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If there were a talent competition for talent management, the Office of Information and Technology (OIT) at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would take the top spot.
This year, OIT’s Talent Management Office (TMO) received recognition for its work in the learning and development industry through two prestigious awards — Chief Learning Officer magazine’s LearningElite Award and the Association for Talent Development’s BEST Award.
Each year, Chief Learning Officer magazine recognizes the learning and development industry’s top organizations with the LearningElite Awards program. Out of the 59 organizations recognized this year, VA OIT’s Talent Management Office is a top-ten finalist for the award and is being honored for its exemplary workforce development strategies that deliver significant business results in accordance with VA’s Digital Transformation Strategy and priorities. In support of the Department’s workforce transformation imperative, TMO provides OIT employees with the skills they need to deliver an exceptional IT experience to their customers and Veterans. All finalists will learn where they placed among their peers at a gala in August.
Additionally, this year, the Talent Management Office won a BEST Award, from the Association of Talent Development, for enterprise-wide success as a result of employee talent development efforts. The BEST award celebrates TMO’s use of talent development as a strategic business tool to achieve real results.
TMO’s BEST Award reflects its strategic development and integration of future-focused workforce development programs and close collaboration with all levels of leadership in the development process. Backed by unique learning objectives and learners’ needs, these programs, like Information System Security Officer capstones and New Hire Orientation, help even those who are new to OIT’s complexities to provide the best experience for all Veterans. The OIT Talent Management Office’s expert instructional designers consider a comprehensive list of factors to identify the right training modality for various populations and topics.
For Nathan Tierney, Acting Director of TMO, this accomplishment would not be possible without the TMO team’s outstanding customer service and commitment. “To be in the top 10 organizations for industry development and learning is an amazing accomplishment,” he remarks. Addressing his team, Mr. Tierney credits them for this honor, “Thank you for all that you do to drive talent development and build a culture of excellence.”
TMO has significantly advanced the learning and development industry by embedding itself as a strategic partner within the enterprise and across all levels of leadership to ensure that workforce development solutions meet VA’s mission and promote a learning culture. The organization’s forward-thinking approach leads to continual program evaluations and workforce development analyses that align strategy to today’s needs, but also analyzes up to 10 years out to be ready for tomorrow.
As part of OIT’s IT Resource Management division, TMO provides workforce development to nearly 8,000 OIT employees who support VA in serving 18.8 million American Veterans. TMO ensures that both staff and leadership have the necessary tools for effective service through programs like the Succession Management Program that support Senior Executive, Senior Level, and Scientific or Professional roles. The office’s comprehensive learning strategy focuses on development, recruitment, retention, and full integration of OIT’s Digital Transformation Strategy. As the foundation of that learning strategy, TMO’s IT Workforce Development office designs and delivers training solutions using strategic learning events, in-person training, live broadcasts, on-demand recordings, and industry-recognized certifications like their comprehensive IT Certification Program aimed at bringing the right certifications to OIT’s IT professionals.
TMO’s learning strategy also focuses on developing current and projected capabilities of staff—refreshing employees’ skills and evolving them as necessary through a Competency Model Program that offers a data-driven, “from the field, to the field” approach to workforce development. They evaluate and update programs based on metrics like training effectiveness, training efficiency, competency strength, gap, and goal data, workforce capability and employee engagement indexes, and program-specific evaluations.
“The TMO, as the centralized OIT employee focused organization from recruitment, development, engagement up to retirement; It is important to TMO to foster a learning and communicative work environment, notes Angela DeSarro, Director of IT Workforce Development. “That is why IT Workforce Development customizes workforce development programs to a variety of unique populations that range from End User Operations Customer Support to Cyber Training Academy. Through a structured Analysis, Design Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (ADDIE) approach, an Agile framework, creative instruction strategies, communication campaigns, and effective technology like the VA’s Talent Management System and the VA IT Virtual Campus, users can be interactive and engaged throughout learning events to help drive solutions.”
Through measurement and evaluation strategies, OIT’s Talent Management Office delivers positive results that help drive business results and maximize cost savings. The organization’s ability to leverage technology, like the VA IT Campus, will continue to support communications and training efforts during the pandemic and beyond.
