Skillsoft Federal Perspectives – the Tradition Continues

May 29, 2019 | Activate Learning | 2 min read
Skillsoft Federal Perspectives – the Tradition Continues

It’s that time of the year again in DC – the Washington Nationals are in full swing, spring is in the air, and Skillsoft’s annual Federal Perspectives took place. 2019 marked our 17th year celebrating this customer event, a number that reflects our commitment to the federal workforce, our understanding of the critical importance of this market on the overall success of our nation and our alignment to federal initiatives and requirements. Over 110 customer participants representing 60+ organizations attended. We are honored to have such a great federal customer base and delighted to watch the numbers attending grow every year.

The event offered attendees presentations, networking opportunities, best practice sharing, collaboration and plenty of time to engage with Skillsoft and SumTotal subject matter experts. Here are some of the highlights from my perspective (pun intended):

  • John Forsythe, Managing Director, Government & Public Services, Deloitte Consulting, delivered a fantastic and engaging presentation about the digital transformation going on all around us and how that requires a transition to a new type of digital leadership which is underpinned by four potential dimensions – change potential, intellectual potential, people potential and motivational potential. He believes that for leaders to be successful today, they still need high levels of acumen and proficiency in the traditional 22 OPM ECQ’s but also need a fundamental understanding of topics like data science, computation thinking, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and others. To learn more about John’s and his team’s research, I recommend reading Leading Government in the Digital Age.
  • Mike Hendrickson, Vice President of Technology & Developer Products, Skillsoft, continued the theme about transformation and modernization but focused on the critical technology and developer skills the federal workforce will need to be successful. He outlined Skillsoft’s Aspire learning journeys and demonstrated how they align with the federal government’s IT modernization initiatives.
  • Our customer panel discussion where the IRS, USDA, and OCC discussed supporting transformation initiatives through leadership development and alignment to the business initiatives of their key internal stakeholders.
  • Presenting our 2nd annual Federal Innovation awards. This year’s winners are:
    • The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for Creating an Impact
    • The Defense Security Service for Program of the Year Small/Midsize Agency
    • The Internal Revenue Service for Program of the Year Large Agency
Here's Wilma Robinson, Internal Revenue Service, receiving their award.

Thanks to all who joined us and we hope to see you again next year!

Randy Newman is the Vice President, Federal at Skillsoft.