Carsten Gabbert: District President with experience in digitalisation

About Carsten Gabbert

After studying German studies and history at the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Gabbert initially worked in the private sector. From July 2004 to July 2020, he was the mayor of Schuttertal and also served on the district council, the regional assembly for Southern Upper Rhine, and on the state board of the Association of Municipalities of Baden-Württemberg.

After his second term, Gabbert became a consultant in IT, moderation, coaching, professional development, organizational development, and project management. Since April 1, 2024, he has been President of the Regional District Freiburg. Gabbert is a member of the political party "Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen."

Congratulations on your new role, Mr. Gabbert. What tasks and responsibilities come with your position?

I lead a large administrative unit with 8 departments, about 70 divisions, and around 1,800 employees. Our areas of focus include construction, education, mobility, environment, agriculture, forestry, geology, and mining. Coming from a municipal background, I’m familiar with many of our topics and well-connected.

You have extensive experience as a consultant in the public sector. What lessons from that time are you now applying in your work?

I definitely want to bring this mindset into our administration. I see digitalization as a tremendous opportunity to relieve people and meet complex challenges effectively.

How would you rate the current state of digitalization in German administration on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being excellent)?

That’s a tough question. Our administration is incredibly heterogeneous. Are we talking about the city of Munich, a state ministry, or a small municipality in the Black Forest? Overall, I think the public sector has only partially kept up with the major digitalization themes of the past 30 years (DMS, process management, digitalization, automation, cloud, SaaS, AI, new work, collaboration, etc.). So, I would give it a conservative rating, maybe a 5. But there are also several positive outliers. We are already working on some topics, like e-files and remote work.

If you had all the resources and authority in your current role, what measures would you take to bring your region closer to a 10 in administrative digitalization?

I would send my employees to a pleasant, inspiring environment for four weeks and let them try out all kinds of tools and methods.

In your previous consulting work, you supported agencies in selecting and implementing these methods and tools. What criteria should tools meet to offer real value for administrative digitalization?

We obviously have strict requirements for data protection and security; there’s no need to dwell on that. Beyond that, the most important criterion for me is intuitive usability. If users feel they can navigate easily, aren’t discouraged, and can pick it up again right after a two-week break, then that’s good software in my view. Additionally, tools should not be overloaded – they should only display the functions that are needed. In other words, "cleanness."

What do you see as the main barriers currently hindering digital progress in public administration, and how can these be overcome?

It’s a bit of a buzzword, but I really think this is a mindset issue. To have a sense of digitalization or methods, you should at least be familiar with them or have experienced them. That’s why I find it very important to create exposure, make examples visible, and perhaps even bring the startup and digitalization sector into contact with public administration. That’s where I would start. The eased procurement conditions in Baden-Württemberg for this topic are, in my view, a step in the right direction.

What advice would you give to leaders in the public sector to drive digitalization forward despite the existing challenges?

My suggestion goes in the same direction: observe, stay curious, and assess what helps my employees and my teams. I’ve also found that there are always people with an affinity for these topics. These individuals should be empowered and allowed to lead.

Many municipalities and other agencies mention in their digital strategies that they want to become independent of software providers. Nevertheless, established tools continue to be introduced in the public sector. Isn’t this a contradiction?

The major software providers are constantly working with their teams to improve their products. It fascinates me to see the leaps in innovation that still occur. Therefore, I find the idea of becoming independent here almost absurd. In my previous role, I only worked within one ecosystem, which was highly productive. I miss that. I would prefer to seek closer ties with providers.