Cross-skilling: How to maintain government efficiency amidst change

With federal policies and executive orders constantly changing, government agencies are left to manage unclear budgets and shifting workforce structures—all while continuing to drive their mission forward. 

The key to managing this uncertainty and maintaining efficiency? Upskilling and cross-skilling.

Tony Holmes, Pluralsight’s Practice Lead for Solutions Architects Public Sector, explains why cross-skilling and expert generalists are essential for increasing agencies’ adaptability and maximizing IT workforce potential amidst change.

Want more insights on cross-skilling your tech teams? Watch the on-demand webinar.

The Trump administration has introduced rapid changes and new executive orders. As a result, government agencies at all levels—federal, state, and local—face budget cuts, workforce reductions, and increasing demands.

Upskilling and cross-skilling allow you to build resilient teams with versatile skills. This improves your agency’s efficiency in a few ways: 

• Fewer employees can manage responsibilities across domains, helping you make the most of your existing headcount
• Teams with broader expertise can pivot as priorities change, ensuring continuity even during workforce or budget fluctuations
• Technologists with broad skill sets can proactively identify challenges and develop effective solutions

Success in this shifting landscape requires you to rethink your technology roles and the skills people need to succeed. 

“We've been conditioned to believe that if something doesn't fit the mold, it must be wrong,” said Tony. “If a skillset doesn't match our predefined checklist, the person isn't qualified. If our career path doesn't follow a linear trajectory, something must have gone off track.

“But what if the mold itself is the problem? The problem that we have in our organizations isn't a lack of talent. It's that we've made it harder and harder to recognize talent unless it looks exactly the way that we expect it to.”

Rather than looking for people who are experts in a single field, Tony encourages agencies to cross skill and consider the power of expert generalists for tech roles. 

“We've been told that the best way to solve complex problems is to find the best experts, the person with the deepest knowledge in that domain, or the one who spent years refining their skillset in a particular area,” said Tony.

“And that does work until the problem doesn't fit inside a single domain anymore. The reality is in technology, most of the biggest challenges we face today don't have boundaries.”

Expert generalists don’t have these boundaries because they don’t rely on a single area of expertise. They can pull from a broad range of subjects and disciplines to solve complex business technology problems.

Famous expert generalists include Isaac Newton, Aristotle, Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, and Leonardo Da Vinci. In the workplace, expert generalists often display these traits:

• Resilience: They stay productive and keep a level head, even when things go wrong
• Curiosity: They’re problem solvers who ask questions, transfer knowledge, and always look for better answers
• Creativity and resourcefulness: They know where to look to find solutions, even in places where no one else is thinking to look

In practice, cross-skilling can solve critical problems agencies face today.

“We are rushing to hire AI specialists in the belief that artificial intelligence is a field of its own, something separate that requires a brand new category of expertise,” said Tony. “But artificial intelligence isn't a standalone discipline. It's a tool that enhances existing fields.”

“It’s not replacing jobs, it's replacing tasks that rely on memorization, routine execution, and fixed patterns. The people who will thrive are those that can apply knowledge in unexpected ways, connect ideas, and navigate that uncertainty,” said Tony.

Cross-skilling allows technologists to pull from various domains and use AI to its fullest potential.

When layoffs impact critical roles like cybersecurity, there are fewer professionals to identify, respond to, and mitigate risks. Equipping general IT professionals with cybersecurity expertise can help them protect government systems, improve security response times, and build resilience to somewhat mitigate lost headcount.

“I'm not advocating for a complete overhaul and telling you to go and fire all your specialists tomorrow and replace them with generalists. Specialists still have a critical role to play within our tech organizations,” said Tony.

But many organizations would benefit from balancing the number of specialists and generalists within their workforce. Here’s how they can do just that.

“If we want more [expert generalists], we need to stop forcing people to stay in a single lane and start encouraging people to study broadly. That's why the foundation of technology teams is access to high quality, relevant, and up-to-date curated learning from instructors that are considered by their peers as experts in their field,” said Tony.

Quality learning solutions give expert generalists the resources to build their skills across domains like cloud computing, AI, and data. They also give specialists the opportunity to go deeper and build up their expertise even more.

When assessing tech skill development solutions, look for ones that offer hands-on learning. Tony explained why: “Theoretical knowledge from videos isn't sufficient by itself. It's one thing to know that breadth of knowledge is valuable, but knowledge without application is just memorization of trivia. Hands-on learning is the way to develop transferable skills.”

Pluralsight’s hands-on tech skill development platform features 2,500+ expert instructors. Our authors are vetted through a rigorous selection process and 91% have at least 10 years of experience, ensuring high-quality instruction. Learn more about our upskilling solution.

You may already have existing or budding expert generalists in your organization. If you have visibility into what your teams are learning, you can use that information to encourage their interest in other fields.

For example, look at the skill profile of someone with strong data analytics skills. They’re also focused on building their cloud skills and show emerging proficiency in security, software development, and lifecycle and risk management.

They're clearly interested in broadening their skills—but why? 

“They could be someone who's just driven to grow and explore,” explained Tony. “It could show someone who's a natural expert generalist who wants to understand the bigger picture. It could show someone who's bored in their role and no longer challenged. They're looking for a career change.”

This information equips you to have productive conversations with employees about career opportunities. You’re not just building expert generalists, you’re potentially boosting retention in the process. 

If you don’t have learning analytics right now, ask your people what they’re interested in. “People will more than happily tell you what they're passionate about in technology. All you have to do is listen,” said Tony.

Another way to build expert generalists is to give your workforce opportunities to learn new skills on the job. 

“Right now, we tell people that we expect them to upskill on their own time, maybe nights, weekends, or when their real work is done,” said Tony. “We make them feel like exploring beyond their role is a distraction rather than an asset. And then we act surprised when they take those new skills and go use them somewhere else.”

Instead of forcing employees to learn on their own, provide internal mobility opportunities with job rotations. These are temporary placements in other teams, not permanent role changes, that allow employees to test the waters and gain experience in other roles.

Tools like Role IQ can also help you benchmark roles across your organization. If you create Role IQs that align with internal roles and ensure everyone can see them, you enable internal career development and give employees a way to cross train for new roles before applying.

“What most companies don't realize is that giving people internal career mobility is a competitive advantage for your organization. Imagine if you could spot the hidden talent before they leave for another opportunity. Imagine if you could fill internal gaps faster without having to resort to expensive external hiring,” shared Tony.

“The biggest mistake organizations make isn't a lack of training—it’s failing to recognize the talent that they already have,” said Tony.

Build more capable and adaptable tech teams across every discipline with Pluralsight’s hands-on skill development platform. Learn more about how Pluralsight helps agencies build critical tech skills.

Want all of Tony’s expert insights? Watch the on-demand webinar.