In our summer 2010 issue, Marnie
Green, principle consultant of the Management Education Group,
wrote about the growing trends that are changing the public
workforce and dictating not only who we hire, but how we work.
These four trends are:
1. Threaded Environments
2. Self-Reliance
3. Knowledge Sharing
4. Portability
Threaded environments require the development of internal and
external alliances in order to reach intended goals. In a threaded
environment, we depend on relationships, and today, those
relationships are likely to live in a virtual world. Workforces
that thrive in threaded environments will rely on a new set of
skills than what is commonly found in today's public workforce.
"Public Organizations will continue to develop a network of
partnerships and alliances with talented people-small niche players
who provide nimbleness - and access to new tools and services on an
as-needed basis. The government workforce of the future will be
more dependent on relationships with external providers and will
require greater skills in the areas of alliance-building,
negotiating, and virtual teambuilding skills."
We are already seeing changes take place in reaction to these new
threaded environments. California, for example, now has more than
65 official "contract cities," local governments that operate
primarily through contracts with other organizations to provide
basic governmental services. This form of local outsourcing is
expected to grow into a $20 billion market by the end of this year.
As your work increasingly becomes more threaded, your reliance on
virtual communities and relationships with external service
providers will expand. To help your organization make the most of
this growing trend, follow Marnie's advice below and
read more about these workforce changing trends in the summer 2010
issue of The Public Manager:
• Seek alliances with niche providers
• Explore new ways to share information and train
employees
• Encourage professional networking via social media
technology
• Invest in centralized conferencing and web broadcast
facilities to emphasize learning opportunities that do not require
travel.