In this hyper-disrupted world, nearly half of Canadian workers must be reskilled by 2026. The half-life of skills is shrinking, the pace of technological change is accelerating, and the next wave of change will only continue to follow this trend. Innovations — think generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) — now mature much faster than in the past.
Across the government and public sector, legacy approaches to learning may be holding progress back in this operating environment. How? Learning is now critical to futureproofing organizations and providing meaningful and engaging career experiences — the kinds that attract and retain top talent. Some 65% of workers prefer to learn on the job. But government and public sector organizations aren’t typically structured to provide training in this way.
That makes now the time for these organizations to get ahead of the trend and put learning into the flow of life and work. In fact, weaving learning right into ongoing transformation programs can help. Doing so drives greater impact and skills mastery in real time, all the while reframing career journeys to drive individual and organizational success.
How is reality changing for government and public sector organizations today?
Necessary transformation abounds in this sector. Government organizations at all levels are actively pursuing transformation initiatives in one shape or form. By the numbers, the EY Tech Horizon Study 2022 showed some 56% are either in the early planning stages of broader transformation or making incremental changes as a first step towards that goal.
Massive digital and technological changes are catalyzing a corresponding change in the workforce. What does that look like? There’s a dramatic acceleration in digital service delivery and increased virtual interactions with citizens across many areas of government. Going forward, government employees will need to innovate at speed and stress-test new digital solutions. They’ll have to deploy emerging tech and operating models with agility, continuously developing skills and adapting working practice.
This momentum implies people working in these organizations will be expected to perform new activities — and become future ready to do so effectively. It also highlights a considerable opportunity to bridge transformation and learning in support of better outcomes overall.
Embedding learning in transformation programs enables teams to enhance value, all while de-risking transformation itself.
People aren’t ready to face the rapid acceleration of technology changes that transformation entails. But traditional learning simply cannot keep up in this new working world:
- External learning is generally available from only a select few sources and often pushed by supervisors.
What do government organizations need instead? A wide variety of sources, both traditional and transformational, pulled by employees based on needs.
- Learning is static, delivered at a point in time, limiting learners access to instructors.
What do government organizations need instead? Learning that is accessible at the right time, in the right context — plus access to experts through a variety of formats and channels.
- Training is constrained to a classroom or a desk.
What do government organizations need instead? Learning in and out of the classroom in a breadth of environments.
- One-time instructional learning is out of context and disconnected from the work.
What do government organizations need instead? Unique experiences aligned to the work, tailored to the needs of the employee.
On top of these existing disconnects between learning and broader transformation programs, EY research suggests that when governments experience bumps in the road — think challenges in planning or implementing a transformation program — momentum in workforce changes can stall. Put simply, if you’ve tacked learning on at the end of a transformation program, employees may wait longer to learn the necessary skills relevant for a successful transformation, potentially widening the skills gap even further. Layer in the fact that people forget about 75% percent of learning in just six days if it’s not applied, and the case for connecting learning to what people are actually working through on a daily basis becomes increasingly relevant.¹
Building learning into the transformation workflow means employees deploying the change will emerge ready to act on it, embrace it and work in new ways right after the transformation is complete. They’ll also have had ample opportunity to test out their skills during the transformation process, and layer in additional, self-selected training as they encounter new knowledge or skills gaps along the way. This means no more playing catch-up through static learning programs that, realistically, may already be irrelevant or outdated when tacked on at the end of a transformation program.
