The Rise of The Chief Learning Officer

The role of the Chief Learning Officer has never been more important than it is today. At a time when the Federal workforce is aging, millennials are reimagining the nature of and the future of work, the gig economy is gaining steam, and the current administration is calling for agencies to respond to cyber threats and policy changes. One might say the only constant indeed is change.

Given the fact that OMB-17-22 is seeking to restructure the public sector workforce and the roles that agencies will play; it seems we have come to a tipping point. As momentum for civil service reform gains speed, some Federal agencies are moving to provide buy-outs, and many are being asked to act on or at least consider reductions in force. These same organizations will need to align mission requirements to priorities as well as to retain workers while cutting costs and waste. Given the myriad of mandates, business drivers, and pressures from disruption in the marketplace we must begin to think about workforce development at a higher level and the role that the Chief Learning Officer of tomorrow will need to play in the workforce optimization efforts for organizations across all sectors today.

As apprenticeships have been the subject of a new executive order this last month. Federal and state agencies are undergoing upheaval regarding the impact of healthcare reform. There are new roles that are beginning to proliferate in the future workforce given the advent of newer technology based solutions and platforms. From big data, IoT, artificial intelligence, sensors, augmented reality as all these tools become mainstream perhaps it is time to take a strategic pause and focus on customer service, user-centered design, and learning and development. As agencies begin the work to restructure and re-imagine a customer-centric, citizen-centered approach; one thing is clear to me is that people need to come first. Employee development and performance-based solutions require new skill sets and modalities of learning for a more diverse and multi-generational workforce.

To find, hire and develop next generation talent into the public sector means agencies must undergo digital workforce transformation activities in earnest. Just as disruption has hit several industries the very nature of the future of work is upon us. We have seen the rise of new roles like CLO proliferate. Just as the growth of Database Marketing Platforms is driving the chief revenue officer to request talent acquisition leaders to find a chief marketing technologist, or data scientist, or even the CIO to request a cyber security forensics specialist; the Chief Human Capital Officer is turning to his talent acquisition team now and asking what makes a good Chief Learning Officer (CLO) and where can we find one ? The CLO is perhaps the one person all these folks need to turn to in order to codify and make change management and IT modernization efforts efficient and effective. As those with expertise in the field of learning development are the ones who need to be actively engaged in workforce development at both the micro and macro level; I find it odd that there is no one clear and definitive definition, entity or paradigm for certification. That was the purpose behind George Mason University Learning Solutions recent effort to bring to market an eCLO program. For more on the learning objectives click here.

As a side note at Monster Government Solutions, we recently issued guidance to workforce development boards and the need and interest by employers to engage with them. We recently found that Employers need to engage in the discussion as it relates to Workforce Development Boards as part of the larger challenge in regards to stakeholder engagement across sectors. Click here to learn more about some of our solutions around these types of efforts. Highlights from National Workforce Development Board 2017 for Effective Employer Engagement Workshop on YouTube below or click here to access our Employer Engagement Guidebook.

For digital workforce transformation to matter, agencies that are currently undergoing IT Modernization efforts, do see data as being king. Just as content becomes the output of that data, and the curriculum is to drive learning and adoption it is predicated on the need to harness structured and unstructured data in meaningful ways that help people to tackle the business problems at hand with that data to make it useful. If we will need to solve the pressing issues of the day we should seek to find a seat for this new player in the C-Suite. Is not the CLO the one that should understand how best to apply the multiple modes of learning and how knowledge transfer should work? Thus one of the most critical voices that should be heard perhaps is absent from the conversation when it comes to budgets, procurement, workforce planning, and human capital thus the need for us to see the Rise of The Chief Learning Officer.

Whereas we want to see more senior level appointments in the Federal sector being made; we are facing a significant challenge if many of these positions go unfilled. The adverse impact it would seem is not only from lack of leadership but that there is a clear need to address re-skilling, workforce planning, employee development, and yes employee engagement like never before which is predicated on leadership aspirations.

Despite reductions in force ( RIF's) for many in the Federal workforce given recent developments, workforce planning, and employee engagement efforts should be driven by employer brand management efforts as well as newer onboarding and sourcing solutions that are easier to use and train new entrants to use. As many at the helm of our Federal agencies are focused on a reactive posture when it comes to the mandate to respond to OMB-17-22; there also seems to be a need to align resources, training and workforce development activities in a meaningful way.

Not only an important part of the equation but as a critical success factor, the rise of the Federal Chief Learning Officer is one of vital importance if we are to solve the challenges of civil service reform. Well within the mix of occupational categories that should be at the focal point given the needs to address cyber-skills and the Federal cyber skills talent gap, is the lack of qualified talent to fill mission-critical occupation. So as agency heads choose to transfer or reassign talent we must begin to reimagine and re-skill talent to create higher levels of performance across the spectrum if we are to be competitive in the global economy but yet in terms of the Federal sector we have a Catch 22.

One of the first things Howard Risher calls out in the whitepaper above that struck me as almost counter-intuitive one might say to the discussion is that a high-performance workforce should demonstrate among other qualities:

“An employment staff that proactively recruits well-qualified applicants and works with managers to fill openings quickly” - Howard Risher-GovExec

He goes on to say that to instill these features in government; it is essential to take steps such as: 

• Make individual performance and competence the primary criteria in all promotions to higher level jobs
• Identify and manage poor performers to support improved performance or, when necessary, terminate them
• Keep stakeholders and employees informed of progress in achieving strategic goals

So with all the talk of cyber workforce, the Executive Orders that are rolling, the notion of an employer collaborative approach being in fashion; the challenge is one that in fact requires the CLO to step up to the C-Suite and to be able to fund and provide employees with the critical skills based training they need today. If not only for new recruits but also to re-skill the mid-career or upper GS levels in a workforce that some may say is underfunded, under-appreciated and under-represented.

We are finding some success at Monster via our WIN Insights platform that is designed to help foster greater collaboration and understanding from a Diversity & Inclusion perspective. The tool helps to develop Structures and Strategies to Equip Leaders With the Ability to Manage Diversity, yet budget cuts are forcing agencies to forgo training.

More than half of federal human resources specialists fear that coming budget cuts will impinge on training aimed at improving employee engagement, officials and former officials noted at a Wednesday panel sponsored by the National Academy of Public Administration. This survey found that

• Despite the expanding role of chief learning officers, only three out of 10 valued that position, while 80 percent are using outside providers for training, results released last month showed.
• Some 55 percent are using new the new governmentwide training contract from the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration called HCATS, while 70 percent have used OPM’s Unlocktalent.gov tool to improve engagement.
• Twenty-seven percent of respondents had already seen their training budget decline.

Where does this leave those in the Federal workforce? Office of Personnel Management, Office of Management & Budget and countless others that are working tirelessly to revision a new unified talent management platform for agencies via USAService. Given the desire to deploy multiple platforms for training and learning development and desire by the Office of Personnel Management - Center for Leadership Development I think we should see and hear more about the need to create the first Federal level certification program for CLO's to understand and codify what it means to be a Federal Chief Learning Officer today.

For more insights on workforce development initiatives, that require a community of stakeholders to help shape the national workforce check out the this from the U.S. Department of Labor's CAREER PATHWAYS TOOLKIT: A GUIDE FOR SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT with a common cause effort we can all learn, benefit and ultimately #findbetter.

Views expressed are my own.

@JohnBersentes