The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.

—Brian Herbert, Author

When I was 10, my parents bought me a Sinclair ZX81. The slim plastic-encased computer had a stick-on keyboard and a precariously attached memory pack. Programs were saved on cassette tapes. This fragile piece of technology opened my mind to the world of computing. It was an exciting time but also frustrating and disappointing, as learning often is. My first program was a database that stored addresses, coded one holiday with an uncle. It wasn’t particularly useful, but it taught me about structured data.

I had become a builder, someone who wanted to explore, learn, and try new approaches. Little did I know this would lead to a career. My pride in this memory isn’t for the nascent technical skills I developed but for my curiosity and desire to explore the unknown encouraged by those around me.

In 2024 opportunity beckons for anyone who wants to learn. In the UK, one survey found that 72 percent of businesses have vacancies for digitally literate workers, but only 11 percent of potential applicants have the necessary technical skills for those positions.^[1] The same issue constrains the adoption of generative AI in EMEA. Another report found that 78 percent of respondents consider human factors—not data availability—a barrier to becoming data-driven.^[2] 70 percent of companies struggle to innovate because of the skills gap.^[3]

India is particularly well-poised to tackle the cloud skills gap thanks to its second-largest English-speaking population, a society that values education, high employability across age ranges and genders,^[4] and a technology industry accounting for 13 percent of its GDP.^[5] Creating workplaces that encourage learning can continue India’s momentum. Here are six success factors I’ve observed working with hundreds of AWS customers.

Start at the Top

An organisation with a learning culture addresses its saying-doing gap. Leaders often proclaim, “Learning is important,” but fail to demonstrate it through their behaviours. They don’t ask questions, attend retrospectives, or discuss their own learnings. Most executives have insufficient technology and data skills to be successful in their roles.^[6]

A CEO who learns a new technology (perhaps generative AI?) can simultaneously power their organisation with technology and model learning behaviours.

If you’re a CEO, make the time to learn. Data and technology literacy creates efficiency. Consider how unproductive C-level discussions would be if the CFO explained a P&L at every meeting.

Recognise Learning as Work

Too many organisations talk about agility, experimentation, and data but never become agile, experimental, and data-driven. If you want those outcomes, become a learning organisation. Successful companies, particularly startups, create opportunities by understanding and addressing customer needs. They learn by experimenting, putting ideas in front of potential customers, seeing what works, and tailoring plans accordingly. They use data to develop and validate hypotheses. Organisations that don’t make learning a central tenet stagnate growth and repeat mistakes.

Create the Space

Learning takes time and practice. I believe that about 30 percent of your time should be spent learning. This may sound extreme, but I think of learning broadly. Learning opportunities can include:

• Retrospectives
• Meetings that remove blockers (not status meetings)
• Manager one-on-ones
• Reverse mentoring
• Discussing data-supported business cases

Hire for Curiosity

Leaders should hire not primarily for skill sets, which will invariably change, but for curiosity and a desire to learn. Employees who look at well-established processes, products, or services and think, “There must be a better way”, and give generous feedback are game changers. Organisations can attract talent when they have a strong reputation for continuous learning. It’s one of the reasons I joined AWS: the ability to “learn and be curious” and to make a difference without layers of people telling me I couldn’t.

Hiring for curiosity also provides talent agility. Identifying and rewarding talent is not enough. Progressive organisations redistribute talent to the highest priority initiatives, training them on new skills. They tap into motivated employees who understand how their organisation works. Internal mobility provides new opportunities to keep great people engaged.

Organisations that don’t prioritise learning are doomed to endless searching for unicorn hires and demotivated internal staff. India has a history of graduating engineers and scientists, but other degrees are gaining popularity.^[4] The modern business demands diverse skills and talents; explore who is available outside the traditional engineering world.

Treat Training as an Investment

When a company invests in a new building or piece of software, it’s treated as an asset with multiple years of value. Yet organisations treat investing in people as a short-term operational cost, an expense to be avoided. Refusing to invest in people leads to high attrition, low motivation, and poor financial results.

AWS can help with this. It has already helped train 5.5 million learners in India, and the AWS Tech Alliance in India helps boost career readiness for learners and feeds the demand for 14 million cloud roles in India by 2026.

Get Hands-On with Technology

To promote learning, you need access to technology and data. Make data broadly available, experiment with generative AI tools, and give developers access to coding assistants. AWS has many tools that can help here.

If you are a technologist, holding executive briefings and hackathons is a wonderful opportunity to showcase your capabilities and generate excitement. These events ignite the same excitement I experienced when I was 10 years old.

Today, organisations that understand they need to be learning organisations are the ones that are succeeding in attracting and retaining talent whilst also reinventing their industries. So commit to continuous learning, close the skills gap, and know that you are future-proofing your organisation.

—Phil

Links:

[1] Digital skills drive gains for individuals, organisations and the UK economy

[2] 2024 Data and AI Leadership Executive Survey (Wavestone, 2024)

[3] 70% of organisations struggling to innovate due to inability to use data effectively (Digitalisation World, 2022)

[4] India Skills Report 2024 (Wheebox, 2024)

[5] India Country Commercial Guide: Information and Communication Technology (International Trade Administration, 2024)

[6] Does Your C-Suite Have Enough Digital Smarts? (MITSloan Management Review, 2021)