It is a world of AI and skill agility is vital to survive in this competitive digital landscape. However, most companies around the world have not embarked on or widened their upskilling programs which make the workforce more productive and efficient in the modern era. According to a recent report, only 5% of global organizations reach the activation and measurement stage of an upskilling program. The root of the program lies in effective skill gap analysis which needs to be conducted on a regular interval.
More than 87% of the learning and development professionals believe that addressing skill gaps can help to make the workforce more aware of knowledgeable of their weak points which hampers internal mobility.
Skills Gap Analysis in 6 Easy Steps:
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Identifying the Objectives
It starts with defining the goals and scope of the skill gap analysis and how it can empower the workforce for the company. You need to clarify the different levels of exercise along with the goals set for it. Are you conducting the analysis for the complete workforce or any particular team? What are you trying to achieve from it? Finding the answers can help you understand whether you need to implement a new learning program or not.
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Definition for Required Skills
The next step is to clearly define the skills that are required for the particular job process or position. You need to break down the roles for every individual to explain to them what is required as responsibilities to the organization. It includes a collection of job information, identifying key tasks, defining skills and competencies, and also validating them. This way, you can create a skill inventory for every required job role.
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Assessment of Current Skills
Every employee already has a certain set of skills and assessment helps to find how efficient the employees are with their certain skills. Skill assessment includes the creation of a skill matrix and self-assessment surveys where members can be more aware of their skills and competencies. Competency-based evaluations and feedback from supervisors can help to improve these skills. Make sure to analyze competitors to find more areas of improvement.
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Analyzing Skill Gaps
The skill gap analysis can be better understood when there are visual representations of the collected data. Utilizing heat maps and radar charts can help to have a better idea in case of competitive analysis with a larger volume of data. With the help of tools like Google Sheets, Excel, or specialized platforms like Tableau; you can quickly generate graph and heat maps for various individuals with dynamic skills. Visual representation plays a vital role in this case.
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Sources and Other Causes for Gap
After skill gap analysis, it is time to explore the root causes. According to a recent survey, more than 70% of industry leaders and business personas believe that their companies are suffering from skills gap issues. While some people consider that technological advancement is one of the prime reasons for the skill gap, it might not be completely true. The cause can be both internal and external based on the market and needs of potential customers.
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An Action Plan & Execution
It is time to create an effective action plan that can help to remove skill gaps from the organizations. While 63% of the employers focus on upskilling, around 58% want to just hire freshers with the expectation they have more skills. There should be perfect executions for upskilling and reskilling programs that help make the workforce stronger and more productive.
Removing skills gap issues is not just important but a compulsory need for every organization to improve the skills of their workforce.
