that it becomes impossible to untangle the web of one issue without stumbling across another. 

Prioritising the right digital solutions can help. Driving a digital strategy that promotes a better employee experience can have a knock-on effect across the whole organisation. We recently sat down with Deputy Director of Portfolio and Controls at Justice Digital, Rob Stirling, to explore how The Ministry of Justice UK is doing this — and what companies looking to do the same should know.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your role?

My career is probably quite unique in that I don’t have a hugely digital background — I’ve had a lot of different positions around the organisation, from Court Clerk to administrative roles.

My role now is Deputy Director for Portfolio and Controls, which sounds like an extremely complicated title, but put simply, it means I oversee how we run the business of Justice Digital within the broader Ministry of Justice.

Macroeconomic headwinds coming at us from all angles mean it’s more important than ever that organisations invest wisely. Is driving digital transformation still a priority for Ministry of Justice in the current climate?

There’s such a huge level of technological advancement going on in the world right now, it’s revolutionising the way all organisations work. You don’t have to look far to see it in action — ChatGPT and other generative AI tools are changing the face of productivity. This kind of innovation is extremely useful in the face of macroeconomic headwinds, as it essentially allows us to do more with less.

Being able to empower your employees to use this kind of new technology in a way that directly relieves the burden of manual, time-consuming work from them also has a direct impact on the employee experience, naturally. And so that’s a big priority for us.

Driving a higher rate of digital transformation and making use of the tools available to us can lead to a happier, more efficient workforce. This approach is especially important in a public sector organisation like ours because ultimately, the more productive we are, the more that benefits the taxpayer. It’s win-win.

This touches largely on an idea we’ve spoken a lot about at ServiceNow — Total Experience. Can you talk to us a little bit more about the potential impact of this way of thinking?

Absolutely. I think a lot of businesses can be quick to put all their focus on the consumer (or citizen).  And actually, sometimes, as a result of this, the employee experience gets slightly neglected. It’s about joining these two areas up.

Talking about Ministry of Justice specifically, we’re an organisation with many public facing services. But, we’re also one of the largest employers in government, so providing a top-tier service to our employees is extremely important as well.

As consumers, we are so used to having apps and tools that make our lives easier in our day-to-day. What businesses should be doing is applying the same process to the work environment and blurring the lines between customer and employee.

For me, there’s no need to differentiate between a consumer, a citizen, or an employee. We should be aiming to provide the best possible experience for all of them.

That relies on empowering employees with the technology that makes tasks quick and easy – enabling them to do their job to the best of their ability. By improving the employee experience, you’re also improving the level of service, which translates directly into the customer experience.

What considerations should organisations be aware of when attempting to drive these positive experiences with digital technology?

First and foremost, it’s important to look at how you’re guiding employees through change — whether that change is the implementation of a single new workflow technology or the total overhaul of a legacy system.

It requires a cultural shift just as much as a technical one. Businesses need to strike the right balance between investing time and resources in the technology itself, and into teaching employees exactly how to use it for best results. Addressing both parts of the process is the only way to successfully deliver better experiences for the customer and the employee.

There’s also the fact that new technology requires new skills. Leaders must be willing to look at how to recruit new talent and upskill existing talent where necessary in order to manage this change successfully.

That’s an interesting point, there’s a whole new level of demand for digital skills due to digital transformation. How should organisations look to navigate this?

It’s easy for organisations to overlook external hires who don’t have a specific type of technical training or previous experience in a very niche role. Hiring people with excellent soft skills such as communication, teamwork, and creativity, and then working with them to develop the technical skills is a great way to ensure everyone has new-found career opportunities they can build upon – regardless of their background. At the same time, this enables us as an organisation to better collaborate and drive innovative growth.

ServiceNow EXECUTIVE CIRCLE is a community of industry experts, visionaries and leaders who activate and shape business strategy from the world’s most innovative organisations. Explore events, networking opportunities, articles, and podcasts here.