The federal CIO Council has said that the “impending explosion of artificial intelligence and automation will affect people and organizations alike,” requiring both to adapt.
From the employee perspective, “Not only will the skillsets required significantly shift, but also the way in which professionals acquire them. Several thought leaders suggest lifelong learning will become more important for professionals to stay relevant. Learning formats will shift to competency-based models, and community colleges will likely play an increasingly important role in professional development and continuing education,” according to a summary of a recent roundtable of government and industry experts.
From the agency perspective, “Culture is key to survival. Organizations that reward a willingness to learn new skills and understand that failure is a part of experimentation will fare better,” it said.
The experts “agreed that partnering with industry and hosting bootcamps for federal employees to prepare them for the future is the best starting point. Framing jobs in the federal government as short-term ‘tours of duty’ similar to the model implement by US Digital Services, Presidential Innovation Fellows, and [GSA’s tech startup-like incubator] 18F is also necessary to attract top notch talent with forward thinking, fresh ideas to the public sector.”
“Providing services to the American people might even be something that private tech companies consider including as desired experience on candidate resumes. Similarly, the CIO Council is supporting the 21st Century Workforce Cross-Agency Priority Goal, which focuses on the need to recruit, retain, and develop a modern, digital workforce who can maximize the benefits of these technological advancements,” it added.
