我们现在都是技术人员：未来的数字技能培养

People & Organizational Performance PracticeWe’re all techies now: Digital skill building forthe future Digital upskilling is not just for tech teams anymore—it can help all employeesthrive and make companies more competitive. Here’s how your organizationcan get started. This article is a collaborative effort by Brooke Weddle, Bryan Hancock, Heather Stefanski, and Maisha Glover, withEmily Rizzi and Hannah Mowery, representing views from McKinsey’s People & Organizational PerformancePractice. Business leadershave come to a stark revelation: The gap between their companies’ techworkers and their nontech colleagues must shrink. The emergence of digital technologies,especially the rapid rise of AI over the past two years, comes with immense promise tounleashgrowth and productivity. But companies will not see those benefits if their employees are not upto speed. Achieving the full benefits of digital and AI technologies at scale is critical, as the gap betweentech leaders and laggards is widening. McKinsey research shows that companies with leadingdigital and AI capabilitiesoutperform lagging competitorsby two to six times in terms of totalshareholder returns.1Reaching this level of success requires not only talent with the deeptechnical skills to deploy and innovate new technologies but also an employee base that is moredigitally fluent overall. Now more than ever, for organizations to perform at their best, all employees need to be techies.Executives, too, need to become more tech-savvy.2Business leaders are increasinglyresponsible for delivering tech-enabled products, which requires a broader and strongertechnical foundation. Depending on their business, they may need to know where the companyis on its cloud migration journey to understand the true costs of new products. They may needenough enterprise architecture knowledge to understand thetrade-offs between custom-developed and off-the-shelf solutions. They may need sophisticated insights into cybersecurityrisks. Strong data governance relies on stewards who understand what data is needed, what itmeans, and how to leverage analytics and machine learning. With greater technical knowledge,business leaders can prioritizerewiring their organizations—deeply integrating technologyacross all core processes—to gain competitive advantages. This reality is compelling companies to take new approaches in enhancing employees’ technicalskills toimprove their flexibility, productivity, and performance, as well as to retain top talent.Rather than rolling out one-size-fits-all training efforts, the companies that are most successfulin upskilling prioritize targeted efforts that close skills gaps for talent in areas that are critical totheir long-term strategy. They meet learners where they are, offering a variety of virtual and in-person programs tailored to remote and hybrid workforces—and they take learning beyond theclassroom into the real world. They create cultures of continuous learning and improvement thatkeep current employees engaged and motivated while attracting new talent who strive todevelop in their careers. And they tie learning to critical business outcomes, incentivizing leadersto establish effective upskilling programs and holding them accountable for results. After many interviews with business leaders in technology and other sectors, we seeopportunities for more companies to develop better programs to raise their digitalcompetencies. In this article, we look at why upskilling is both a business and talent imperative,how organizations can start to build their digital capabilities, and how some companies havecreated savvier tech teams to avoid falling behind their competitors. Mutual benefits of upskilling The need to focus on skill building is not new, but it has taken on greater urgencyas labormarkets tightenand companies have greater demand for people who can keep up with newtechnologies that are reshaping how work gets done. In a recent survey of more than 80 leadersof tech-focused US organizations, 80 percent of respondents say upskilling is the mosteffective way to reduce employee skills gaps (Exhibit 1).3However, the survey reveals that only28 percent of organizations are planning to invest in upskilling programs over the next two tothree years. Exhibit1 Companies that are slow to launch skill-building efforts risk missing out on important benefitsfor their people and for the organization itself. Previous McKinsey research has shown that skillsare thetop barrier for employeeswho are willing to switch occupations and expand their careeropportunities.4Workers who seek upskilling represent a highly motivated, desirable talent poolfor employers. At the same time, companies that excel in people developmentachieve moreconsistent profitsand demonstrate higher resilience. They are also better at retaining talent,with attrition rates about five percentage points lower than those of organizations that focus more heavily on financial performance.