Diversity in Government Workforce

All right, happy Friday everyone. Welcome to In Case You Missed It, GovTech's weekly government technology news roundup where we take a look at some of the biggest GovTech news. from the past week and give you our thoughts on what it means for government, citizens, and the market. I'm Dustin Haisler, joined by Joe Morris. Jed Pressgrove is out this week. This week we're joined by Lawrence Sanders and Todd Barteen. Lawrence and Todd work for the state of Tennessee. Last year they started a diversity and inclusion council within the state's IT agency, and they're going to be here to answer our questions about how that council came together and how other state and local government workers can build diversity and inclusion councils of their own. But before we bring them in, let's go to the news. There's a few stories that caught our attention this week, and first up, as we've talked about on the show before, sometimes it's difficult for the public sector to get on and hold workers. So in fact, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports that the number of job openings in state and local government increased by more than 50% from December 2020 to December 2021. It's a difficult problem to solve, but the Arizona State University has created a program to try to help with that, that's introducing students to the world of public service. Now, this program is kind of akin to an ROTC for public servants. They call it the Next Generation Service Corps. It's a 4-year program that includes coursework on cross-sector leadership and collaboration, annual retreats, service activities, leadership seminars. Students are required to complete internships in 3 different sectors: nonprofit social, private and public government sectors as well. So Joe, this is something we've talked about for a while, you know, trying to get down into stimulating the workforce, you know, in college and even, you know, prior to that. What do you make of this new program?

Yeah, I love it. I think that we've talked about the opportunity for state and local government to market themselves as an opportunity to solve big problems, to build the next generation of IT and work on some of the most complex problems and issues in society. I like the idea of a public university becoming the pipeline for the next generation government workforce. We've seen them do that for IT jobs. Cyber, Cisco's had programs over the years to build network engineers. Why not do the same thing for the public sector workforce? So absolutely a phenomenal model, and hopefully it gets picked up by other universities as a model to duplicate.

Yeah, I totally agree. And I think the new generation is wired for wanting to plug into things that give back, things that are, you know, social-minded. So this is a great way for them to kind of test out that model before they enter the workforce. So I think the earlier they can do that, the better. And That's ultimately how I fell in love with public sector as well. Now, there's another story that is less inspiring, but one that is very serious that we've also talked at length about, and that was a recent set of attacks that were announced. Tell us a little bit about why this caught your attention, Joe.

Yeah, I was reading the Wall Street Journal and this stood out to me because we've been focusing so much on what the conflict in Ukraine and Russia might mean to state and local government and what it might mean to cybersecurity. And this article pointed out that Mandiant, found what they believe to be Chinese government-sponsored attacks to 6 states. Well, they don't identify the 6 states, but these attacks go back as far as May of last year, and they made off with personally identifiable data. While this isn't a unique or new vector, it points to the fact that the Justice Department's absolutely paying attention to what's happening right now. They've actually gone after this group before in 2020. It's an attack by APT41. It's also targeted a number of companies across the US, but it shows that no matter what else is going on in the world, cities and states need to continue to pay attention to cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity remains our number one priority across all levels of government, and I think, you know, stories like this just continue to validate that it's so pressing. And you don't have to be a state, you can also be a little city that, that can, you know, still be impacted. So definitely something we should all pay attention to. But now it's time to transition to the stars of our show. Let's bring in Loren Sanders. He's the Director of Project Delivery for the State of Tennessee, and Todd Barteen, IT Director for Resources and Regulation at the State of Tennessee. Thank you, Todd, and thank you, Loren, so much for joining us.

Thanks for having us.

All right, Todd, we're going to start with you. Can you tell us a little bit about the STS and what it is, what, uh, stoked you to create it, uh, and, uh, when did it become official?

I love this story because it started off as just a conversation between 2 friends that care about each other. Lawrence and I have been friends for some time, and after the events involved in the death of George Floyd, we were checking in with each other, and we started talking about how we were feeling and how we could tell that many of our friends at work were suffering. They were carrying heavy burdens. And in a way, they were being expected to leave that at the door, to just come into work, do their job, and, and leave this weight that's on them at home. And how that's not practical. We could see it. We could see it in our coworkers. And that's when Lawrence mentioned that he had had this idea some time ago. the formation of a council dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion. And that in the past it hadn't gotten traction, but now it felt like this was the moment. This was a bit of a lightning in a bottle moment. There's a big focus, I think, across the industry and across the country on DEI. And so we thought that this was the time to do it, and it turns out we were right.

Yeah, what I would add to that is if you look at what happened with the murder of George Floyd, it brought a lot of attention actually across the world to, to what could happen, right? And this is actually the anniversary— this week is the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, which occurred in Selma in May of— March of 1965, and that was when They attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge to have the right to vote, to fight for the right to vote. And we saw what happened there with police and the dogs and the batons and all of that and the attention that it brought to this country. And the George Floyd murder did a similar thing. But looking at that now, and if you think about when that occurred, all you heard across the world was that Black Lives Matter. And now, what is it, almost 2 years later, people are afraid to say that because of the backlash. We wanted to ensure that there was something long-lasting that came along with this effort. And so we wanted to put some things in place that would embed practices into our organization so that long after, you know, that phase is over, that we have something that continues from now on. So that was a lot of the thought behind it as well.

Yeah, I think it's an amazing inception story. Now, I know one of the most difficult things oftentimes with diversity, equity, and inclusion programs is getting the blessing of management, but then knowing what to do next. I'd love to hear, and Lawrence, we'll start with you on this one. Once you had consensus that you were going to do this program, what did you do next? What happened next to get this executed?

We started in June of 2020. in pitching the idea to our leadership. Once we had their blessing to move forward, Todd and I started the work to do the research to pull everything together. It took us, I think, a couple of months, so around August of 2020, we had developed what we would call the official charter that we received approval on.

I want to add, as you said, you might expect something like this to be difficult to get approval on. It wasn't. Again, it was the right moment. Lawrence and I took this to STS executive leadership, and it turns out they were already discussing this. They were already looking for something to do. And here was Lawrence and I bringing them a package saying, here's an idea pretty much fully formed. And not just that, we're volunteering to do it. We're going to put the sweat into this. And so, yeah, approval, it turned out, was not that hard to obtain.

That's great, and I love the story around, you know, 2 friends that, you know, came, came together to, to make this happen. Yeah, you know, I think the other challenge is, you know, when you're creating something like this is knowing where to turn to or what resources there are that could guide you to create that charter. Todd, I want to stick with you for a second. Maybe you could dig into that a little bit. Is, you know, where did you go for, for guidance, for best practices? You know, the public sector Obviously can steal great ideas. We want this to be an idea that they can steal from. Maybe give us a little insight in terms of where you turn to for assistance to create and develop the council.

You know what? That also wound up being easier than one might expect in terms of we're not the first ones, of course, into the DEI space. A lot of companies and organizations have already made significant strides and they've done us all a favor. they put their roadmaps online for the benefit of others. And so I think what Laurence and I found was quite a bounty out there of people publishing their lessons learned, their roadmap. Some people even put their charter out there, and that allowed us to pull all those together and kind of do what we thought was best of breed. Take the best of all those charters, all those roadmaps, and put together something that we thought hit all the bases. The most important thing for us The most important thing for us though was that this had to look like a real significant effort. It could not be a gesture or some sort of lip service. It had to look like what a major company or organization does when they're taking this seriously.

Also, I would add that in taking it seriously, we're also ensuring that the state is competitive. A lot of corporations out there have these programs and a lot of people that are looking for a place to work look for these types of things to be in place. And if we want to be competitive, especially in the current market, but what's happening with people walking out of jobs and things of that sort, you have to have this kind of program in place.

Yeah, you're absolutely right. These are a new expectation that people have for not just their employers, but where they live. So I think that's a really good point. Now, when many people think about, you know, DEI programs, their minds automatically typically gravitate around recruitment efforts. Recruitment is a big part of this conversation, but it's not the only piece. I know you've got 4 teams and more than a dozen people in the council. Tell us a little bit about how you're looking at that broader DEI story and what your teams are doing to help you translate that into action.

Well, actually, since we started, and we did start with 4 teams, we actually have 5 teams now. We determined that we needed to add a communications team. That's the really crucial piece. To do all the work but not have a way to really communicate and get it out to the people that really need to know about it and be able to participate in it, you know, it makes it almost somewhat less impactful, less meaningful, right? So we found out early on that we needed to add that component. And we do have a recruitment team, which you mentioned, but we've ensured that it's also recruitment and retention. So, it's all about maintaining the staff we have as well as looking at recruiting new staff. We also have an inclusion team and they help with handling training events and workshops. We have an outreach team that reaches out into the community to form those relationships and that's something that you don't typically see in state government that, especially with an IT organization, that we're actually reaching out into the community. So, that's been an awesome experience. And lastly, we do have a data and analytics team. We want to make sure that this is a measurable, data-driven exercise. You know, in order to change the culture, you have to take deliberate steps, and that's what we're doing through all of these teams.

Yeah, I love that, and I think you're, you know, rather than having one group that, you know, tries to approach this generally, you've really tried to specialize in these areas to make sure that no one's left behind and none of these functional areas are left unaddressed, so I really applaud you on that. Now, the council has been around for a little while now, so I'd love to hear a little bit about impact and in what ways, you know, you've seen success come out of this and kind of delivering on that original vision that this all started with. So, Todd, maybe we'll start with you on this one.

Sure. That first year, you find out how much work there is to do. Our poor data team, you know, they're trying to figure out just what data we have, what data we don't have, and we're trying to think about how we can collect it. What we can compare it to so that we have some sort of idea of meaningfulness. We also had a lot of conversations with STS Employee Engagement and with the Tennessee Department of Human Resources to see what training is available, what plans are already in the works, what hiring pipelines already exist. So a lot of it was finding the lay of the land and what's available to us. And of course, starting to plan out ways that the members of our organization can be involved, whether that's volunteering opportunities, mentorship programs, training and workshops, other things like that. And so, and this whole time we're communicating out to the IT community in Tennessee that we're here. These are our goals. This is what we're doing. And we want you to aspire to this. We want you to believe in this, to get kind of hopeful and optimistic about it, and to get excited about how next year, meaning this year, you can take part. And telling them, you know, be watching for our website because there are going to be opportunities for everybody to take part in some way that they enjoy and that they personally find meaningful.

Great. You know, Lawrence, what's next for the council?

Todd kind of touched on it. We're going to have activities. So activities are going to involve our STS family workshops. We're going to have conversations, table discussions, different events that we sponsor as well as that may be sponsored throughout the Nashville and greater Tennessee communities. volunteering opportunities, mentoring opportunities. There's also efforts to embed a piece on diversity, inclusion, and belonging into what we call our STS guiding principles. And so there's an effort to look into that. Also, there's the training component. And what we're doing there is leveraging what the Department of Human Resources is putting in place. And we're also ensuring that we have input into that. So that the training will also meet the needs that we have, being that we're also a technical organization at the same time.

Todd, I'm going to start with you, but the question for both of you, so Lawrence, feel free to chime in. What advice would you have for other jurisdictions? Doesn't matter if it's a state, a city, a county, K-12, or higher ed that might be thinking about creating something similar.

I have so many recommendations. The first one is, Don't start with the blank page. Like I said, there's no need. People are already out there, and it seems like the kinds of people and groups that are engaged in this are the kinds of people and groups that want to share. They want to share that information, help other people get started. That includes us. We like helping other groups get started in this. So, so go out, find what resources are already available, and look at some other people's charters, and I think you'll see a lot that you can make use of. The other thing is, don't wait. Your organization likely already right now has people who are passionate about this. All you have to do is engage them. When we put our feelers out and said, is anybody interested in joining the council? We got the most wonderful application submissions that resulted in a fantastic group of people who are passionate. We're not paid for this. This is a volunteer effort within our organization. Everybody on the council has day jobs. And yet they're putting in their time, their effort, their sweat into making this happen because this is something that they genuinely care about. I bet whoever you are, whatever organization you're working for, you have those people too. And so you just need to tap them as a resource. And like I said, reach out. This is something that I don't think we get tired of talking about. It's exciting to us and we like talking to other people. who, who want to explore the DEI space.

I would add also to make sure that you're maintaining communication with your executive leadership as well as the Department of Human Resources. You want to make sure you're following all of the policies and procedures and things within the state as you march down this path, and you want to make sure that everyone is comfortable with what you're doing. And when I say comfortable, I don't mean compromise the effort, but just make sure that you're incorporating their thoughts and things into what you're doing, right? Also ensure you keep the focus on diversity, inclusion, belonging, and equity. Sometimes there's, you know, personnel matters and things of that sort that may relate to this, but there's already policies in place to handle that, so you don't want to take that on. You want to direct people towards, you know, human resources or whomever they need to go to to deal with those types of issues. Also, I would add, and this is my personal opinion, just to Be aware of the politics of your state because the state is run by elected officials. So you want to make sure you factor those things in. Again, not compromising, but making sure you, you, you take all that into account as you approach this type of an effort.

Fantastic. Well, final question for you. And I think, you know, Joe and I are so inspired by the story and the work that you and your team have done. So, you know, really hats off to you and the state of Tennessee for, you know, taking this stance. If individuals want to go and learn more, I know, Todd, you mentioned that they can reach out. Where else would you point them? Contacting you? Is there a website or any other resources that you would encourage that they go check out?

Our current website is internal to our organization, but we do have an email address for our council. It is sts.diversityandinclusion@tn.gov. That is manned by our communications team. And we would respond to anybody who reached out looking for guidance, support, whatever we can give them. Again, this is— it's important. It's important for your people, your teams, your organization. It's important for innovation. You know, studies show that if you want to keep the best people, have the best teams, and come up with the best ideas, you need to be inclusive.

This is amazing. You two embody a mission that I know is close to Dustin and I's heart, and that's to make government better. And you're doing just that. That goes back to the story that we shared at the beginning in terms of the work that's happening at Arizona State to, to bring more people into the public sector workforce, and the work of the council will help do that in your state, and hopefully others pick up off your example. That's all the time that we have for today. Thanks again to Lawrence and Todd for joining us, and for the folks watching, join us again next week at 12 o'clock Pacific. We're going to be chatting with Jim Richburg, the Chief Information Security Officer at Fortinet. Until then, have a great day.

Thank you.

weekend and see you next week.

Thank you.