Identifying Employee Skill Gaps

Identifying the areas where organizations need to improve their capabilities most is an important step in any change effort. Such a skill is helpful particularly in times of cost-cutting - where limited training resources must be used to close the critical competency gaps that prevent companies from meeting business objectives.

However, many training programs don't yield the desired results. One reason is that they are usually launched without sufficient knowledge of where the gaps in employee skills exist. We find that a good way to pinpoint these learning needs is to survey employees and let them evaluate the current skill levels of their peers and estimate the skill level their group must reach in order to be successful. An added advantage of this inclusive approach is that it heightens employees’ awareness of their learning needs and helps break down any resistance to learning new skills.

A manufacturing company that embarked on a major performance transformation was aware of the costs involved in a large-scale capability-building program. It chose to survey site leaders, middle managers, and front-line supervisors. Using a heat map to visualize the results, the company found, for instance, that while middle managers in one region needed training to improve several business competencies, those in another region had gaps in their leadership skills. Based on the results of the survey, the company realized it could save money and improve its chances of success by rolling out a program targeting the different competencies that each group needed to improve the most.

The outcomes of a skills-gap analysis should be taken as no more than an important initial image when starting a transformation process. During the actual development process one will discover the real root causes for the findings. And when leadership and teams then dare to also explore the informal factors or the subconscious world "underneath" the formally measured patterns, a rather different picture will arise of the gaps between the required and the actual performance, commitment, and skills. This then asks for an equally different development focus and transformation process. 

Also, a skills-gap analysis should not be used as a one-time problem identification tool. Skills gaps are unavoidable, even natural phenomena in changing organizations. Therefore one should monitor on a regular basis how such gaps evolve and adjust the learning and developing processes accordingly. Finally, such management and leadership development should not be a ‘project’ but a continuous activity, part of the organizational development layer. It should be ‘stand alone’ in its focus on the development of the professional/individual, but also well connected to the business performance measuring.

Source: http://www.mckinsey.com/

EMBRA Corporation, as part of its services, offers strategic HR services, coaching, training and education for career development, career counseling, skills assessment and variety of other services that will make your career more successful. For more information, go HERE. 

Nikolina Gavroska

EMBRA Corporation