The growth of the organization is heavily dependent on employee’s performance. As the business evolves, with the shift in the market strategies and technology, the employees too need to walk alongside. In short, organizations are always on the verge of facing transitions. And to adapt to the changes and to ensure your team possesses the skills they need to meet the demand of the industry, a skills gap analysis is required.
You must be wondering…
What is Skills Gap Analysis?
Skills gap analysis is used as a tool to determine the gap between employees’ current skills and those required skills desired by the employer to reach certain organizational goals. Skill gaps are essential to analyze as it help to narrow down training objectives. It reveals the parameter of gaps in the organization and thus helps to define what training or hiring requirements are needed to fill the gap areas.
Know When to Conduct a Skills Gap Analysis –
Skills gap analysis is more likely to be a regular practice as and when required. Every time there is any change in the organization plans and strategies, or if there is a development in the business with a new outlook, skills gap analysis is a must-have consideration in every step.
You should also consider skills gap analysis if –
- Your employees are consistently underperforming
- Monthly/quarterly business objectives are not being met
- Changes in business practice and/or introduction to new technology
Simple Steps to Perform a Skills Gap Analysis
Step 1: Identifying the Desired Skills
The preliminary work on skills gap analysis is to define the objective around what the organization is expecting from its employees. What are those desired strategies that are needed to be implemented, and what skills are needed to perform the task. Bear in mind, when we talk about skills, it encompasses both soft skills and technical skills.
The best way to perform this step is to map out each of the new objectives and the required skills in relation to that. To simplify try seeking answers to these questions:
- Where do you see your organization in upcoming years!
- What is the current trend of your industry!
- Do you need to perform individual or group analysis to assess the skill gap!
- Do you need to implement new technologies to adapt to your business model!
Whether you need to conduct training to upgrade your employees or you need to hire new employees to accommodate the expansion, this is the part where you form a concrete idea of the skills you are looking for to meet your business goals.
Step 2: Evaluating the Current Skills
Moving on to the next step, the best way to assess the current skills of existing employees is to measure their performance and accomplishments. This could be executed through tests to quantify the result and you can also evaluate employees' track records. Plus you can perform interviews, skill assessment surveys to clearly locate the strengths and weaknesses of your employees and spot the areas when they need improvement to meet organizational objectives.
Step 3: Addressing the Gaps
In this stage, when both the variables have been defined, you need to plan out on addressing the gaps. Whether you need to train, hire or outsource a proper decision needs to be made first. This is where a clear vision needs to be set starting from what resources, tools to planning for the training program you need to implement. All in all, to address the skills gap, a practical plan has to be sketched out to make sure the envisioned plan can be executed in a timely manner.
Performing a skills gap analysis is enables the company to ensure quick transition through different phases of the business. When it comes to running a business successfully, it is important to know about the skills that can be applied to maximize future achievement. Skills gap analysis also provides a chance to stay ahead of the game from your competitors.
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Written By : Samantha Kanth