Workforce Reimagined Exchange 2026: CHCO panel on future of federal skills development

For years, federal agencies have been in pursuit of improving training and development opportunities for employees, as well as expanding the potential for upskilling and reskilling.

While building and developing employee skills can help agencies better meet mission requirements, improve retention and face emerging changes in the workplace, managing skills gaps has also been a long-time pain point for many agencies.

As a way to meet that challenge, Colleen Heller-Stein, executive director of the Chief Human Capital Officers Council, said the Office of Personnel Management has efforts underway to prepare current and aspiring executives for leadership roles — including updates to the Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program, and the launch of the Leadership for an Efficient and Accountable Government (LEAG) training program.

“The training is really to help educate our current executives around this administration’s priorities, making sure there is an understanding and alignment as those leaders lead the federal workforce,” Heller-Stein said during a panel discussion for Federal News Network’s Workforce Reimagined Exchange 2026.

“Second to that is recognizing that we have had shifts in the workforce. We may have new individuals aspiring to leadership or stepping into leadership roles, so developing the [LEAG] program — which is really targeted at the GS-14 and GS-15 level — to align to the new executive core qualifications that folks at that level will need to speak to as they are applying to senior executive roles has been a huge focus.”

Upskilling and employee development

Within the Department of Veterans Affairs, there has also been increasing focus on identifying training needs and improving development programs, according to Jessica Salyers, chief learning officer for the Veterans Health Administration.

In addition to participating in OPM’s governmentwide leadership programs, Salyers said her office has recently rolled out about 1,000 training opportunities focused on addressing suicide prevention, mental health, homelessness and other key areas for veterans.

“We had programs in those areas previously, but we know there’s been a renewed emphasis on those, so we want to make sure that all of our employees across VHA … know where our programs are, how to access them, how to provide that information to the veterans that they’re interfacing with every day, and that we’re supporting them in supporting those veterans,” Salyers said.

“Our training has shifted to really emphasize those areas and work with the program offices in those areas in a way that is maybe a little different than it has been in the past — with a sense of urgency to make sure we’re rolling out, and everybody is aware of these tools, so we can deliver that care and those programs and those resources to veterans.”

Separately, leaders in the legislative branch are also focused on internal training opportunities for staff members on Capitol Hill. John Salamone, chief human capital officer in the House of Representatives’ Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, said his areas of focus include training programs for congressional staff as well as interns.

As one example, Salamone said the House’s Office of Employee Assistance offers not only thousands of counseling sessions per year, but also training for congressional staff on emotional intelligence, leadership coaching, mental health first aid and dealing with constituents in distress.

“A lot of the training and delivery that they develop and deploy is for the member offices in the difficult jobs that the member office staff have,” Salamone said. “And our well-being team also provides training on the dimensions of well-being — whether that’s career, community, physical, financial, social, emotional — and they had last year about 40 webinars with 4,000 attendees.”

Growing need for AI skills

While employee development efforts remain underway, federal leaders are also thinking about the intersection of AI with training opportunities. At OPM, Heller-Stein said an AI ambassadors program provides employees with an opportunity to develop their skills in AI, as the need for that knowledge continues to escalate.

“I would also say one of the things we have started to learn more about and I think are excited about are the possibility of using AI as a way to more efficiently update information that we have for the federal workforce,” Heller-Stein added.

“Is there a way that we can use artificial intelligence to help, one, identify when a change has happened? And then, two, make that change for us with a thumb’s up and a review and a judgment by an employee? That really takes off a lot of the burden and the time it would have taken someone in the past. … We’re excited about all of those opportunities.”

The need for AI skills development is also growing across the VA, according to Salyers. Across the department, the focus has been in part on considering how to integrate AI into role-playing and training functions.

“We’re in the early stages of trying to figure out what that could look like, and I think that’s going to also rely on us partnering potentially with folks in industry who might have more experience in this area than we do,” Salyers said.

“We are open to trying to figure out what this could look like and make sure that it aligns with the priorities of the agency, the gaps in skills that we might be seeing, and doing it in a way where we still have enough trust in it that it makes sense for the type of conversations or the data that we would be presenting to it.”

And more broadly, Salamone emphasized the importance of considering the overlapping skills needed to effectively manage AI in the workplace.

“It’s about making sure that staff know that the technologies are available, and making sure they’re aware of the technologies, but also figuring out a way to use it responsibly,” he said. “You need managing AI skills. You also need managing people skills — and then overlapping skills for both. I think any organization needs to be thinking about those things, in the maturity of their use of technology.”

The value of upskilling, reskilling

In the arena of training and development, a current challenge is responding to the major staffing losses that took place across the federal workforce throughout 2025. Those workforce reductions are likely contributing to difficulties with closing skills gaps, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office.

Heller-Stein acknowledged that the workforce shifts, in some areas, led to the loss of institutional knowledge across agencies. But at the same time, she said as a silver lining that she sees an opportunity for upskilling and reskilling active employees — particularly as that intersects with the work in the federal HR community.

“This year and in coming years, and I think more broadly thinking about how we help that community generally be flexible as changes may continue to come,” she said. “It’s an exciting time. It can also be a scary time for people. But I think the sky is the limit for professionals who want to learn and want to continue to grow in federal government.”

At VHA, Salyers said the organizational and structural changes that have taken place over the last 18 months have changed the department’s approach to upskilling and reskilling of employees.

“It’s really about learning and leveraging the other skillsets that you have. How can I marry those up with the gaps and the needs that we have as an organization now? There’s a lot of opportunity for that,” she said.

“We’re addressing it through various types of training. But another piece I think is really important is giving people the experience that they need to be successful at some of these new roles. To the extent possible, we use an assessment center training approach, so that they can test out these new skills with a safety net before they’re sitting in the seat.”

Officials said there needs to be an emphasis on continually improving development opportunities for employees — a focus that can ultimately benefit recruitment and retention overall.

“Training and leadership development at all levels is really important. It’s exciting to hear what the other agencies are doing, and I think we just continue to find ways to meet staff where they are — and realize and recognize that we may never meet the demand,” Salamone said. “But we just got to keep moving and trying to deliver things that are going to help staff at all levels.”

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