On June 25, the IBM Center for The Business of Government released a new report, Leadership Framework for an Agile Government, by Pallavi Awasthi and Kuang-Ting Tai at Nova Southeastern University.

According to the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), agile government is “mission centric, customer focused, communication and collaboration enabled, and continually demonstrates success to customers and the public. Agile government involves small teams and customer participation, empowered by leaders to take rapid action to deliver timely, transparent results.”

The heart of the report was drawn from the experiences of digital leaders in Boston, Philadelphia, Louisville and Miami.

Here’s the core of what the report described as the leadership approach in the cities it explored, each of which had a strong mayor form of government:

• Louisville: “Mayor’s entrepreneurial mindset leads the charge in treating the city as an ‘urban laboratory’ for innovation encouraging experimentation and risk-taking.” The Chief Innovation Officer embraces an agile and risk-taking culture in project execution. Community and stakeholder input includes “hackathons and interdisciplinary collaboration.”

• Miami: “Mayor leads the charge with dynamism and openness to innovation. Chief Innovation Officer leads the city’s tech innovation efforts advocating for agile adoption across the public sector.” Culture change balances traditional leadership with agile methodologies, flattening hierarchies and empowering teams. Training and communication about agile benefits helps to navigate staff resistance.

• Philadelphia: “Innovation has been more centralized. Chief and the Deputy Innovation Officers lead the city’s innovation efforts and play a critical role in driving the adoption of agile methodologies within the public sector, focusing on cross-department collaboration and innovation . . . Leadership emphasizes servant leadership, empathy, collaboration, innovation and alignment with city goals.” Trusted community organizations help to build community engagement opportunities.

• Boston: “Mayor with an entrepreneurial mindset drives excitement for innovation. Boston’s Office of New Urban Mechanics was created by the mayor and co-chairs were recruited to lead Boston’s civic innovation efforts. Their leadership emphases collaboration, risk management and building trust across departments and with the community.”

This report is the latest of the Center’s multiple studies that delve into how agile government can improve outcomes and strengthen public confidence and trust. It highlights leadership competencies that are needed for successful agile government and proposes “comprehensive leadership training and development competencies tailored for agile government leaders.”

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