If we have learned anything from the last 5 years or so it is that change is constant. Rarely have we experienced such a period of turmoil impacting all aspects of our lives. From Brexit, Covid and even War in Europe, we are indeed living through troubled times.
This isn’t a political article by any means. However, what these events illustrate is that regardless of how in-control a company may feel, there are always external influences that can derail even the most robust businesses.
Of course, there are steps that most mature organizations will undertake to protect themselves should the worst happen. Business Continuity Planning (BCP) is an essential activity that all owners and senior management teams should perform and review regularly to ensure they remain relevant, accurate and actionable.
Coming from an IT background this has invariably focused on Disaster Recovery (DR). How do I recover my data and applications onto alternate infrastructure? How long will it take? How long do I have? Plus, many more questions of a similar technical nature.
But one key area often missed in both BCP and DR considerations relate to the people within the business. Yes, we understand what skills are required to ensure that service can be restored, but we don’t always know who has them.
Whilst large business outages are thankfully rare events, people leaving the business are far more frequent but can be equally damaging should essential skills be lost. Additionally, not foreseeing the required skills to execute future strategic goals will invariably have an impact.
Skills Mapping when done well can not only mitigate risk like those mentioned above, but also enable a business to achieve their strategic and operational goals on employee retention, attrition and growth far more effectively and efficiently.
So, why do organizations find it hard to skill map?
Organizations find it hard to skill map because it is deemed a complex and difficult task. It requires an in-depth understanding of the skills, competencies, and abilities of all employees. Additionally, it requires effective engagement between the organization and its employees to ensure that the skill map accurately reflects the individual’s actual skill set. Finally, skill mapping requires time and effort to properly centralize, maintain and update, which can be difficult for organizations to commit to. However, the disadvantages of not skills mapping are significant:
- Reduced ability to identify and respond to skills gaps: Without skills mapping, organizations lack the ability to identify and respond to the skills gaps in their workforce. This can lead to the organization not having the right people with the right skills to meet its objectives.
- Inability to plan for future skills needs: Without skills mapping, organizations are unable to anticipate future skills needs or plan for them in advance. This could lead to a lack of readiness to perform certain tasks or take on new projects.
- Difficulty in deploying resources effectively: Without skills mapping, organizations find it more difficult to deploy their resources effectively. This can lead to inefficiencies in their operations and an inability to optimise their performance.
- Reduced agility: Without skills mapping, organizations are slower to adapt to changes in the market or the environment. This can put them at a disadvantage compared to their competitors.
Here are six reasons why organizations should invest in skills mapping:
1. Identify Gaps: Skills mapping enables organizations to identify gaps in their current workforce in terms of knowledge, experience, and skills. This allows them to identify the skills they need to hire for or develop in order to fill these gaps.
2. Improve Performance: Skills mapping gives organizations a clear idea of how their employees are performing and what skills they need to develop in order to improve. This allows them to focus their training and development efforts in the right areas.
3. Benchmark Performance: Organizations can use skills mapping to compare their employees’ skills and performance to that of their competitors. This allows them to benchmark their performance and identify areas where they can improve.
4. Make Informed Decisions: Skills mapping helps organizations make informed decisions about their workforce. Organizations can use the data collected from skills mapping to decide which skills to invest in and which employees to promote or hire.
5. Improve Retention: By having a clear understanding of their employees’ skills, organizations can ensure that their employees are engaged and motivated. This leads to higher retention rates and reduced turnover, which in turn saves money and increases productivity.
6. Increase Productivity: By better understanding the skills and abilities of their staff, organizations can assign tasks and projects to those best suited for the job. This can lead to increased productivity and overall better quality of work.
The Hook
Clearly, this is an article created by a software company that has a solution to the complexities mentioned within. Guilty as charged! However, we at OpusView are passionate about people and huge advantages to be had from aligning their skills and talents to the objectives of the organizations within which they work. We firmly believe that this creates a win-win scenario for both the company and the individual. Happy, motivated employees deploying their skills on the most important challenges the business is facing can only be a good outcome for everyone.
So come and take a look at how our solutions can help you achieve this and even arrange for a free no obligation demo (https://opusview.com/demorequest).
Martin Shaw, CTO
