Bridging The Skills Gap

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Bridging The Skills Gap
Hassouneh B. Al-Qaisi
London Business School
intilak consultancy

ON TARGET
© 2012 intilak® . All rights reserved for
YAJ–intilak consultancy.
www.intilak.com

© 2012 intilak® . All rights reserved for intilak consultancy www.intilak.com

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Before to start

“Skills Shortage Hits Manufacturers.”

“Lack of Talent Threatens
Growth, Competitiveness.”
Learning and development add value to the
business only when they help a business achieve its
primary goals & create new oppurtunities
The difference between a successful person and
others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of
knowkedge, but rather a lack of will


ON TARGET

What is the skills gap?
A skills gap is a significant gap
between an organization’s skill needs and the current
capabilities of its workforce.
It is the point at which an organization can no
longer grow and/or remain competitive in its
industry because its employees do not have the right
skills to help drive business results and support
the organization’s strategies and goals.


ON TARGET

What is causing the skills gap?
What is causing the skills
gap?
1. Jobs are changing
2. Educational attainment is
lagging the need for skills.
3. Businesses are not leveraging
their learning investments
effectively.

Where are the biggest gaps?
1. Basic skills
2. Technical and professional
skills
3. Management and
leadership
4. Emotional intelligence
5. Languages &
Communication Skills


ON TARGET

Four Signs That an Organization May be
Facing a Skills Gap
1. There is a mismatch between the skills the organization
needs (current and future) and the capabilities of the
workforce.
2. The organization did not train employees during hard
times and is struggling to catch up.

3. The number of high skilled, specialized jobs needed to
take the organization forward is increasing.
4. There is a high percentage of baby boomers in the
workforce that are or will be leaving soon.


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Skills Gabs that faces the Organizations


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Questions
What is the impact of the skills gap?
A shortage of skilled workers can put the brakes on innovation and growth. The reason:
In today’s economy, the knowledge and skills of the workforce are the key to growing
and sustaining a competitive advantage.

How widespread is the skills gap today?
The demands of a global, technology-driven, data-intensive, knowledge-based economy
are creating skills gaps across entire industries and throughout the public sector.
The one-two punch of recent graduates entering the workforce unprepared for current
demands and the looming retirement of large numbers of baby boomers also undermines
the ability of businesses to grow and compete.


ON TARGET

Why is Learning Vital?
To be effective, organizations must understand what skill sets they need now
and in the future at every level of the organization – all the way to the
executive suite. In many organizations challenged by a very competitive
business environment, it’s not enough to “hire for
attitude” and “train for
skills.” Employees must come to work with skills that allow them to be
effective immediately. Starting with the selection process, savvy organizations
identify critical skills and competencies that new hires must have, and they
recruit for those. WLP professionals work with their partners in human
resources to identify the potential learning needs of an employee before his
or her first day of employment.
Understanding the organization’s goals and strategies, managers
work with employees to map their learning needs to business
requirements through the use of individual development plans
and performance plans.


ON TARGET

New Workplace Learning and Performance Competencies,
Competencies Framework
Employee Name
Job Title
Department
Position Competency
Profile

:
:
:
Mastery
Level

# Technical Competencies
1
2
3
4

5
# Non - Technical Competencies
1
2
3
4
5
Training & Development Solutions:


Competencies
Level

Competencies
Gap

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Why are learning professionals key to
helping organizations address skills
gaps?
In short, people must continually learn, acquire
new knowledge, and develop their skills to be
effective contributors to their organizations.
The only way for an organization to grow and
compete in a rapidly changing global business
environment is to have a skilled workforce that is
innovative, understands the economic environment and marketplace, and is
driven to be best in class in their industry. An organization’s WLP team
understands that necessity and they know that employee development
starts before a person is employed and continues throughout a person’s
tenure and career. This team knows that having the right
people, with the right skills, at the right time is critical for
success.


ON TARGET

ACTION PLAN


ON TARGET

Key questions:
• Is there a skills gap in my organization?
• Where is the gap, how big is it, and what are the implications
if the gap goes unfilled?

• What should my team do to address the gap?
• How can we implement a process that will help us get ahead of
this in the future?


ON TARGET

Skills for Long-Term Success in Improving Individual
and Organizational Performance
• CRITICAL SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES.
• BUSINESS ACUMEN.
• LEADERSHIP SKILLS.
• TECHNICAL CAPACITY
• ADAPTABILITY
• INNOVATIVE THINKING.


ON TARGET

ACTION PLAN
1. Understand the organization’s key
strategies and performance metrics
2. Identify competencies that map to these
strategies
3. Assess the skills gap
4. Set goals and prioritize the path to filling
the gap
5. Implement learning solutions
6. Measure results and communicate
the impact


ON TARGET

Action Plan
Step 1

Understand the
organization’s key
strategies and
performance metrics
Be sure you know the answers to
these questions, and can articulate
the connection between key
business metrics and learning.

• What are your organization’s key
strategies, goals, and objectives?
• Who are your customers or who is your
audience? How satisfied and engaged are they
with your organization?
• What is your position in the industry or
market, and who are your key competitors? Does
your organization have a competitive advantage If so, what is it?

• Does your organization have a business plan with
a recent SWOT (strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats) analysis?
• How does your CEO or senior executive measure
the
organization’s performance and success?
• How are your senior leaders measured in their
performance goals?
• How does your organization change course when
it is not meeting performance goals?
• Where is your organization and industry headed
in the next year, three years, and five years?


ON TARGET

Action Plan
Step 2

• Based on your organization’s strategies and core
business functions, what skills and competencies
are needed in the organization?

Identify
competencies
That map to these
strategies
and performance metrics
Identify core business functions and
organizational strategies that
depend on skilled talent for their
execution.

Define the organization’s “future
state” – these are the skills you must
have (in the next one to three years,
for example) to meet business goals.
Map the skills and competencies
needed to the organization’s current
and future goals and strategies.
• Determine the priority of the skills and
competencies – what are the most important ones
that the organization must have to grow
and be successful?
Create a matrix that is meaningful to
the organization (the competencies
may be mapped to job function within
the organization, department,
employee group, or area of specialty).


ON TARGET

Action Plan
Step 3

Assess the
skills gap
Understand the demographics of
your workforce. Are many
employees nearing retirement?
Assess your organization’s risk of
losing knowledge if long-time
employees leave.


Conduct a workforce review to
determine the status of current and future skills
gaps by organization/ division, job category, and
demographic segment. Do this through a
comprehensive skills inventory for all
employees, from entry-level workers to senior
executives.

Determine the most important skills
gaps your organization faces now, in one
year, three years, five years, and potentially 10
years.

Based on the assessment, determine
the largest skills gaps and which employees most
need skills development. Prioritize the most
critical skills gaps.
Consider these questions:
• Are the gaps more pronounced
in specific employee groups?
• Are the gaps in specific lines
of business?
• Are the gaps geographically-based?


ON TARGET

Action Plan
Step 4

Set goals and
prioritize the path
to filling the gap
Identify targets for closing the gap
between current skill sets and
those needed to support the
future goals of the organization.

Decide whether to hire skilled talent, build it
internally, and/or obtain it through outsourcing.
Set baseline measures by documenting employees’
skills assessments as they stand now.
Set goals for “speed-to-competence”
– how quickly do you need to develop these
skills, and how will you measure the effectiveness
of the skills development?
Set goals for internal communication and change
management plans that will accompany the
comprehensive action plan to address the
organization’s skills gap.
Develop a separate communication and change
management strategy for managers. Include
managers in every step of the implementation and
measurement strategy.
Create or improve processes and methods for
identifying internal talent, recruiting new
talent, and retaining employees with the key skill
sets that the organization needs.


ON TARGET

Action Plan
Step 5

Implement
learning solutions
Led by the organization’s learning
function, create an organization wide learning plan to address skills
gaps.
Deploy learning resources through a
learning management system.

Create individual learning plans and learning paths
for employees.
Select appropriate delivery modes for learning
opportunities – instructor-led classroom, online
instruction, informal learning, or a combination.
In addition to traditional training methods
(e.g., classroom or online instruction), include
learning opportunities such as coaching,
mentoring, job rotation, external programs and
courses, tuition reimbursement, and so forth as
part of the learning plan.
Set up systems that will document and measure
employees’ competencies and skills
before, during, and after the learning takes place.

Ensure that the learning employees will receive is
relevant, timely, and accessible, and is linked
directly to narrowing the identified skills gap.
Engage the organization’s senior leadership in supporting learning programs and
advocating for workforce readiness.
Create opportunities for the CEO and senior executives to lead courses and
model “leaders as teachers.”
Create opportunities for seasoned and highly skilled workers to stay involved and
engaged in the organization by being part of the skill development of others as
mentors, coaches, and team leaders.


ON TARGET

Action Plan
Step 6

Measure results
and communicate
the impact
Measure employees’ progress on
the learning plans against
individual and organizational
goals.

Use measurement tools such as scorecards and
dashboards to measure progress before and after
learning takes place.
Measure organizational gains in
efficiency, effectiveness of the learning, and
speed-to-competence.
Test for senior leadership’s awareness of the
progress in building needed skills.
Link the results of the learning back to
organizational strategies and goals.
Determine whether the organization is meeting or
has met its goals to narrow skills gaps.
Measure and communicate the return-oninvestment (ROI) for the learning program–what
are the financial and non-financial benefits to the
organization in the short and long-term? Adjust
solutions based on success.
Report results to all stakeholders in the
organization. Consider these questions:
• Did your learning solutions and
implementation plans have a
measurable effect on narrowing skills
gaps in your organization?
• Is your workforce better equipped
with skills now?
• What business results can be
identified based on the learning
solutions implemented?


ON TARGET

What Should
to do

Invest

As Organization

Provide

Create
Organization
should to do

Recognize


Benchmark

ON TARGET

As Organization:
1-Invest in employee development and
commit resources to learning initiatives
that support business goals and
strategies.

2- Create an environment of continuous
learning and provide appropriate
learning and development opportunities.
3-Benchmark organization-wide
learning against best practices.
4- Recognize and reward learning and
development that support current and
future skill needs.
5- Provide working conditions and an
atmosphere that help retain mature
workers, so that highly skilled and
knowledgeable workers stay in the
workforce.

ON TARGET

What Should
to do

Take
responsibility
for their own
skill develop.

As Individuals

Take
responsibility
for the
quality of
their work

Initiative to
increase their
knowledge and
skills when..
Individual
should to
do
Able to learn
new skills
quickly


Be proactive
in acquiring
skills,

ON TARGET

As Individual
1 - Take responsibility for their own
skill development and career
development.
2- Take responsibility for the quality
of their work.
3- Be flexible, adaptable, and able
to learn new skills quickly.
4- Be proactive in acquiring skills, in
furthering their education, and
committing to lifelong learning.
5- Take the initiative to increase
their knowledge and skills when their
job or organization require it.


Bridging The Skills Gap

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