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Is DoD Bringing Everything to the Table in Educating Its Civilian Workforce? - U.S. Department of Defense - Brief Article

Program Manager - January 1, 2001

A Look at DoD's Current Array of Professional Education Tools

Is the Department of Defense (DoD) leveraging every opportunity for our civilian workforce to excel? Are we bringing into our offices the knowledge necessary to carry out viable operations or programs that will move us into the [21.sup.st] century? Many organizations have no plan for fostering leadership development, nor is a Service college education for civilian personnel always made readily available. What really needs to be brought to the table for the government, the military, and defense agencies, Service colleges, and universities to ensure the professional training, education, and career development of DoD's future civilian leaders?

No one can doubt the necessity for training on a new equipment system, for example, in telecommunications or manufacturing, but what about the development and fostering of our management teams? Typically, the future of an organization is vested in the junior supervisor or manager to ensure that operations continue well into the programmed life cycle of a system. Likewise, equal attention needs to be given DoD civilian employees in the area of leadership development.

Investing in Professionals

In October 1998, John Hamre, former Deputy Secretary of Defense, administered the oath of office to the first DoD Chancellor of Education, Dr. Jerome Smith. Hamre said:

"DoD has to invest more in our professionals. How we do that - what ways and how much - is still an open question. It's going to be Dr. Smith's responsibility to guide us on that."

In a later interview; Smith reflects, "We cannot attract and keep quality people if we bring them in with the view they have learned everything they [will] ever need to know; and from then on it's a matter of being a practitioner. We have to engage in what is called continuing education." [1] He adds, "If you look at our system for the civilian workforce, it is not remotely equivalent to what we provide our military members or military dependents. Our civilian workforce is trained and educated in a variety of ways or not at all."

The DoD Professional Military Education (PME) system is world-class, and participation is prescribed by specific grade or rate structure. The Military Services as well as Defense Agencies support the components of the process. In reflecting on our education programs for the military, William S. Cohen, Secretary of Defense, said: "Over the years we've put a lot of focus on training our servicemembers and officers, and the rewards have been immeasurable. We now have to put the same emphasis on developing the skills of the 730,000 civilians who serve this Department."

With reductions in military authorizations and the need for military personnel to focus on warfighting missions, DoD recognizes an increased urgency to properly equip the Department's civilian employees to fulfill key roles of leadership within their organizations.

Even though organizations can provide more schooling, education, and training experience throughout a career, it really becomes the responsibility of the individual to harbor new ideas for job performance and growth. Making educational, training, and career development tools available to civilian personnel by developing career assessment and career development plans, provides the baseline for advances in our organizations.

Technological Direction

In a presentation before the Naval Postgraduate School Conference on "Military Education for the [21.sup.st.] Century Warrior," Jack Reed, Senator from Rhode Island, said:

"We all understand that we are in the midst of a tremendous revolution in technology -information technology in particular. This is an intellectual idea we can all grasp. But when you go out and visit some of the more exciting places around here, particularly Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, and all the companies I have been going to these last few days, you realize what they're doing is investing dramatically in the education of their workforce. In fact, their whole approach to the future is investing in the human capital of their employees, It's transcended any other resource that they command as business leaders." [2]

Reed points directly to the need to develop leaders who understand technology, systems, and the history of the nation they work in. These are poignant reminders for any organization. Looking to the development of leaders gives us a sound basis from which to build a strong and viable structure of civilian personnel; in fact, highly trained civilian personnel, working alongside their military counterparts, will inevitably become the building blocks to DoD's future direction.

In that vein, DoD needs to be prepared to meet the challenges that lie ahead for the next decade -- the challenges that are sent forward to the DoD and its organizations as they move into this new century. How will the future needs of the workforce be articulated? This question led to the mandate to provide world-class educational programs for civilian employees. When organizations take the standard and recognize what is required to develop successful leaders, they position themselves to adapt to changing environments. This builds the framework for a cadre of highly trained professional supervisors, managers, and executives.

Looking for Options

The Government Employees Training Act (5 U.S.C. 4100) provides a broad definition of training to assist DoD members, Agencies, and Services in understanding requirements.

"Training means the process of providing for, and making available to an employee, and placing and enrolling the employee in a planned, prepared, and coordinated program, course, curriculum, subject system, or routine of instruction or education in scientific, professional, technical, mechanical, trade, clerical, fiscal, administrative, or other fields, which will improve individual and organizational performance and assist in achieving the agency's mission and performance goals."

In simple terms, organizations provide individuals, regardless of their rank or position, the ability to gain knowledge with professional development, and enable them to better perform their jobs with a greater impact on the mission. A training process that has no limits is not constrained by a standard model of education.

The inability of individuals to adapt to change has been a real hindrance in advancing education programs. Organizational bureaucracies have grown -- many times specializing in lacking the leadership and the freedom to change with time. Vice President Al Gore, in his address on "Transforming Governments in the 21st Century," reminds us that a common phrase in government used to be "good enough for government work." [3] He says, "Clearly all of us face the challenge of changing this culture and leading and empowering employees to make innovations we need." Therefore, we no longer can operate in America, and in DoD, the way we used to. We have to move toward securing a higher standard for our organizations and for our staff.

The leadership within DoD has recognized the necessity to provide solid career development programs for their civilian employees. These programs are crucial to the emergence of future leaders within DoD. The commitment for this starts at the GS-09 level and ensures that personnel obtain a strong knowledge base as they progress in their careers. Future civilian leaders are now being educated with our future military leaders in greater numbers thanks to the recognition of these past failures and the realization that this need must be met.

In 1997, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) developed a DoD-wide leader development program in response to recommendations of the Commission on Roles and Missions. It called for changes to train senior civilians. The Defense Leadership and Management Program (DLAMP) was the result of that commission, which stemmed from the need for a systematic program of leader development that provided significant benefits to participants and their sponsoring organizations. The program is a part of what is required to give civilian personnel a leadership role in all Services and Agencies. Through DLAMP, the number of civilians that receive senior-level professional military education at the various War Colleges has been greatly increased.

So, what should each of us be looking at regarding educational development? Dr. John Dill, the DoD Deputy Chancellor for Education and Professional Development, reflects on the long-term implications of educational development.

"We learn the importance of education when we go through the downsizing, when we look at retirements and other pertinent issues," he said. "What we have to do is to track folks early in their careers, so they do not look at government service as a way station to another job in industry, but rather as a long-term career as a DoD employee." [4]

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