MANAGING employee skills and competencies is the essence of running an organization. An inventory of skills is therefore necessary to help identify the gaps in competencies. A skills inventory is essentially a checklist or database of organisational capabilities that helps determine the core competencies of an employee. The difference between the existing and expected conditions determines the skills gap. It is the responsibility of line managers and the HR department to analyse the skills gap and provide the necessary training to bridge it. Alternatively, people can be hired with the requisite skill sets to build a skill inventory. It is the skills and competencies developed by an organisation that determines how it does its business and whether it will succeed.
In a globally competitive business environment, it is necessary for an organisation to know its competitive strength. By creating its own unique inventory of human capabilities, an organisation is better equipped to compete. It is critical for an organisation to understand its competitive strengths in terms of its people's skill sets, benchmark it against the best in business and work towards bridging these gaps. The first step in this process is to measure the "as-is" status. This is where skills inventory and measuring the existing skill sets of employees come into the picture. Once this is mapped, companies can then look at the ideal profile of employees so that it remains competitive.
Most organisations now have a system in place for a skill gap analysis, that is, when an organisation is aware of its strengths and weaknesses, and also requirements, it can make the right decisions which will enable a greater return on its human capital investments. The company analyses the gap (between the expected and actual knowledge of employees) by conducting regular assessments and appraisals of each level of employee. This involves business unit managers or project managers conducting an assessment test or reviews of each employee's level of knowledge, skills and abilities relative to the level required of successful performance in the position.
Once an organization has documented its skills, it can build or buy a system designed to track them. The skill tracking system helps us get the right talent at the right time and engage existing employees appropriately. Employee-skill inventory also helps in designing customised training and development programmes. Identifying the skills and competencies that drive success makes it easier for us to find out the availability of any required skill and the level of expertise in that skill within the organisation at any given point of time.
While it is true that skills mapping improves an individual's as well as organisation's performance, the fact remains that a few organisations have an established process of giving their employees feedback on their skill sets that could be the first step to self-improvement. Based on this feedback, employees are provided a learning environment where they can pick up specific topics and improve their understanding of the same.
S. M. Waliullah Hossain (Tushar)
[email protected]
- Saturday, 23 November 2024 |
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