The Mission: Learning

As it has in many other industries, learning in government has changed greatly as technology has leapt forward. “When I first started my federal career [in the] 1980s, a typical method to assess needs was making sure that line managers had access to the most recent training catalogs to share with their employees,” Bergquist said. “Most training events were conducted in classrooms, and the idea of blended learning was tossing in a movie whenever possible.”

He said the government learning environment has and will become far more sophisticated. “As technology grows, so will government learning methodologies,” he said. Agencies will be better equipped to achieve the necessary linkage between performance and learning by activating and connecting competency and performance management with tools such as the LMS.

Lang said keeping pace with technological breakthroughs is crucial for CLOs, but they should take care not to dispense with established methods when new ones come along. What’s important is making a contribution to the organizational system. “The method of communication, the method of teaching, there is not only one right way, and each new technology doesn’t replace the other, they simply add on to it.”

Again, like learning in other industries, learning in government today is challenged by financial constraints brought on by the economy. These constraints encourage innovation whenever possible because learning leaders must be creative in their efforts to develop a continuous learning culture. “Government agencies are beginning to collaborate more with each other to share best practices and create engaging learning opportunities for their respective organizations,” Bergquist said.

Lang also emphasized collaboration, which he said is less instinctual and necessary for corporate learning entities. “There is a difficulty in doing that in the private sector when you have competing companies,” he said. “But in the government sector it’s an absolute necessity to find ways to share resources and experiences to cut down the cost of government and the cost of delivery. [Government CLOs] should reach out and work with as many people as possible. Step No. 1, they should reach out to people who are doing the same thing they’re doing and learn from them rather than trying to re-create the wheel every time they do something.”