The digital transformation of government is progressing but a shortage of skilled staff, resistance to change, digital leadership capability and the attraction and retention of digital talent remain barriers. So, how do public servants perceive these challenges? And how can they be overcome?

Following the AccelerateGOV conference in December, Global Government Forum produced a report focusing on how to scale what works and overcome barriers to digital transformation. It is based on panel sessions, presentations and discussions at Global Government Forum’s AccelerateGOV 2025 conference held in Ottawa in December, as well as a survey of 228 Canadian public servants registered for the event.

The first chapter of the report analyses the progress of digital transformation in the Government of Canada, the second chapter examines the technological foundations of government, and this third chapter focuses on people, leadership and culture – which throughout almost all sessions at AccelerateGOV, was acknowledged by experts as being of foundational importance to the XX of digital transformation.

Of those surveyed, 63% identified a shortage of skilled staff as a major or significant barrier to digital transformation. Lack of clarity in roles or accountability for digital outcomes, and organisational culture and resistance to change were also widely cited – by 60% and 56% of respondents respectively.

On specific workforce challenges, upskilling existing employees was ranked top, followed by managing cultural resistance to change, and building digital leadership capability.

When asked about progress on addressing skills and culture barriers, the strongest-rated area was around skills. A quarter (25%) agreed or strongly agreed that their organisation has a clear plan to build digital and data skills, although 40% disagreed.

Across the board, respondents highlighted that progress is being made but there is significant potential for more work to improve skills and culture for digital transformation.

A fifth (21%) agreed with the statement that leadership capability was sufficient to guide digital transformation in their organisation, but the majority (53%) disagreed. A fifth (20%) also agreed that agile and cross-functional ways of working are becoming the norm, compared with 46% who disagreed.

Confidence was lowest in talent attraction and retention. Only 17% agreed that recruitment processes enable their organisation to attract digital talent, and just 15% say retention and career development plans for digital professionals are effective. In both cases, more than half of respondents expressed disagreement (54% and 52% respectively).

Skills for transformation

Throughout the event, speakers discussed ways to address the skills and culture barriers to digital transformation.

Nadia Ahmad, chief data officer and head of evaluation, Global Affairs Canada, set the context by describing the global environment as “volatile, complex, ambiguous at times… quite uncertain”, noting that the international order that has been built over the last 80 years is “under strain”.

She argued that in terms of data and digital maturity, this requires “having the capability to turn evidence into insights at the speed of relevance”, while acknowledging that this is challenging.

“Experimentation, learning, iteration all take time and effort. When you’re called upon to… deliver very quick and timely advice, you often rely on ways of working that have been tried and true over time; you’re not testing new things and embracing new technologies or new ways of working.”

For a department of 13,000 staff operating across 112 countries, she noted that there are pockets of excellence, but digital maturity, data literacy, and the ability to pivot quickly vary.

Governments need “the capability to turn evidence into insights at the speed of relevance”.

Nadia Ahmad, chief data officer and head of evaluation, Global Affairs Canada

Liz McKeown, executive director, digital community management, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, highlighted broader challenges beyond well known technical shortages in areas such as AI, cloud, and data analytics expertise. These include gaps in diversity, and the need to have transferable leadership skills “from anywhere you sit in the organisation”, particularly in areas such as simplification of governance and processes; assembling the right stakeholders; and communicating complex technical issues.

She also pinpointed the need to address organisational mechanisms and tools, noting that current systems make it difficult to retain talent. This includes challenges in moving staff across departments and jurisdictions; recruiting and leveraging senior subject-matter experts; implementing official language requirements in technical roles; and building effective multidisciplinary teams.

Frances McRae, deputy minister, Women and Gender Equality Canada, reinforced that digital transformation “is not for IT people alone… everybody needs to own it”. She said that while some staff are eager to explore new tools, others are fearful.

“We need to make sure people have a curiosity and are feeling like they can and need to explore,” she said.

She also linked speed to focus, arguing that governments “cannot do everything at top speed, but we need to do the right things at top speed”.

Governments “cannot do everything at top speed, but we need to do the right things at top speed”.

Frances McRae, deputy minister, Women and Gender Equality Canada

From an international perspective, Ryan Alvin R. Acosta, commissioner, Civil Service Commission, Republic of the Philippines, described similar challenges and admitted his country is “a long way off from our desired technological capacity”.

He outlined four priorities: digital literacy and confidence, digital integrity, adaptive leadership, and leadership development that “rewards innovation and creativity” across all levels of the civil service.

In closing, speakers addressed recruitment challenges, particularly competition with the private sector. Acosta noted governments cannot always compete on pay but do offer impact, greater stability, and purpose.

Ahmad echoed this, observing that government is “not competing with tech giants who have stock options and ping pong tables”, but instead offers “the chance to work on problems that matter” and a sense of belonging.

This is the third chapter of Accelerating government transformation: Takeaways from AccelerateGOV 2025. You can read the report in full here, and register for AccelerateGOV 2026 here.



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