As federal agencies navigate workforce transformation and embrace opportunities to increase efficiencies and mitigate cybersecurity risks, technology plays a vital role in driving progress. At Maximus, our decades of extensive experience as a trusted government partner have shown that while new IT solutions are certainly part of the equation, collaborative partnerships are equally crucial in achieving lasting success.
In a recent interview with Government Executive, Tricia Belman, managing director for federal financial services at Maximus, noted that by leveraging both industry and government partners along with strategic modernization, agencies can drive meaningful results while keeping escalating technology costs at bay. Belman predicts that collaborative approaches will become staples of agencies’ efforts to streamline processes, support knowledge transfer, and reduce cybersecurity vulnerabilities—ultimately driving better service delivery to the public.
Here, we look at the key ways that Belman sees collaborative models as a boon to federal efficiencies—and practical steps agencies can take to start putting them in motion.
Facilitate knowledge sharing to optimize resources, Belman notes that collaboration can be a stabilizing force for government teams at risk of institutional knowledge loss from staff reductions and attrition. These partnerships facilitate knowledge sharing and resource optimization between industry and government, and between experienced and junior staff. “It’s a reshaping of the workforce balance of subject matter experts, senior folks, mid-level folks, all the way down to the junior level,” says Belman.
Getting started:
- Get civil servants and contractors with complementary skills in the same room to share solutions and augment available skills and expertise—bringing the vision of “one team, one mission” into focus.
- Pair staff with modern and legacy skills to strike an efficient balance, such as matching tech-savvy colleagues with senior staff who can help them navigate project execution or develop leadership skills.
Look to industry partners for workforce management best practices
Belman notes that Maximus focuses extensively on optimizing its own resources in order to better serve government partners—and this learning can also be a collaborative asset. Industry partners that cultivate excellence in workforce management and adopt advanced technologies to track skills and resources offer crucial expertise for agencies whose missions rely on contractor support. Getting started:
- Ensure mission continuity by choosing industry partners with robust processes for tracking requirements and clearances and cultivation of both technical skills and agency/industry knowledge.
- Tap trusted partners to integrate advanced workforce management tools, such as AI-powered skills assessments and tracking, ensuring visibility across programs to boost workforce utilization.
Collaborate across agencies to enhance security while streamlining cyber tools
Belman notes that collaboration among and within government agencies is also key—and in the case of cybersecurity, it presents an opportunity to overcome the inefficiencies of incremental approaches and disparate tools and solutions.