Master skills management to boost performance (and more)
Improving knowledge, know-how and interpersonal skills within a company is essential to ensure that the skills of its employees coincide with the needs of its organization. This is what we call skills management !
Although the task may seem tedious, it's actually quite simple to optimize your HR onboarding to keep your employees happy. Let's take a closer look! 🕵🏼♀️
Competency management: definition
Skills management is the way in which a company manages its human capital- in other words, its employees - and ensures that the skills of its teams match the resources required to achieve its objectives.
It is the key tool of a well-functioning organization that seeks to adapt, improve and develop its performance. This is why it is so important for the human resources department to take a close look at the subject.
The challenges of skills management
By anticipating changes in your employees' skills, you'll be able to find quick and effective solutions when needed. With strategic skills management, you'll be able to identify the right person (talent) with the right skills for a specific problem, or to identify gaps in your skills.
What are the objectives of competency management?
Motivating employees
One of the best ways of motivating your employees to excel is to show them that they have the qualifications required to continue their efforts, or to prove to them that they have the ability to do so.
The personal satisfaction derived from an additional qualification is a guarantee of better performance. This is because :
- by opening up professional prospects,
- by increasing your employees' range of skills,
- or refining their skills by specializing in a particular field,
they become true experts in their field.
Matching skills to jobs
Within a company, it is essential to anticipate the profiles of your future employees and train them accordingly. As certain qualifications become obsolete, good skills management will help you avoid major economic and technological shocks .
You can draw up a forward-looking employment and skills management (GPEC) model which aims to :
- reduce recruitment difficulties,
- develop employee skills,
- counter age pyramid problems,
- develop individual and collective skills,
- develop professional mobility,
- adapt to and manage the consequences of technological and economic change.
Targeting operational performance
To achieve your annual objectives, you need to use optimal means. Optimal means using the least possible resources (including costly ones), while maximizing the achievement of your objectives.
Skills management is therefore a major asset, because by training your employees, you can not only reduce your costs in the long term, but above all ensure ever-higher performance.
This creates a virtuous circle within your company, to the benefit of your bottom line.
Reduce recruitment costs
In addition to helping you recruit the right people for the right job, competency management also helps reduce your recruitment costs.
Recruiting a candidate for a vacant position, or when you feel the need, actually requires a lot of financial outlay, unlike training an employee already working for your company. You can identify the skills your company needs and find the resources you require directly in-house.
Steps to effective skills management
1. Identify skills
Essential skills
Come up with a list of the skills you feel are best suited to your company's needs, and which all your employees have in common. Don't hesitate to involve all your teams in the process, managers and employees alike, to enrich your list and create unity within the organization.
Organize a dedicated meeting or discussion group where you first present your choices with the rest of your company. This will be useful in case you forget, or simply to refine your research.
The people working alongside you are best placed to help you define your target needs.
Establish typical profiles
Based on your company's various departments, establish typical profiles that will be adapted to each of them. For example, IT skills for developers or SEO skills for copywriters.
To do this, contact the most experienced profiles in your company's departments, so that you have a clear idea of the skills required.
Soft skills
Remember to differentiate between expected skills and personal skills. An employee's soft skills are something you absolutely must take into account, and are a real asset: the ability to manage stress, communication skills, empathy, patience, etc. Faced with the rapid renewal of skills, soft skills are essential for career development.
2. Determine the company's needs
Take care to limit the gaps between employees' current skills and those required to carry out an assignment. This step is fundamental to targeting the skills to be adopted in the event of a specific need, or even for a given period.
Depending on the objectives and/or assignments to be carried out over the week, month or year, list the different skills your employee will need.
Identify the various factors that are a source of change, such as :
- new technologies,
- new practices
- new systems,
- current events.
3. Define how to assess skills
It's up to the manager to identify and develop an employee's specific skills. To identify training needs, you can use appraisals, observe your employee on a day-to-day basis, or take advantage of individual interviews to identify together the skills to be acquired.
Don't hesitate to adopt the daily scrum method or weekly interviews to talk to each employee and identify any shortcomings or areas for improvement.
4. Measure with a tool
Skills management requires a certain amount of rigor and time, between drawing up a list of skills, the associated profiles and training. Fortunately, you can use software to make the task easier.
🛠️ ServicesRHOnline is a software package for managing skills, interviews and training plans. ServicesRHOnline is easy to use, allowing you to guide follow-up interviews with your employees and alert you to their progress. Employees can evaluate and enhance their skills, enabling them to target their future training more effectively.
How do you organize your employees' skills? Tell us in the comments!
Article translated from French