Last fall, Governing Magazine closed shop. For over 3 decades it was the go-to source for news and analysis of state and local government. Since then, its online presence, governing.com, has survived. But it shrank its focus to “what state and local government looks like in a world of rapidly advancing technology.”

I don’t know what factors went into governing.com’s decision to focus on technology. But I doubt it’s a coincidence that large tech companies – many of whom support governing.com – reap big profits in government technology contracts.

I, too, am interested in the impact of technology on government. I’ve seen firsthand how antiquated systems hamper efforts to better serve the public. Among other things, we need powerful software to run online services and integrated databases to inform decision-making.

And, if we’re really talking about the solutions that will make government work better for ALL people, technology is only one part of the picture. Yet it dominates government innovation conferences, books and articles. What is sometimes missing is a more holistic exploration of government management and leadership.

A community engagement manager at a mid-sized city told me that she recently returned from a national conference about best practices in public engagement. Afterwards, her inbox was flooded with emails from companies trying to sell her the latest and greatest online tools to engage the public. Her take? Those tools will only amplify the already-loud voices in her community, which could exacerbate existing disparities. What she needs to make happen is face-to-face resident engagement that informs policy and programs.

She doesn’t need an app for that. Mostly what she needs is for her colleagues to be creative and courageous in doing things differently. In this example and others, much of the innovation that is needed in government can be achieved with little or no new technology.

At its core, state and local government agencies face a major human capital challenge: building and maintaining a top-notch workforce. Problems like this, which have to do with how people think and act, take longer to solve than technology ones (and they are more difficult for companies to monetize.) But if we are going to improve government results, we need to focus on building the best government workforce possible.

Of course, this isn’t really an either-or topic. We can be concerned about human capital AND government technology. And the topics are interrelated. With effective leaders and employees, we’ll be able to get the right technology solutions in place. And having up-to-date technology will help government to keep the skilled workers who have lots of career options.

Also it’s important to note that there are a lot of things going right when it comes to government workforce. In my experience, most government workers are smart, dedicated, and in it for the right reasons. They do the best with what they have, even when they get little recognition for their hard work.

That said, government faces some big, potentially unprecedented workforce challenges. The much-feared Silver Tsunami is here. Baby boomers are finally retiring, leaving jobs for others and taking their experience with them. And with the economy at nearly full employment (for some segments of the population) there’s tough competition for workers. It is especially difficult for government to compete with private-sector wages.

But the people problem is more than a numbers game. Government workers, on average, are whiter and more likely to be male than the communities they serve. People with disabilities are underrepresented. There are many reasons why this mismatch is problematic. For one, it makes it more difficult for agencies to be relevant and connected to the communities they serve.

So in addition to looking at technological fixes, what if we invested at least as much in a world-class government workforce? What if we poured our attention and resources into attracting and keeping Herocrats in government?

Herocrats are government employees who transform their agencies to better serve their communities. They are connected to the people they serve, which enables them to accurately define problems and possible solutions. They have the courage to test solutions out and the creativity to figure out how to institutionalize them in the long run.

To hire and keep Herocrats, we need to change the existing, entrenched systems. That’s hard, slow and sometimes boring work. Much harder than purchasing new technology. It requires us to ‘upset the apple cart,’ adapting our human resources processes and policies to hire people with different backgrounds. It also means finding people who want to change the world but never considered doing it as a government employee.

And it requires us to change our workplace cultures and policies to empower Herocrats, who often feel isolated and unsupported. This means offering professional development opportunities and incentives for employees who drive innovation.

And frankly, agencies need to give Fearocrats, who hold us back from innovation, the hint that it’s time to leave. Senior leaders can set the stage in ways that make Fearocrats self-select out, choosing early retirement or a shift to the private sector.

Ultimately, even if we have the best government technology, if we don’t have the right people running it, we’re in trouble. So let’s keep people – employees and community members – front and center in discussions of government innovation, right where they belong.

Photo by "My Life Through A Lens" on Unsplash