Beneath the surface of digital transformation's promise lies a hidden fissure within organisations: skillset silos, the invisible divides that thwart the future before it unfolds.

A skillset silo, particularly in the context of digital transformation programs, refers to a situation where there's a noticeable disparity in the levels of digital skills and technological expertise among different departments, teams, or individuals within an organisation. While it is certainly not uncommon for this disparity to occur, failing to address it will compromise your digital transformation as the tension between the digitally savvy and the non-digitally equipped people grows. Don’t let your digital transformation morph into a stand-off contest between two equally strong factions.

Let’s first examine why skillset silos exist during digital transformation.

Again, we begin with the importance of leadership. It is not uncommon for leaders to be overwhelmed during transformation and end up playing passive roles. There are three key areas of focus that if not addressed, will result in skillset silos compromising your transformation.

1. Lack of Unified Vision:

The absence of a shared, organisation-wide understanding of digital transformation objectives will lead to disparate efforts and priorities among different teams or departments.

2. Strategic Focus:

Leadership that does not prioritise digital literacy and cross-functional collaboration across all levels of the organisation can inadvertently contribute to the formation of skillset silos.

3. Technological Pace and Complexity:

The rapid pace of technological change and the increasing complexity of digital tools can overwhelm some teams, widening the skill gap between them and more digitally adept teams.
With leadership creating the right unified vision, applying the right strategic focus, and enabling the organisation to operate at the right pace (and with the right tools), there is still more work to be done to ensure that skillset silos are minimised.

This is the part where you set your teams up for success. It begins with recognition of the skills you have and knowledge of the skills you need. This is the perfect opportunity for leaders to create growth opportunities for their people and for the individuals themselves to drive their own development.

Developing a plan to bridge your digital gaps includes three broad steps:

Understand Your Diverse
Digital Maturity Levels

Variations in the digital maturity levels of different departments can result in uneven digital skills and knowledge, with some teams advancing more rapidly than others.

Training and Development Gaps

Inconsistent or insufficient training programs fail to address the diverse needs of all employees, leading to significant gaps in digital competencies.

Hiring Practices and Talent Management

Recruitment and talent management strategies that do not prioritise digital skills and interdisciplinary collaboration can further deepen the divide.

Bridging the digital gaps in your organisation, even if you complete the above points well, will be possible if your organisation fails to recognise that there is a need for genuine change.

It is common for organisations to skim the surface on recognizing what genuine change means. Below is a short case study of a digital transformation that was severely impacted by skillset silos.

Case Study

The organisation was embarking on a significant digital transformation, the largest in the long history of the organisation. The change impacted people, processes, and technology. The gulf between the current state and future state was as wide as I have seen.

The skillset silos existed in multiple ways:

• The executive team was composed primarily of non-digitally savvy people aside from a new hire (hired specifically for the transformation) who was viewed as an outsider from day one and remained that way until departure.
• The management layer of the organisation was composed primarily of non-digitally savvy people who were reluctant for change.
• The remaining employees were primarily non-digitally savvy people who were fearful of the change.
• The digital transformation program team was composed of external consultants and contractors who, surprisingly, were still lacking digital capabilities although further progressed than their client’s employees. There was a small contingent of digitally savvy people.

The organisation did not overtly recognise or explore that these skillset silos existed. In fact, steps were taken to, inadvertently, reinforce the silos. It changed the whole nature of the transformation.

What was missing?

• The vision for the transformation was poorly defined and communicated. Mistrust was rampant.
• Leaders did not recognise the need for digital literacy and therefore, did not grow their people or hire digitally savvy employees to join their organisation.
• Teams were left to use outdated tools and could not keep up with the pace of technological change.

When the organisation realised it was in trouble, which was very early into the transformation, the actions taken reinforced the skillset silos.

There was no assessment of the gaps between digitally savvy and non-digital equipped people. There was no rework of the vision for the transformation and no communication. Existing ways of working outside the transformation were reinforced to provide false comfort.

With the troubles worsening, and the transformation still in its early stages, the organisation took its biggest and only step to try and uplift their digital capabilities.

The transformation program team was all put through a three-day Agile course together.

There was no representation from outside the program team. Leaders that attended pretended they already knew Agile to save face. Other people became self-appointed Agile specialists overnight.

The skillset silo was reinforced and the gap between the transformation team and the rest of the organisation suddenly widened.

Rather than build genuine digital capabilities across the organisation, the reinforcement of digital skills inside the transformation team pushed them further away from the people they were delivering with. Rather than reset and communicate the vision, there was doubling down on the position that what was being done was right, people were just doing it the wrong way. Rather than giving people the tools and opportunity to learn and grow, they were provided with a program team to blame if things didn’t go well.

This transformation ate the best people this organisation had to offer.

More time was spent talking about Agile and how things could or should be done, instead of doing them. Skilled employees and contractors departed for a better work environment. Low performers doubled down and resisted.

The skillset silo was not the only reason this transformation program was a nightmare for all those who touched it. However, it was the primary reason that the program could not build momentum and a direct cause of budget overruns for reduced scope. And in reality, the skillset silos could have simply been removed with a unified vision and a focus on growing people.

I write about digital transformation weekly. My 📥DMs are open for engaging conversations.