\n
![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-513368437-1-e1717693342918.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/p>\n [ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
Batten down the hatches: Both a \u201c\u2018skills tsunami\u201d\u2019 and<\/em> a \u201c\u2018silver tsunami\u201d\u2019 are on the horizon, according to a panel of McKinsey<\/a> executives.<\/p>\n Back in 2010, the U.S. had around 12 million more unemployed people than it had job vacancies, senior McKinsey partner Anu Madgavkar said during the consultancy\u2019s media day last week. \u201cDespite the ups and downs of Covid, things are more normal now, but we still have a deficit\u20142.5 million more vacancies than job seekers.\u201d<\/p>\n That imbalance, coupled with the ever-present advancements in AI<\/a>, has led to what Madgavkar calls a \u201cskills tsunami.\u201d She defined the term as the massive shift in capabilities workers are soon going to need. There\u2019s also, she added, a \u201csilver tsunami,\u201d which describes the institutional loss of talent and perspective as millions of older workers<\/a> head into retirement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reacting to both those tsunamis with agility comes back to employee support and nurturing. \u201cHow do we increase internal mobility to help our existing workforce learn more skills?\u201d Madgavkar said. \u201cHow do you come back to performance management? The companies that do that well, end up most successful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A key aspect to performance oversight will be continual productivity growth. On the panel, Kweilin Ellingrud, a director of the McKinsey Global Institute, defined productivity growth as simply \u201cproducing more, with either the same or less inputs.\u201d It matters to everyone, even those at the very bottom of the corporate ladder, because over time, productivity growth drives standards of living. The good news: Median productivity growth has increased sixfold since the turn of the millennium, Ellingrud said. \u201cGlobally, productivity is a great story.\u201d<\/p>\n AI, of course, will play a significant role too. Per McKinsey\u2019s newest research report<\/a> on the state of AI, released Thursday, nearly two-thirds of companies are already using generative AI regularly\u2014double the percentage that said the same 10 months ago. Three quarters of respondents said they think gen AI will lead to \u201csignificant\u201d or \u201cdisruptive\u201d changes in their industries going forward.<\/p>\n To be prepared for those changes, many American businesses are currently considering a \u201crelayering\u201d of their workforce, which in practice often means leaving more room for nuance in organizational structure\u2014and often redefining the middle manager role<\/a> from scratch.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cClients are asking, how do I equip the middle manager to deliver full value for his other teams?\u201d Brooke Weddle, a senior McKinsey partner, said. \u201cThat requires, probably, fewer managers, and for those that remain, re-scoping their role.\u201d<\/p>\n\n