To combat the growing skills gap metastasizing across the federal government, agency leaders should incorporate human capital strategies into their long-term strategic plans, Chris Mihm, the Government Accountability Office’s managing director for intergovernmental relations and strategic issues said in Washington Tuesday.
“Many agencies face a number of critical skills gaps that they have to work their way out of,” Mihm said. “Increasingly, success is going to be thinking in new and creative ways—and that’s the link that has to take place between human capital approaches, human capital planning and the mission outcomes that we need to achieve.”
GAO has been conducting and releasing its High Risk Reports every two years since 2000 to address federal programs and organizations subject to waste, fraud, mismanagement or fundamental deficiencies in human performance. Reflecting on more recent reports, Mihm noted a concerning revelation: 16 of the 35 areas currently on the High Risk List have “a critical skills gap” as among the root causes of the problem being faced. He says the gap is serious as it undermines mission performance across many agencies.
And the…
