Use skill mapping to achieve success in talent management.

As a mid-market CEO, you understand the importance of having the right team in key positions to drive customer satisfaction and growth. However, finding and developing talent can be an uphill battle, especially with limited resources and budget constraints. To overcome these challenges, you need effective strategies to identify talent gaps and develop plans accordingly.

One strategy gaining traction today among CEOs of mid-market companies is skill mapping–a practice that helps build out job descriptions more accurately during hiring processes while uncovering ways existing workforce strengths could add value across departments. This process involves creating an accurate assessment of your workforce regarding skills. To optimize resource allocation, identify and prioritize crucial skills within your company. This will enable you to determine your team’s collective skill set and make informed decisions about resource allocation. You’ll also be able to assess whether employee strengths are being leveraged in the correct positions.

Benefits of Skill Mapping

• Employees are more productive when they understand their job tasks and responsibilities. Furthermore, skill mapping assists leaders in assigning tasks that match the skill sets of their employees.
• Companies can provide tailored learning opportunities to employees who know their abilities and weaknesses, resulting in higher engagement, job satisfaction, and retention.
• Skill mapping assists companies in identifying labor shortages and preparing for future employment needs.
• Knowing what skills are needed helps everyone know what to look for when hiring new employees.
• Skill mapping also helps identify potential successors for critical positions within the company, thereby creating effective succession plans.

Getting started

Several skill models are available, each with its own strength and weaknesses when it comes to skill mapping. Encourage you to look into several of these to see which one is the best fit for your company. Some well-known and commonly used models for skill mapping include Korn Ferry Lominger Leadership competency model, SIGMA leadership competency framework and HRSG behavioral technical and leadership competency models.

• Begin with a skills assessment where you first need to define what skills you want to assess. These assessments provide a clear picture of employees’ skills, which can also expose skill gaps. They can also be used to assess the skills of candidates who are applying for an open position at your company. If you don’t want to develop and administer skills assessments to your employees, multiple external vendors offer these services, such as eSkill, Predictive Index and Traitify.
• Split your employees into categories or functional departments to simplify skill mapping and provide greater clarity.
• Focus on the critical skills, not all the skills needed to do a particular job. At first, just focus on the critical positions.

Skill mapping can benefit your mid-market business more than you might realize. Implementing a skill mapping system properly is an essential step in cultivating resources and promoting continuous learning within the company. By focusing on the benefits, setting defined targets from the outset, and investing appropriately in employees with specific skill levels, you will be building a solid foundation for your business for years to come.

Charles Good  President, Institute for Management Studies

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