TECHNOLOGY AND THE BUSINESS OF GOVERNMENT

From last month’s pronouncement by Commandant Thad Allen, Coast Guard, that Coasties need to get with it and embrace Facebook, YouTube and other social networking tools, to this week’s discussion at the Executive Leadership Conference, Web 2.0 is here and now, front and center - an important set of tools to move forward to encourage and enhance and discussion with the public. I say go for it – the IT workforce should be a catalyst and assistant in getting agencies started.

On a personal note, I realized that I need to get with the program and set up a Facebook account myself. I turned to my twenty-something son and daughter to assist me in setting up an account, and I was met with extreme resistance. They feel my "boomer" generation is encroaching upon their generation’s territory. They explained the site was set up for college connections - not for business purposes. But I patiently explain to them that their generation is so incredibly prescient and smart to set up this site, they should be willing to share since it is such a great tool for communication. Do you agree?

Maybe you are and you don’t know it.

Monster has released a new book: Finding Keepers. It is full of good tips for recruiting and attracting the best candidates. Feds need to change the dynamic when recruiting and consider new ways to gain talent in the organization. Networking and discussion among colleagues is often a terrific source of potential job candidates. In Finding Keepers, Monster reveals that there are many more folks willing to change jobs than have been originally estimated. It has been viewed that about 20 percent of the workforce are actively looking for new opportunities, and 80 percent are passive, or not looking. However, Monster finds this scenario:

About 30 percent of employees are Settled Loyalists - they “claim allegiance to current job and employer” and are “difficult to recruit.”

About 11 percent are Poised Loyalists – they “claim allegiance but have a lower personal barrier to switch.”

And, about 59 percent are Poised Opportunists – they “are clearly open to the next opportunity to change” and “many are actively looking.”

This research clearly impacts traditional agency recruiting techniques.

An article in CIO Insight, states that CIOs, especially those in large companies, are to blame for the IT skills shortage; and if they were serious about ending the shortage they would make more investments in IT training. This correlates with my post, Training Anyone?" which suggests that agency CIOs should invest much more in training for their IT professionals.

The annual CIO survey recently released by ITAA and Grant Thornton again points to some of these very same issues elucidated by the CIO Insight article, but highlights the special concerns found in the federal environment. Agency CIOs are hampered by their lack of funding and agency commitment for training and staffing resources.

The “Blame” article also points out that IT executives are frustrated by the lack of skilled workers coming out of the university system, ill-prepared to function in the business world. In fact, federal agencies are lucky to be able to recruit and hire graduates of the Scholarship for Service Program. This program was designed to prepare students to graduate with specific knowledge and skills in IT Security and Information Assurance that would transfer immediately in the workplace.

Finally, “Blame” advises that many companies treat employees as disposable and fewer than half of large companies are successful in creating specific career paths. Again, federal agencies may have an advantage. The CIO Council’s IT Workforce Committee has created an IT Career Development Roadmap to assist IT Professionals in government to build long-term career progression plans.

My fellow blogger, Alan Balutis, expressed significant insight when commenting that organizations should continue to employ strategic human resource planning in spite of the impending retirement tsunami that has not yet really developed. Ongoing workforce planning is critical to determine an organization’s targeted needs to meet mission goals. And, as the exodus builds, year by year, agencies must be prepared.

I was privileged to head up the IT community’s Workforce Capability Assessment for several years and realized the value of the governmentwide information that it produced. The assessment, recently released, (late partly due to my retirement) provides a macro look at the bench strength of the IT workforce and hones in on competency and skill gaps that should be addressed in critical job areas. In addition, agency-specific data can be and is used to inform analysis at various levels in individual departments and agencies.

Other communities have adopted the IT assessment model, including the Acquisitions Community, discussed in a FAI newsletter. This example of workforce planning allows agencies and functional communities to be strategically positioned for the future.

My friend and former colleague, Darren Ash, chief information officer at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, writes in Federal Times about using new tools to conduct work, retain staff and transfer knowledge to keep pace with today’s environment and changing workforce, and to meet emerging agency needs. Darren provides an excellent overview on key strategies for agency CIOs to consider to move forward technologically with an edge for the future.