| Articles » Shedding Light on Skills Inventory |
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Shedding Light on Skills Inventory |
| by Susan Lee |
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| Overview |
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| Many leaders are caught up in the day-to-day operations
of their department and are not really aware of the various skills
of their employees. They know generally what is happening in their
department and that the work is getting done, but rarely do leaders
have the time to focus on verifying the skills of their team. |
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| Why should they verify the skills of their employees?
These individuals had the skills when they were hired. But how long
ago was that? Has their job or tasks changed? |
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As a leader, have you ever wondered?
- Are my employees doing the work as described in their job descriptions?
- What skills do my employees have?
- What resources do I have in my team to help adapt to change?
- What do I need to do to keep my department trained and current?
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| The Situation |
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We determined that our first step would be to conduct
a thorough skills inventory on all employee work groups. The process
was:
- Develop the skills inventory questions
- Conducted the skills inventory
- Develop the report and recommendations
- Implement the recommendations
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| Once the skills inventory was developed, we could begin
the process of determining the skills and knowledge of the employees
in each work group. We decided to conduct the skills inventory in
small employee focus groups. This allowed the employees to speak freely
and confidentially to someone who was unbiased and from outside the
organization. There were 18 questions to answer and discuss in a 3-hour
period. The intent of these questions was to find out what the employees
did and to ensure that they were doing the right things and have all
the tools and training needed to bring about success. The questions
were not intended to evaluate how effective the employees were at
doing their job. |
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These questions included:
- What are your position titles?
- What do you do?
- Does what you do match your job description?
- Who do you report to?
- What should your job position title be?
- Why do you do what you do?
- How is your success measured?
- What do you "ideally" think you should do in your
job?
- What would you like to do better?
- What stops you from doing what you're supposed to be doing?
- What stops you from doing what you "ideally" think
you should be doing?
- What is needed to overcome these blockages & barriers?
- What is your reporting structure and your reporting relationships?
- If you were to create a reporting structure and reporting relationships
for your area, how would you organize it and how would you describe
it?
- What kind of training do you think you need for your continued
development?
- How would this training be managed?
- What kind of training do you think other members of your department
need?
- What can you do that you're not currently doing?
- Are you interested in more senior positions and/or other positions
within the division? What would these be? What training, etc.
would you need in order to be able to respond to a job posting
for these?
- What are some other points regarding your department to ensure
that you have the opportunity to grow within your new position?
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| During these focus groups, everyone had the opportunity
to answer these questions truthfully. They also voiced their dissatisfaction
with the situation of the department and shared their desire for positive
change. |
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| With the results collected, the next step in the process
was to look at all staff positions and identify current skills and
future skills required for each. This would allow us to recognize
the gap in skills identified and skills required. Once the gap was
clearly defined, the report and recommendations were presented to
a training committee who would ensure that both management and staff
job descriptions would be reviewed in light of the report, that training
needed would be provided and to ensure the implementation of any other
recommendations stemming from the report. |
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| The Results |
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After completing all of the focus groups, five reports
were created:
- The full responses to each question by group, including the
names of those that participated in the group.
- A comparison of job duties against the employee group job descriptions
identifying where the matches and differences exist.
- A list of skills required for each group compared to the skills
they suggest are required.
- Identification of career goals and the training, coaching,
etc. desired to reach these.
- The issues, concerns, challenges, etc. that need to be addressed.
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In summary, the results indicated:
- There were a number of departmental issues, weaknesses and
barriers that had to be addressed. For example, staff work and
job descriptions were similar. The reason for the extra time required
to complete their jobs on a daily and weekly basis were more the
result of poor work processes than the result of poor employees.
This led to a recommendation to analyze all key business processes
for improvement.
- Employees have the basic skills to do their jobs and * they
like what they do.
- Employees need to receive continual training to keep current
and develop themselves for future potential career opportunities.
- To be more productive, employee processes needed to change
and improve.
- Employees want more challenges.
- Employees want more recognition and appreciation for their
work.
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| As a result of the skills inventory, the organization
decided that some training programs could be developed and presented
in-house and for more specific smaller groups they would be offered
public courses. They were also able to begin the process of identifying
individuals interested in career opportunities and to provide them
with specific training required to ensure their success. |
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| The organization also determined that the current skill
level of the employees matched their job description. It was just
that they tended to provide more information and detailed job information
during the focus groups. A job description is generally a high-level
view of their overall job and not inclusive of the detail. However,
what became apparent through this skills inventory was that their
work processes needed improvement. This was started immediately after
and resulted in tremendous success in the area of customer and staff
satisfaction. |
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| Conclusion |
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| Although a skills inventory may take a bit of time,
it does uncover many issues and gaps. Learning about the real issues
and gaps from a skills inventory makes it easier for a leader to address
them, rather than wasting time guessing or assuming what the issues
could be. |
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| For more information about this article, please contact bia™ at info@bia.ca. |
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| © Business Improvement Architects |
