DHS Has Made Progress in Addressing Departmentwide Training Issues, but Challenges May Impede Its Efforts

DHS has made progress in addressing departmentwide training issues and  these efforts reflect some of the elements of a strategic approach toward  training as described in our previous work. The department’s current efforts, although  promising, are still in the early stages and they face significant challenges. In July 2005,  DHS issued its first departmental training plan, Department of Homeland  Security Learning and Development Strategic Plan, which provides a  strategic vision for departmentwide training. This plan is a significant and  positive step toward addressing departmentwide training challenges. These challenges include lack of common management  information systems, the absence of commonly understood training  terminology across components, the lack of specificity in authority and  accountability relationships between the CHCO office and components,  insufficient planning for effective implementation, and insufficient  resources for ensuring effective implementation of training strategies. Sharing of Training Information across Components Made More Difficult by Lack of Compatible Infrastructure and Commonly Understood Terminology

The formation of DHS from 22 legacy agencies and programs has created  challenges to achieving departmentwide training goals. Strategic training practices in several DHS components or  programs may provide models or insights to others in the department  regarding ways to improve training practices. Some components in  DHS applied the strategic practice of aligning training with organizational  priorities, while others did not. Several components and programs we examined at  DHS used these practices, while others did not. FLETC’s Level III  evaluations obtain feedback from both trainees and their supervisors to  inform future improvements to training curricula. DHS Has Used Training in an Effort to Help Its Workforce as the Department Undergoes Transformation and Cultural Change

The creation of DHS resulted in significant cultural and transformational  challenges for the department. Another training intervention sponsored by the department directly targets  managers and supervisors who will be responsible for carrying out many  of the key behaviors associated with the new system and whose active  support is viewed by DHS as critical for achieving the transformation to a  performance-based culture. Conclusions

DHS must continue to make progress on three important aspects of  training as it moves forward: (1) forging an effective role for training at the  departmental level and implementing its departmentwide training strategy;  (2) taking a strategic approach to training practices, in part by building  upon examples of good practice to be found among its former  organizations, as well as considering other examples of strategic practices;  and (3) finding ways that training can help to foster organizational  transformation and cultural change within the department. Recommendations for Executive Action

To help DHS establish and implement an effective and strategic approach  to departmentwide training, we recommend that the Secretary of  Homeland Security take the following actions:    adopt additional good strategic planning and management practices to  enhance the department’s training strategic plan by (1) creating a clearer  crosswalk between specific training goals and objectives and DHS’s  organizational and human capital strategic goals and (2) developing  appropriate training performance measures and targets;    clearly specify authority and accountability relationships between the  CHCO office and organizational components regarding training as a first  step to addressing issues DHS has identified for fiscal year 2006;    ensure that the department and component organizations develop detailed  implementation plans and related processes for training initiatives; and    when setting funding priorities, give appropriate attention to providing  resources to support training councils and groups to further DHS’s  capacity to achieve its departmentwide training goals. We supplemented  our review of departmental training at DHS by examining the department’s  effort to use training related to MAXHR to foster transformation and  cultural change in the department. We also  included the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center because of the  special role it plays in training employees from other DHS components.
Why GAO Did This Study

Training can play a key role in helping the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) successfully address the challenge of transformation and cultural change and help ensure that its workforce possesses the knowledge and skills needed to effectively respond to current and future threats. This report discusses (1) how DHS is addressing or planning to address departmentwide training and the related challenges it is encountering; (2) examples of how DHS training practices, specifically those related to planning and evaluation, reflect strategic practices; and (3) examples of how DHS uses training to foster transformation and cultural change.

What GAO Found

DHS has taken several positive steps toward establishing an effective departmentwide approach to training, yet significant challenges remain. Progress made in addressing departmentwide training issues, but efforts are still in the early stages and face several challenges. Actions taken by DHS include issuing its first training strategic plan in July 2005, establishing training councils and groups to increase communication across components, and directly providing training for specific departmentwide needs. However, several challenges may impede DHS from achieving its departmental training goals. First, the sharing of training information across components is made more difficult by the lack of common or compatible information management systems and a commonly understood training terminology. Second, authority and accountability relationships between the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer and organizational components are not sufficiently clear. Third, DHS's planning may be insufficiently detailed to ensure effective and coordinated implementation of departmentwide training efforts. Finally, according to training officials, DHS lacks resources needed to implement its departmental training strategy. Examples of planning and evaluation of training demonstrate some elements of strategic practice. Specific training practices at both the component and departmental levels may provide useful models or insights to help others in DHS adopt a more strategic approach to training. We found that some components of DHS apply these practices, while others do not. For example, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) aligns training priorities with strategic goals through planning and budgeting processes. In the area of evaluation, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center obtains feedback from both the trainee and the trainee's job supervisor to inform training program designers in order to make improvements to the program curriculum. Training has been used to help DHS's workforce as it undergoes transformation and cultural change. The creation of DHS from different legacy organizations, each with its own distinct culture, has resulted in significant cultural and transformation challenges for the department. At the departmental level, one of the ways DHS is addressing these challenges is by encouraging the transformation to a shared performance-based culture through the implementation of its new human capital management system, MAXHR. DHS considers training to be critical to effectively implementing this initiative and defining its culture. Toward that end, the department is providing a wide range of training, including programs targeted to executives, managers, and supervisors. For example, at the component level, CBP has developed cross-training to equip employees with the knowledge needed to integrate inspection functions once carried out by three different types of inspectors at three separate agencies.