An essential aspect of building a skills-first organisation is the ability to understand and manage the range of skills across a business.
Creating a skills framework enables organisations to identify, develop, and manage key skills in a structured way. It enables a view of skills across the organisation, with granular data allowing a detailed view of capabilities.
In this article, we’ll look at the six key elements that make up a skills framework - one that can be applied to a range of valuable use cases.
A skills framework is a structured system that defines, categorises, and maps the key skills needed for roles within an organisation or industry. It creates a common language for assessing, developing, and managing skills across various functions and levels.
It outlines core competencies, technical abilities, and skills (hard and soft), organised by proficiency levels.
The six elements described here make up a detailed skills framework. It’s the combination of more basic data such as skills tags and types, detailed data describing skills in detail and the level of proficiency for each skill that makes an effective framework.
1. Skills taxonomy
A skills taxonomy categorises and organises the skills required across an organisation. It provides a common language for defining and assessing workforce capabilities, aligning them with business goals.
This taxonomy can be created using skills inference and should be customised for the individual organisation so that the skills framework is directly aligned with specific business needs, relevant roles and strategic priorities.
A skills taxonomy provides a structure and vocabulary for describing skills and forms the foundation upon which the skills framework is built.
2. Skills Tags
A skills tag is an individual skill label that is inferred from your job and the requirements for this job. This may be data analysis, for example.
It is the unique identifier for a skill and enables a whole range of tracking, searching, reporting, and analysis.
3. Skills types and categories
Skills types are, for example, technical skills such as proficiency in programming language, or soft skills such as teamwork or communication. The skills types can encompass a wide range of hard and soft skills.
Categories of skills might be aligned with a specific job or job family and according to their position in the organisation. Having these types and categories defined aids grouping, data analysis and categorisation.
4. Skills proficiencies
With the addition of proficiencies, we can build a clearer picture of both the skills and their proficiency levels.
Proficiencies may be described as following, from basic to strategic:
5. Skills descriptors
Skills descriptors define the broad scope of the skills described. What is needed for a descriptor is a description of what the skill means, with the content consistent with the organisational tone of voice.
For example, the skills descriptor for ‘Databases’ could look like this:
Creating, organising, and managing electronic collection of data, using database management systems to store, retrieve, and analyse information efficiently.
6. Skills proficiency descriptors
These describe the proficiency of the skill and the level it is at, from a basic to a strategic level. This is more granular and, therefore, more valuable data which can be applied to a range of use cases.
To return to the ‘Databases’ skill, the proficiency descriptor could describe the level of each skill like this:
While a skills taxonomy enables some insight into the distribution of skills throughout an organisation, it’s the whole skills framework and the granular data contained within skills and skills proficiency descriptors that really make the difference.
This data not only describes the distribution of skills but also provides detailed proficiency levels, enabling a deeper understanding of skills within an organisation and enabling a range of valuable use cases.
For example, identifying and defining skills requirements to this level enables the creation of career paths, as you need to be specific about identifying the skills proficiency requirements when you look vertically and laterally at jobs to create a framework for career pathways.
The skills, and levels of skills, need to be described to bring the career path to life and outline the proficiency requirements for employees to make both linear and lateral moves.
With skills and proficiencies well defined, organisations are more able to identify skills requirements as the foundation for learning and development plans. This allows for optimisation of L&D through targeted academies or through a focus on specific skills.
Detailed skills data also enables performance management, as skill proficiency data provides clear criteria for progression and a framework to support performance management decisions.
A skills framework is the foundation for a skills-based approach because it provides a structured and standardised way to identify, define, and manage skills across an organisation.
Without a clear framework, businesses struggle to assess workforce capabilities, align talent with strategic goals, and create meaningful career development pathways.
By categorising skills and defining proficiency levels, a skills framework establishes a common language for understanding workforce potential, enabling better decision-making in hiring, learning and development, workforce planning, and performance management.
This structured approach ensures that skills can be recognised, developed, and applied effectively, rather than relying on traditional job titles or outdated role descriptions.
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