The Fluid Employee: Adaptability in the 21st Century
By Steven Fleming, Brad Janocha, and Luis Machado
This article was originally published in USGIF’s State & Future of GEOINT Report 2017. Download the full report here.
We live in a world of data connections; there is no moment in our lives not affected by the interconnections and translation of data across screens and time zones. As our personal lives adapt to the 21st century, our professional lives seem to lag behind. There has been a push to improve the technological capacity of the workforce by making better tools and providing in-depth training for professionals to use them more capably. The consequence of supremely well-trained individuals specialized in one skill set is the creation of silos that hinder communication and delay potential action steps. While there is an argument that validates the need for experts, the 21st century connected world requires something additional in the workforce. There is a vital need for a cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary adaptable professional, capable of transitioning knowledge from one field to another.
Today’s problems are a function of yesterday’s solutions; where once specialization was heralded as the race to achieve mastery, it is today frowned upon in an increasingly complex and interconnected world. Having mastery of one skill set or being specialized in one area is no longer critical in information technology. Tomorrow’s professionals need to be more than a specialized employee — they need to be specialized learners. Further, integration and collaboration with other disciplines (e.g., data science, analysis, visualization, etc.) is necessary to address complex problems.
As an increasingly complicated and intermingled world breeds more complex problems, the integration of specializations (recognizing the value of linking experts with novices) is necessary. Iterative specialization for those in the GEOINT workforce is strongly recommended. Having teachers become students is often difficult in the professional environment, but the potential rewards are immense. Encouraging individuals to embark on iterative specialization would likely enhance the lines of communication within organizations as more knowledge becomes translatable between individuals fluent in various specializations.
Long-term planning today for the problems of tomorrow will provide a workforce that is capable of exactly the kind of transformational, cross-disciplinary approach needed in the Intelligence Community. In doing so, the goal is to anticipate the problems of the future by equipping the organizations facing them with individuals who are competent, professional, and capable of rapid adaptation. Their strengths will lie in their ability to communicate effectively with each other as well as to decision-makers and data providers, to react to questions, and to respond with innovative thinking. However, in planning for the future, the community cannot overlook the present. We still need formal structures to address present-day issues.
Cultivating Talent: Creating Bridges Between Worlds
Every need organizations have, whether academic, private, or governmental, can be filled by some combination of the resources, material, and skills held by another organization. This idea is an expansion of the idioms that “Two heads are better than one” or “No one is as smart as everyone,” which should be the basis for how the GEOINT Community should adapt to present challenges. The message is not to devalue what is currently in place, but to continue to build internally and intra-systemically, bridging the areas where boundaries restrict opportunities.
Incorporating theoreticians, educators, researchers, and students into the professional GEOINT workforce allows sharing of cross-platform and cross-disciplinary perspectives. What seems impossible to one group is seen as theoretically possible for another, and there are clear advantages to sharing ideas in both structured and unstructured scenarios. There are standard tools for taking advantage of these exchanges. Internship clearinghouses, sabbaticals, and visiting fellowships allow for the crossing of academic talent into the professional workspace. And the reverse should also be pursued to carry the talents of professional operators into the world of academia and bring to life concepts and theories. A version of this is being put into practice at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) with the launch of its eNGAge program, which is designed to support the exchange of personnel between industry and academia.
An expansion of that idea is the development of team structures pulled together from academic, government, and professional organizations. Comprised of subject matter experts and novices, these teams concentrate diverse skill sets and backgrounds to address pressing key intelligence questions (KIQs). These teams could be formed as small and independent think tank equivalents, with one general supervisor within the team reporting on progress and successes to a centralized forum with oversight capabilities. A small number of teams could be arranged per broad subject area, in a fashion similar to NGA’s GEOINT Pathfinder project.
The idea of creating teams incorporating talent from various areas is not new to the industry. Matrixed organizations have been used in a similar fashion for years, combining vertical and horizontal integration to expand decision-making and idea-generating capacity. In a matrixed organization, the horizontal integration relates to different personnel being assigned to one solution team without losing their primary employment tasks. One general manager whose authority extends horizontally across departments/groups manages their contributions to the solutions. Vertical integration refers to the primary employment tasks within a standard organizational hierarchy, where authority flows downward through a department/group. Without losing the advantages of matrixed organizations, the team structure is an expansion of the same idea.
Teams would engage in collaborative efforts across fields (academic, private, governmental) rather than departments. Teams would be developed to mine talents of diverse skill sets — not just of distinct specialties, but also specifically by the inclusion of novices and specialists within the same team. Individuals would continue their employment in their chosen area and collaborate with their group as time allowed, with one member of the team undertaking a rotating position of authority centralizing and reporting on their progress. The expansion of the team idea is based loosely on the concept of a “fire team” in the Army, tasked to address a situation in a small but adaptable unit while forming part of a larger oversight structure. The team gains a measure of independence to operate into the unknown, seeking answers, while the valued intelligence is reported back.
The obvious advantage to the team structure, beyond the potential for innovative solutions, is the creation of bridges across information sectors, organizations, and departments where teams could be created. A second advantage of the team structure is the potential to create an index of all individuals available. If members reported assessments of each other, especially if team members rotated through to teams, said index would provide an internal perspective of all individuals involved. That resource would allow for quick reformulation of groups by the oversight organization, teams built around specific KIQs when short-term responses were needed. Managed by an oversight agency or organization, teams could be adaptable, responsive, and innovative in the disruptive formation.
NGA is an obvious organizational choice to develop this team structure and expand upon programs it currently operates. An initial step toward this idea would be to expand the GEOINT Solutions Marketplace (GSM) and encourage teams to self-identify and cooperatively develop ideas by working outside the silo of their particular organization. Instead of being an environment in which standalone organizations can pitch solutions and innovative ideas, GSM has the potential to create disruptive teams of diverse backgrounds that could cooperatively outthink any one organization. Solving present challenges will mean leveraging current talent into the most effective positions, while innovatively ushering in the next generation of workers.
Cultivating Habits: Education for the Professional World
The future of the GEOINT workforce lies beyond the education, training, and professional experience of the current workforce. It lies in the establishment and fostering of long-term relationships that allow the cultivation of new talents for current and future organizations. These relationships need to build on the current work being done by USGIF, NGA, and others that bridge gaps among government, academic, and private sectors. Development of a workforce of cross-disciplinary employees through a focused educational program must become a priority. This educational development process can start with the introduction of GEOINT at the K-12 level.
Beyond the potential for the next generation of professionals to begin their geospatial education in grade school, the idea of GEOINT constructed as a supplement directly integrated in education curriculum dovetails into Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) goals of creating an aware citizenry. GEOINT is a critical tool in that effort, beginning with the premise of geo-locality — building awareness of the space one inhabits and what one’s surroundings are.
K-12 education has slowly begun to incorporate technologies typically found under the GEOINT umbrella, such as remote sensing, landscape analysis, and geographic analysis. The curricular objectives included under NGSS provide a platform to stretch even further. NGSS were published in April 2013 and are a newly formulated standard to teach science curriculum in K-12 education. Currently adopted in 17 states and the District of Columbia, NGSS were created from the National Research Council’s (NRC) “Framework for K-12 Science Education,” published in 2011. As a part of the National Academy of Sciences, NRC pulled together nationally and internationally known scientists, engineers, and researchers to develop the framework, which is being adapted by states to redesign science learning to prepare students for college and careers. NGSS objectives focus on creating system-wide thinking and modeling lessons intended to facilitate K-12 learning and critical thinking skills.
NGSS has the potential to create a generation of thinkers who will become the adaptable professionals the GEOINT workforce needs. This holistic and hands-on approach to science and engineering is grounded in three guiding dimensions: Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Disciplinary Core Ideas. Through the Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs), students cultivate work ethic and skills, becoming critical thinkers and problem-solvers who use scientific reasoning to ask and answer KIQs. Evidence-based education will be essential in climate change arguments and in addressing the social phenomena leading to global security problems. SEPs guide students through understanding social phenomena, while also framing the Crosscutting Concepts (CCs) that transcend scientific disciplines. CCs help develop an analytical prowess, enabling students to recognize the patterns, cause and effect relationships, and other broad but essential conceptual knowledge intrinsic to all fields of science. An understanding of these principles enhances the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) that guide a student’s academic career. DCIs maintain NGSS’s vertical alignment, allowing students to build an understanding of disciplinary ideas (e.g., human impact on Earth systems, climate change, etc.) throughout their K-12 education.
When enriching NGSS-aligned curriculum with GEOINT technologies, program designers should use the Five E’s of Science to shape their lessons: Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation classically outline science lessons, and, when combined with NGSS and GEOINT, the classes become more meaningful. SEPs guide students in the Exploration phase through which GEOINT technologies such as GPS, GIS, or remote sensing could be used to investigate DCIs, CCs, and KIQs. GEOINT technology could be used to explore scientific phenomena and data on the K-12 level. Students experiencing NGSS curriculum implementing this technology would graduate from high school as adaptable, versatile analysts who have already engaged with GEOINT tools.
There are academic institutions currently developing and implementing templates that introduce students to GIS, programing, fundamentals of coding, and 3D modeling. These are NGSS-suitable and provide introductory lessons to the very technologies used by analysts in major defense and intelligence organizations. There is potential for private and government organizations to similarly join or engage in cooperative efforts to develop a GEOINT curriculum built directly into educational activities to foster aware and engaged students.
Universities in Maryland are currently developing STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) programs for K-12 level students that teach critical thinking through GEOINT applications including GIS and 3D modeling. Those efforts are an early step in the direction of potential cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary learning. Many areas of study, from history, math, social studies, and physics should incorporate the early stages of GEOINT material to provide the solid foundation to cultivate more technically competent professionals-to-be. GEOINT is itself an application of STEM; this understanding and the NGSS framework create an opportunity the GEOINT Community must take advantage of. Collaborating with educational partners is often a matter of expressing an interest in doing so. Educators rarely have a surplus of useful support, and our industry needs to invest in the next generation talent.
There is a place in education for GEOINT, and there is a place in the GEOINT Community for professionals from the field of education. As the private sector and the government sector continue to foster connections and develop strategies maximizing the advantages of funding to opportunities, the potential for educational partnership should not be lost. Through USGIF and NGA, there are systems that connect and combine the three orbiting spheres. As a community, we should actively seek engagement outside of our “bubble” and take advantage of available resources to communicate our needs and abilities.
NGA has a renewed commitment for transparency in unclassified data, which is fundamentally changing the way the public understands the value of GEOINT. The community at large should commit to develop partnerships and engage with others. We have the potential to build the teams to engage the KIQs of the present and the opportunity to integrate the ideas that will train the workforce of tomorrow into NGSS standards. All branches of the GEOINT Community need to grow the partnerships that will make those efforts successful.
