Enhancing the Digital Competence of Leading Cadres

The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC [1]1 The 20th National Congress of the CPC was held in October 2022, at which Xi Jinping delivered a report outlining pointed out that to build a modern socialist country in all respects, we must have a contingent of leading cadres who are politically competent, meet the requirements of the New Era, and possess the ability to lead modernization. As information technologies such as big data, cloud computing, blockchain, and artificial intelligence accelerate iterative innovation and increasingly integrate into all aspects and processes of economic and social development, China’s digital government construction has also entered a critical period of continuous deepening. The expectations and demands of the people and business entities regarding government performance have undergone significant changes. Against the backdrop of digital transformation, cultivating a contingent of leading cadres with a strong digital awareness and digital competence can better advance the process of building a digital China, actively respond to the risks and challenges brought by digital transformation, and help make digitalization an effective tool for improving government governance efficiency.

党的二十大报告指出，全面建设社会主义现代化国家，必须有一支政治过硬、适应新时代要求、具备领导现代化建设能力的干部队伍。随着大数据、云计算、区块链、人工智能等信息技术加速迭代创新，并日益融入经济社会发展各领域全过程，我国数字政府建设也进入持续深化的关键时期，人民群众和经营主体对政府履职的期望和要求都发生了显著变化。在数字化变革背景下，培养造就一支数字意识强、具有数字化胜任能力的领导干部队伍，才能更好推动数字中国建设进程，积极应对数字化转型带来的风险挑战，助力数字化成为提高政府治理效能的有效工具。

Leading cadres must cultivate digital thinking. Entering the digital era, whether building a digital government or carrying out digital governance, people’s ways of thinking about, researching, and solving problems are deeply embedded with digital genes. Digitalization is not only a technological change but also a revolution in thinking. And the upgrading of thinking modes and the reshaping of systems and mechanisms are revolutionary. Digital thinking ability is the ability to accurately grasp the essence of digitalization and to be adept at applying the logic of digital evolution, the laws of digital development, the requirements of digital construction, and the norms of digital governance to the thinking process of understanding, analyzing, and solving problems.

领导干部要培养数字思维。进入数字时代，无论是建设数字政府还是开展数字治理，人们认识、研究、解决问题的思维方式都深深植入了数字基因。数字化不仅仅是一场技术变革，更是一场思维革命。而思维方式升级、体制机制重塑是革命性的。数字思维能力是准确把握数字化本质，善于将数字化演进逻辑、数字化发展规律、数字化建设要求、数字化治理规范等运用于认识、分析、解决问题的思维能力。

Cultivating good digital thinking in leading cadres mainly includes three aspects: digital sensitivity, digital application, and digital intelligence. Digital sensitivity is the keen perception of digitalization. It requires developing the habit of actively using digital thinking to cognize, think about, and solve problems, and understanding the internal logic of digital governance. It involves cultivating in leading cadres the habit and ability to pay attention to data and apply data, thereby promoting institutional innovation and process reengineering, and achieving a transformation from adapting to digitalization and using digitalization to mastering digitalization and leading digitalization. Digital application is the method of solving problems with the help of digital information and digital technology. It involves cultivating in leading cadres the awareness of using data to solve problems in daily work, grasping technological progress and innovation, and promoting the habit of continuously paying attention to, discovering, and collecting digital information related to professional work, actively using digital information and digital means to solve practical problems in work. Digital intelligence is using data for smart decision-making and predicting future development trends. It involves changing the experience-based decision-making thinking of leading cadres, transforming practical experience into smart decisions by mining relevant data for decision-making, and providing new thinking methods for leading cadres to solve problems and make scientific decisions. Only when leading cadres possess the corresponding digital thinking and methods can they truly improve the level of digital government construction, widely apply digital technology to government management and services, promote the reengineering of government governance processes and the optimization of models, and continuously improve the scientific nature of decision-making and the efficiency of government services.

培养领导干部良好的数字思维主要包括数感、数用和数智三个方面。数感就是对数字化敏锐的感知能力，要养成主动运用数字化思维去认知、思考、解决问题的习惯，搞懂数字化治理的内在逻辑。培养领导干部关注数据、应用数据的习惯与能力，进而推动制度创新、流程再造，实现从适应数字化、运用数字化到驾驭数字化、引领数字化的转变。数用就是借助数字信息、数字技术解决问题的方法。培养领导干部日常使用数据解决问题的意识，把握技术的进步与革新，促进领导干部养成持续关注、发现、收集与专业工作相关的数字信息的习惯，积极利用数字化信息与数字化手段解决工作中的实际问题。数智就是利用数据进行智慧决策，预判未来发展趋势。改变领导干部的经验决策思维，通过挖掘决策的相关数据，把实践经验转化为智慧决策，为领导干部求解问题、科学决策提供新的思维方法。领导干部只有具备了相应的数字思维与方法，才能真正提高数字政府建设水平，将数字技术广泛应用于政府管理服务，推动政府治理流程再造和模式优化，不断提高决策科学性和政府服务效率。

Enhancing the digital capability of leading cadres. In the digital era where everything can be quantified, leading cadres, as commanders and executors of the various tasks of the Party and government, must not only possess digital thinking and understand the characteristics and connotations of big data but also keep pace with the rhythm of digital technology development and application, accurately apply it to management and decision-making, and enhance their digital competence. The digital competence of leading cadres is reflected in various fields and processes such as digital economy development, digital government construction, and digital social governance, influencing the development trends of many links. For example, by acquiring, accumulating, analyzing, and interpreting data sources in the development of the digital economy, they can scientifically formulate future development plans and policies and regulations; by using digital technology and means to promote digital government construction, strengthen digital social governance, break down data barriers, perceive social situations, smooth communication channels, and continuously improve digital service capabilities.

提高领导干部数字化能力。在万事万物皆可量化的数字时代，领导干部作为党和政府各项工作的指挥官和执行者，不仅要具备数字思维，了解大数据的特征和内涵，还要跟上数字技术发展与应用的节奏，将其精准运用到管理和决策上，提高数字化胜任能力。领导干部的数字化胜任能力体现在数字经济发展、数字政府建设、数字社会治理等各个领域和全过程之中，影响着许多环节的发展态势。如通过获取、积累、分析、解读数字经济发展中的数据源，科学制定未来的发展规划和政策法规；运用数字化技术和手段推动数字政府建设、加强数字社会治理、打通数据壁垒、感知社会态势、畅通沟通渠道、不断提升数字化服务能力等。

Against the backdrop of deepening digital transformation, some leading cadres still have shortcomings in their digital competence, which restricts the improvement of governance efficiency. From the cognitive level, some leading cadres’ understanding of digitalization is limited to the application of technical tools, failing to regard data as a core factor of production, and lacking the strategic vision and systematic thinking to drive changes in governance models and innovations in public services with data. From the technical literacy level, faced with emerging technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, and blockchain, some leading cadres have “cognitive blind spots,” excessively relying on external technical forces in work such as data governance and digital platform construction, lacking the ability for independent judgment and control, and being susceptible to the influence of “technical black boxes.” From the practical ability level, problems such as poor sharing of government data, unresolved information silos, and idle data resources reflect the insufficient ability of some leading cadres in cross-departmental coordination and data security management. From the value orientation level, a small number of leading cadres have a “technology-oriented” deviation in promoting digital government affairs, neglecting the needs of the masses and the essence of service, leading to anomie in digital governance methods, and the concept of a service-oriented government has not been fully implemented in digital scenarios.

在数字化转型深入推进的背景下，部分领导干部的数字化胜任能力仍存在短板，制约了治理效能的提升。从认知层面看，有的领导干部对数字化的理解局限于技术工具应用，未能将数据视为核心生产要素，缺乏以数据驱动治理模式变革、公共服务创新的战略视野与系统思维；从技术素养层面看，面对大数据、人工智能、区块链等新兴技术，有的领导干部存在“认知盲区”，在数据治理、数字平台建设等工作中过度依赖外部技术力量，缺乏自主判断与把控能力，易受“技术黑箱”影响；从实践能力层面看，政务数据共享不畅、信息孤岛未破、数据资源闲置等问题，反映出有的领导干部在跨部门协同、数据安全管理等方面的能力不足；从价值导向层面看，少数领导干部在数字政务推进中存在“技术导向”偏差，忽视群众需求与服务本质，导致数字治理方式失范，服务型政府理念在数字化场景中未能充分落地。

First, enhancing digital competence requires systematic training as its foundation, incorporating digital literacy into the core scope of leading cadre capacity building. On the one hand, a tiered and categorized training framework should be established. For the needs of leading cadres at different levels and in different positions, a curriculum system covering digital governance theory, emerging technology principles, and data application methods should be designed, inviting technical experts and practical governance talents to teach together, breaking down technical cognitive barriers. On the other hand, a practice-oriented learning model should be strengthened. By guiding leading cadres to conduct in-depth research on the front line of digital governance and participate in practical work such as data integration and scenario design, the transformation from “theoretical cognition” to “practical application” should be promoted, cultivating the ability to use data to assist decision-making and dynamic governance, and establishing a strategic thinking of empowering governance with data.

首先，提升数字化胜任能力，需以系统化培训为根基，将数字素养纳入领导干部能力建设核心范畴。一方面，应搭建分层分类的培训框架，针对不同层级、不同岗位领导干部的需求，设计涵盖数字治理理论、新兴技术原理、数据应用方法的课程体系，邀请技术专家与实战型治理人才共同授课，打破技术认知壁垒；另一方面，强化实践导向的学习模式，通过引导领导干部深入数字治理一线调研，参与数据集成、场景设计等实际工作，推动从“理论认知”向“实践应用”转化，培养运用数据辅助决策、动态治理的能力，树立以数据赋能治理的战略思维。

Second, the fluidity and synergy of data are key to digital governance. It is necessary to break down departmental barriers through institutional innovation and enhance the data governance practical ability of leading cadres. A normalized cross-departmental collaboration platform should be established, clarifying data sharing standards and division of responsibilities, promoting the interconnection and interoperability of government systems, eliminating information silos at the institutional level, and activating idle data resources. At the same time, a special task force can be formed to coordinate the advancement of digital reform tasks, guiding leading cadres to master methods of data integration and process optimization in cross-domain collaboration, enhancing overall coordination and problem-solving abilities, and ensuring that data, under the premise of being safe and controllable, fully serves the improvement of governance efficiency.

其次，数据的流动性与协同性是数字化治理的关键，需通过机制创新打破部门壁垒，提升领导干部的数据治理实践能力。应建立常态化跨部门协同平台，明确数据共享标准与责任分工，推动政务系统互联互通，从制度层面消除信息孤岛，激活闲置数据资源。同时，可组建工作专班，统筹推进数字改革任务，引导领导干部在跨领域协作中掌握数据整合、流程优化的方法，提升统筹协调与问题解决能力，确保数据在安全可控的前提下，充分服务于治理效能提升。

Third, the enhancement of digital competence needs to rely on practical scenarios, while also taking into account technical ethics and the essence of service. On the one hand, a digital governance training platform can be built. By simulating data governance processes and government service scenarios, leading cadres can master skills such as data integration and intelligent approval in hands-on operations, improving the digital application ability of grassroots governance. On the other hand, training on data security and technical ethics needs to be strengthened. Content such as algorithm supervision and data privacy protection should be incorporated into the rotation training of leading cadres, guiding them to establish the concept of “technology as a tool, service as the foundation,” focusing on the needs of the masses in the design of digital government affairs, promoting the transformation from “technology-driven” to “service-oriented,” and achieving a deep alignment between digital governance and the needs of people’s livelihoods.

再次，数字化胜任能力的提升需依托实践场景，同时兼顾技术伦理与服务本质。一方面，可搭建数字治理实训平台，通过模拟数据治理流程、政务服务场景，让领导干部在实操中掌握数据整合、智能审批等技能，提升基层治理数字化应用能力；另一方面，需加强数据安全与技术伦理培训，将算法监管、数据隐私保护等内容纳入领导干部轮训，引导领导干部树立“技术为器、服务为本”的理念，在数字政务设计中聚焦群众需求，推动从“技术驱动”向“服务导向”转变，实现数字治理与民生需求的深度契合。

Finally, the assessment mechanism is an important baton for promoting the improvement of leading cadres’ digital capabilities. Digital competence should be incorporated into the evaluation system for leading cadres, forming a growth closed loop of “assessment—feedback—improvement.” In the design of assessment indicators, the focus should be on the actual effectiveness of data application. Core dimensions such as the openness of government data, the effectiveness of digital scenario construction, the level of cross-departmental collaboration, and the satisfaction of the masses with services should be quantified, guiding leading cadres to value the practical results of digitalization. At the same time, an incentive mechanism linked to assessment results should be established, giving priority to selecting composite cadres with “governance thinking + technical cognition,” and promoting leading cadres to actively enhance their digital competence.

最后，考核机制是推动领导干部数字化能力提升的重要指挥棒，需将数字化胜任能力纳入领导干部考核评价体系，形成“考核——反馈——提升”的成长闭环。在考核指标设计上，应聚焦数据应用实效，将政务数据开放度、数字场景建设成效、跨部门协作水平、群众服务满意度等核心维度量化，引导领导干部重视数字化实践成果；同时，建立与考核结果挂钩的激励机制，优先选拔具备“治理思维+技术认知”的复合型干部，推动领导干部主动提升数字化胜任能力。

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧