More and more organisations are looking to move towards a skills-based approach, one which enables them to identify, develop and use specific skills to improve performance.
This approach is seen as necessary to adapt and remain competitive in an evolving business landscape, as well as to adapt to the dynamic nature of work.
A focus on skills can allow organisations to use the talents of its employees more effectively, placing them where they are most needed.
It helps to ensure that training programmes can be directed where they are most needed, as well as being able to identify and address gaps in organisational capabilities.
It’s an approach which has been shown to bring benefits to organisations. Deloitte research suggests that organisations adopting a skills-based approach are 63% more likely to achieve results.
Skills-based strategies also contribute to the ability to place talent more effectively, to anticipate and adapt to change, and to be more inclusive.
The approach also contributes to finding and retaining talent, as it’s popular with employees, with 73% believing skills-based practices would improve their experience at work, while 66% would be attracted to organisations that value skills over experience.
While the benefits of adopting this skills-based approach are clear to many organisations, there remain several challenges that make it more difficult to put this into practice.
These challenges involve data, resources, and the need for a unified approach to skills.
Putting a skills approach into practice requires data. If decisions are to be made around pay, promotions, or placements, then the data this is based upon needs to be reliable.
Organisations also need a single source of skills data so that decisions can be made across the organisation.
In practice, while some organisations have made progress in this area, skills data is often
siloed across departments and systems, making it difficult to achieve a unified view
An effective skills-based approach also requires a common definition of skills which are relevant to the organisation. These can vary between teams, as well as between organisations.
To be able to make effective decisions, it’s important that the language around skills is consistent and understandable. This information can then be used to inform decisions around recruitment and workforce planning.
Skills taxonomies are often large data-sets of skills ‘tags’. In practice, more granular skills proficiency definitions are required for specific use-cases.
The challenge for organisations is that building up more detailed skills data requires significant effort and resources.
While off the shelf skills frameworks offer the attraction of a shortcut to implementing a skills approach, there can be issues with implementation.
Some frameworks can be too generic, and don’t always fit in with the terms used in the organisation. This means greater effort customising language and skills descriptions,
To build out the skills data across an organisation, to the level of detail and granularity that is required for key use cases requires a significant investment in terms of resources, effort and cost.
Once organisations have completed some work collating skills data, there is further complexity in the process of consolidating this data across the business.
Practically speaking, this is about sharing different data sources, managing input and reviewing the process of approval around the business.
Once a skills framework has been agreed and completed, there remains the challenge of constant monitoring and updating. Organisations need to keep up with changing skills, changing needs in the business and this requires continuous updates.
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