Government communications has a training problem. Not a lack of talent problem or a motivation problem — a training problem.
A recent PIO Toolkit survey asked 67 government communicators about their professional backgrounds, and the results confirmed what most already knew: the vast majority learned this job by doing it. Only about one in five has a degree in communications, public relations, or journalism. Half taught themselves entirely on the job. Others came from adjacent fields — marketing, political science, English — that touched on relevant skills but didn't prepare them for the specific demands of government work.