Bridging the digital skills gap in the military

Homeland September 1, 2022

Writing for Defence Online, Sir James Everard, Former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander for NATO examines the challenges around the digital skills gap in defence.

The digital skills crisis is something which is widely acknowledged and familiar – but ignored. If we do not act now, the gap may become too large to bridge.

Our collective failure to recruit and retain the right talent, to bridge the digital skills gap in the military, has become a problem too great to ignore.

We talk about it. We recognise the problem. We worry. There are flashes of inspiration, but in general we tinker with our approach to discovering hidden potential, ending up largely doing the same thing over and over again, expecting, with hope over expectation, a different result. This is the definition of insanity, and we need instead to imagine, and create, a world where traditional approaches to sourcing talent are disrupted – acting to access under-utilised internal and untapped external talent pools.

Our urgent aim must be to bridge the rapidly growing global digital skills gap with alternative sourcing and retention strategies.

There is not an overnight solution, and time is not on our side. When it comes to our lack of digital talent, today is the tomorrow we all worried about yesterday. We have been slow to embrace innovation, imagination and invention in order to build our digital armies. This gap will bite us.

Given the return of history, as evidenced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, now is the time to think and behave differently and fix the problem of end-to-end talent management. We can fix it if we are bold, develop a guiding policy for dealing with this challenge and get after our trapped capacity, all underpinned by a commitment to stop backsliding and maintain a relentless focus on digital talent.

The Nature of Warfare

The western way of war is still based on Mission Command, the Manoeuverist Approach and Combined Arms, but we are adapting every day to the realities of the operating environment.

NATO recently published an initial concept on Multi-Domain Operations (MDO). It argues, strongly, that we must adapt to a future battlespace that is persistent, simultaneous and boundless. To succeed we must be capable of acting decisively across the five operational domains, land, air, sea, space and cyber, in an orchestrated and synchronised manner.

The concept stresses that effective MDO is enabled by vastly improved digital connectivity and is delivered by suitably trained multi-domain operators. It highlights the strategic importance of data as a critical enabler, along with technological advantage, multi-domain command and control, training and ‘Right People Right Skills’.

This focus on people is timely, because our people will be the key factor in the application of MDO, not only due to the specialist nature of the new domains and emerging technology, but because military personnel, such as commanders, planners and operators, will need to learn to observe, orientate, decide and act in this new data-rich era. Ultimately, the military needs personnel who are technologically capable but also understand the business of combat.

Modernising the approach to defence

Many of our leaders throw around complex technical terms with regards to modernising defence, but they require the right people with the right understanding to carry out our precise strategy.

Ultimately it is people who are at the core of defence and therefore it is people who require the necessary training to oversee converging domains as well as emerging and disruptive technologies. Unlocking the potential of our people is key to unlocking the potential of technology.

Modernising our approach to defence now will also translate to future generations who will continue to navigate a constantly evolving battlespace. Through training and guiding both current soldiers and untapped talent pools, the UK can build up an army of digital experts capable of leading the nations’ forces.

Rebuilding a new digital army

Thus far, the UK’s efforts to technologically upskill the army have faltered. In this instance, money alone won’t solve the digital skills crisis as tech skills in other sectors often offer far more lucrative salaries, which is becoming all the more important with the current cost of living crisis.

Instead, the UK must be creative in its solution to upskill and retain digital talent in the military and move away from traditional methods for sourcing digital talent.

Firstly, an internal look at the military could well solve a large percentage of the issue. Identifying those with suitable traits and skills for tech related roles is the first step in levelling-up the army, and this can be achieved through innovative methods such as aptitude testing.

With aptitude testing, the likes of soldiers, reserves, veterans and military spouses can by psychometrically analysed to assess key traits which relate to tech skills. The benefit of looking internally is that these individuals possess an inherent understanding of the business of combat.

Once soldiers with suitable traits have been identified, they can undertake skill mapping and digital training programmes, from providers such as WithYouWithMe, to become proficient in skills such as coding and data analytics in under 200 hours.

This method can also be used outside of traditional military circles, with overlooked talent pools such as the neurodivergent, the unemployed and the under employed, helping to bridge the digital skills gap in wider society.

Working as Allies to defend our nations

In order to promote the adoption of new methods for sourcing and upskilling digital talent, leaders must be bold and work together towards the same end goal. NATO has proven itself as an instrument for building unity, and the 30 allies involved should play a key role in facilitating new digital armies.

Multi-domain warfare is reaching a stage where one nation alone may not be capable of defending incoming threats, instead, we must all rely on our allies to collectively upskill our defence regimes and training to ensure we are prepared for when an attack comes.

NATO leaders have already approved a new strategic scale Concept for the Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area. This outlines the simple concept that to deter, armies must demonstrate an unambiguous ability to defend – which now means across multiple geographical areas and domains.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought defence top of mind for leaders, who must now take action. On a collective and individual basis our leaders must adopt new approaches to sourcing digital talent and leverage skill mapping and digital training programmes in order to create and retain a digital army capable of leading our defence initiatives.

digital skills Sir James Everard