Thunder Bay's Digital Transformation Journey Series - Empowering Leaders through Digital Education
Continuing our exploration of Thunder Bay's digital transformation in part 2 of the series, we look at the crucial role of digital education within the city's digital strategy. The essence of digital modernization extends far beyond a conventional technology or IT roadmap; it requires a collective understanding and commitment across the entire organization and leadership to meaningful and impactful modernization, and it requires success for the change to take root.
Recognizing digital education as a crucial element of their change plan, Thunder Bay’s leaders committed to running Perry Group’s Digital for Municipal Leaders course, a comprehensive education program designed to equip key leaders, managers and staff within the City of Thunder Bay with the knowledge and tools to navigate the digital landscape effectively.
The Perry Group Academy created the Digital for Municipal Leaders program designed to help municipal service owners understand the art of the possible and deepen their understanding of what it means to embrace digital and truly be digital. The 4-part digital education program is intended to inspire, guide, and empower municipal leaders. These education sessions, attended by Thunder Bay’s commissioners, directors, managers, and supervisors, fostered a strong understanding of digital principles and what the digital strategy committed service owners to and helped translate the digital strategy into actionable steps.
Held over 4 ½ day sessions and delivered remotely, the program delves into real-world examples of digital transformation that draws inspiration from global and Canadian municipalities leading the charge. The sessions focus on guiding leaders in setting a digital vision, designing and delivering digital initiatives, and iterating, refining and sustaining digital services.
The 30+ attendees that participated joined 4 separate cohorts run in Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter of 2023. Each attendee actively participated in classroom learning and practical exercises throughout the program, but the program also facilitated valuable peer–to-peer discussions and shared learning.
By combining engaging discussions with informative content, the program translated the digital strategy into real, tangible and actionable steps for all participants. The program garnered positive feedback, reinforcing its effectiveness beyond theoretical understanding. In addition, participants left with supporting materials, including a concrete digital transformation checklist, providing a well-structured guide for initiating and sustaining their digital initiatives.
Perry Group has delivered this Digital for Municipal Leaders program with various clients over the past couple of years as part of Digital Strategy work. In 2024, we plan to continue to deliver and expand the program. This work underscores our commitment to digital transformation, actively supporting municipal organizations in translating these strategies into tangible and sustainable digital actions.
If you are interested in learning more about this and other courses we provide, what we do, what we have done, or are interested in working with Perry Group Consulting, feel free to get in touch with us here.
