Advancing leadership at the Government IT Symposium

The Government IT Symposium is an outstanding conference for IT leaders, technologists, and business partners across government, higher education, and other areas from the public sector. The Symposium provides three days of workshops and sessions on digital government, innovation and trends, IT security, leadership skills, and project management.

Hallmentum was proud to partner with the Government IT Symposium this year. I provided a pre-conference workshop on Performance Management and Work Planning, and led several engaging sessions for IT leaders and managers, including Strategic Planning, Effective Interviewing, and an innovative conference wrap-up session called "Think Tank."

The Think Tank session is a variation of an unconference session, in the form of a moderated affinity exercise. The Think Tank session provided an interesting cross-section of the topics that attendees found most engaging. We focused the list of items down to four general categories, representing the 60 or more sessions during the Symposium.

AI

Everyone found the sessions on AI to be the most significant. Attendees indicated they plan to find ways to integrate AI into their work environments, such as streamlining workflows, creating content, assisting development teams, and improving data quality. Several participants were excited to explore how AI can help to reduce errors while making it easier to maintain systems and automate their service delivery.

Strategic Planning

Many participants in the Think Tank session also attended my earlier session on Strategic Planning, and these attendees highlighted the value in shifting their planning process from "year to year" to a ten year horizon. The key to making these long-term strategic plans is to firmly describe your present, then realistically describe the future. With these two endpoints, you can use a process to interpolate your planning to identify "mile markers" that you will pass during your journey to that future.

Collaboration

Attendees from Symposium highlighted collaboration as one of the most valuable parts of the three-day conference. Participants discussed how the sessions helped them discover new solutions and learn from others. They especially enjoyed sessions where other units shared their experiences and what they learned by working on projects—including projects that didn't go well. Everyone found something to take back to their organizations to help them with their work.

Supporting others

Several attendees spoke highly of a "Day 1" panel discussion about Women in IT. This was a favorite session by many, as it provided an open and honest conversation about the issues faced by women and others who are underrepresented in IT. The panel addressed challenges they have faced, positive experiences they have had, and what professional advice they would pass on to others.

Hallmentum was honored to work with our peers and colleagues at the Government IT Symposium. We're looking ahead to the next Symposium in December 2024.