The Federal Data Strategy brought to the fore an issue that is critical to government technology missions – the urgent need to know what employees can do. Only by gaining accurate and timely knowledge of employee skill sets can Federal agencies fully accomplish their increasingly complex missions and better serve the public. In a recent interview with MeriTalk, Tony Holmes, public sector practice lead for solutions architects at Pluralsight, discusses how Federal organizations can gain this vital knowledge of employee skills in a workplace increasingly transformed by artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies.

MeriTalk: It has always been important for organizations to know the skill sets of their employees. What is it about our current technology moment that makes it especially imperative to maintain an accurate technology skills benchmark? Is that particularly crucial for the Federal government?

Holmes: Knowing the skill sets of employees is especially important now because of the transformative effect of artificial intelligence (AI) – and especially generative AI – on the workplace. AI acts as a force multiplier, enhancing other technologies, so the government must know who has the skills to integrate AI with, say, cybersecurity or cloud. An accurate skills benchmark helps agencies quickly find employees who can lead AI-driven initiatives. If you aren’t aware that those skill sets exist, you risk attrition because you might not deploy those people on projects that keep them engaged.

More broadly, we often make the mistake of skill set stereotyping. We assume that the skills we hire people for are what they bring to the table. That is a huge miss because maybe the employee you hired for data work has a strong background in cyber, or vice versa. If you don’t know that, you can’t leverage it. By understanding and utilizing skills effectively, government can stay ahead of the technology curve.

MeriTalk: The Federal Data Strategy set goals for all agencies to assess staff data skills, analyze the gaps, and develop performance plans to close skills gaps. How are Federal agencies progressing in conducting these skills assessments?

Holmes: We have this conversation with agencies quite frequently. For most, benchmarking is a work in progress, or they’ve hired a firm to conduct a traditional, interview-based skills audit. A traditional skills audit can easily cost six figures for a medium-sized organization and take up to six months. Six months in AI is practically a lifetime. Traditional skills benchmarking doesn’t scale well either. But with the right digital tools, an organization of any size can get a real-time snapshot of its talent base – and get help uncovering previously hidden skills.

MeriTalk: Much has been written about the Federal technology skills gap and why overcoming it is critically important. What should agencies consider as they seek to fill the gap?

Holmes: The government should start seeking a mix of specialists and generalists. While emphasis on specific tech skills is needed, a shortage has developed of what I call expert generalists. Those are people with broad understanding of multiple tech domains who can bridge gaps and create innovations. The education system used to create great generalists, but now we create specialists and send them into the workforce, hoping they can do the work of a generalist. This results in a huge mismatch between education and job demands. To address this disparity, agencies should focus on fostering continuous learning and cross-domain upskilling. This would increase the knowledge breadth of employees to develop the versatility, adaptability, and creative problem-solving required to tackle diverse challenges, including the integration of emerging technologies like AI across various domains.

MeriTalk: In a recent study, Pluralsight found that the biggest technical skills gaps are in cybersecurity, cloud, and software development. Should benchmarking focus on those areas or on increasingly important AI and machine learning skills?

Holmes: I think the government needs to take a practical approach and do some reverse thinking. Agencies need to focus on what they are trying to achieve – and then work backward to create job descriptions, rather than saying ‘We need to hire a cybersecurity person.’ They should look for people with diligence, persistence of thought, and the flexibility to adapt to new situations and new data.

MeriTalk: Let’s turn to Pluralsight. Please give us an overview of Pluralsight’s AI-enabled skills assessment platform and how you work with agencies to implement it.

Holmes: The key concepts are continuous learning and real-time benchmarking of skills. We help agencies create this learning culture and then use data insights to benchmark and engage with their technologists in a more meaningful way. To do this, we use concepts like Skill IQ – learning what you don’t know and proving what you do – and Role IQ, which assesses the skills you need for success in specific roles. These tools empower technologists to understand their current skill sets and identify areas for improvement.

The Pluralsight platform then automatically creates microlearning based on the skills gaps it identified, followed by assessments on that microlearning. Our assessments are not a heavy lift – they take about 10 minutes, so employees can grab those 10 minutes during their downtime. The data gained from assessments is used to create accurate skills benchmarking and track the progress of closing gaps over time.

MeriTalk: Once the platform is in place, what results can agencies and employees expect?

Holmes: Pluralsight offers about 10,000 courses across every tech domain to support employees’ continuous learning and agencies’ real-time skills benchmarking. Federal organizations using the Pluralsight platform can expect to more fully understand their teams’ capabilities – and be able to access this information on demand. This enhanced knowledge leads to improved project outcomes, better organizational agility, and a stronger ability to meet the demands of rapidly evolving government missions.

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