Michelle Cullen, Senior Editor within IBM, recently had the opportunity to sit down with Jason Goldman, the first Chief Digital Officer of the White House, to discuss his Office’s online engagement strategy and outreach. Jason was part of the Blogger team acquired in 2003 by Google, where he worked as a product manager until 2006. In 2007, he was on the founding team of Twitter Inc. where he was Head of Product and served on the board of directors until 2010.
Mark Fisk is the lead author for this article. Mark is a Partner within IBM's Global Business Services division.
Citizen Engagement #CitizenCentricGov
I recently attended the Center for The Business of Government's CIO Leadership Forum and found myself coming out of the session trying to reconcile several different points of view presented on Citizen Engagement.
We should all see it as part of our civic duty to contribute toward the common good. However, many people do not connect with the governing process in a meaningful way. Perhaps this is where government can do more by further engaging citizens and driving civic awareness.
Fortunately, there are a number of ways, already tested at multiple levels of government, that citizens can interact with public organizations and contribute to improved services for all. Such examples are summarized below, and provide excellent models for government to enhance citizen engagement.
I recently participated on a citizen engagement roundtable with leaders from a variety of agencies, moderated by FCW, as part of a broader set of panels on citizen engagement (see FCW's summary here).
In a 2016 review of more than 82,000 work units across 230 organizations covering nearly 2 million employees, the Gallup Organization found: “The relationship between engagement and performance at the business/work unit level is substantial and highly generalizable across organizations.” So, it is no wonder that the Office of Personnel Management, in its annual survey of federal employees, assesses the extent of employee engagement, as well. In
In 2018, the IBM Center for The Business of Government marks its twentieth year of connecting research to practice in helping to improve government. The IBM Center continues to execute on its ultimate mission: to assist public sector executives and managers in addressing real world problems with practical ideas and original thinking to improve government.
