Spotting skills gaps

Learning & development / 06 June 2011

With training budgets tighter than ever, assessing any skills gaps is crucial for development. Alison Hjul explains how to identify issues within your team, find suitable tools to address them and build an effective development plan

As training budgets tighten, there’s more pressure than ever on managers to make sure that they spend what cash there is wisely. No more sending everyone on the same course – today’s managers are required to be highly selective about staff development, pinpointing the precise skills that are lacking in their team and identifying how to remedy it.

“Instead of training everyone, whether they need it or not, the emphasis is on assessing individual needs and using a wider range of tools and processes to develop people,” says Carol Ward, senior consultant at Caliper, which provides assessment and consultancy services for employee development.

To help managers better identify their team’s development needs, many companies create a framework of behaviour-based competencies – covering key job requirements such as communication skills and problem-solving – against which managers can assess an individual and identify their skills gaps.

But, warns Simon Mitchell, director at talent management company DDI: “Being able to assess where people need to develop is a skill that not enough managers have.” Simply relying on a line manager’s own observations may produce a rather subjective and inaccurate picture of an individual’s development needs.

As a result, some employers use tools such as 360-degree feedback to provide information on how an employee’s behaviour is perceived by other people in the organisation, which gives the manager a broader insight into where development may be needed.

Instead of training everyone, whether they need it or not, the emphasis is on assessing individual needs and using a wider range of tools and processes to develop people.

Carol Ward, senior consultant, Caliper

“However, 360s are not so good for predicting how someone is likely to behave in a role they haven’t yet done,” says Mitchell. “That’s where some sort of day-in-the-life assessment or business simulation
is needed.”

He also says past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour and advises managers to utilise recruitment data. Information from an employee’s CV and interview, he says, should be used to help plan their future development rather than just be stuffed into an HR drawer.

Psychometric testing

Many large and medium-sized organisations use psychometric tests and personality profiles to predict how employees are likely to behave in certain situations, such as their ability to manage stress or solve problems. These have traditionally been recruitment tools, but are used increasingly to help managers make more objective assessments of their team’s development needs.

When choosing a test, it’s vital to check that it’s been scientifically validated, says Ward – meaning that research should show that the behaviours predicted by the test do actually manifest themselves in people’s performance over a period of time.

She also advises managers to select a psychometric tool that is “suitable for the world of work”, in that it matches someone’s strengths, limitations, potential and motivations to the requirements of a specific job. Ward outlines how Caliper works with its clients: “We ask the company for information on the scope of the job, the particular challenges the job holder faces, and the relevant competencies for the role.” The assessment outcome is then used as the basis of an employee development plan, whether the manager is looking to improve someone’s performance in an existing role, or develop potential managerial employees.

Crucially, managers need to align individual development needs to their organisational objectives, says Dr Fiona Robson, senior lecturer in human resource management at Newcastle Business School. “What motivates an individual, or what a manager feels is best for an employee, may not be what’s best for the team or company.”

A training and learning needs analysis highlights the gaps in the skills, knowledge and attitudes of employees, by matching employees’ capabilities to the skill needs of the organisation. But, warns Dr Robson, managers need to make it clear that this isn’t a wish list. “It’s important to manage expectations. If you don’t, it can be demoralising if someone doesn’t get what they want.”

Managers also need to consider the likely return on investment of any development. This is most likely to be measured qualitatively, says Dr Robson, but has moved away from training feedback forms to focusing on what the organisation gets out of training. “People have to be clear about how they’ll use the knowledge or skills they’ve gained and, later on, should talk to their manager about the benefits they’ve gained since training took place.” As part of this process, the manager needs to give employees the opportunity to put their new learning into practice.

So, rather than rely solely on their own judgement of an individual’s performance and potential, today’s managers have a number of assessment tools at their disposal. While these don’t eliminate the need for managers to get involved in their team’s development plans, they do, says Dr Robson, give a more level playing field and help them to make a more objective decision.