The most valuable asset of a 21st-century institution will be its people and their productivity, observed Peter Drucker, commonly credited as “the man who invented management”. The dawn of digitization and technology brought about disruptive trends that transformed the world of work as we know it, with the pandemic accelerating a few trends in particular, namely - remote work, upskilling, and freelance work. Workplaces became more flexible while work itself became more decentralized. Thus, it has become more vital than ever for companies to accurately understand and keep track of employee strength, skills, productivity, and opportunities for improvement. A skills matrix is one great way to visualize these skills and skill gaps.
What Is A Skills Matrix?
A skills matrix (or a competency matrix) is a grid-based visual tool that shows the tasks and skills required for specific roles and the current competency and skill level of each employee for each task. A skills matrix includes the following three aspects:
skills available within the team
skills needed that the team doesn't have currently
skills required to complete a project
Typically, the left side of the matrix lists the required skills, while the top row contains the names of the employees. Their proficiencies and skills are then graded numerically or simply marked as yes/no. “Proficiency” (an employee’s existing credibility in a field) and “Interest” (his/her proclivity to apply skills, learn more, and develop) are two key parameters of the skill matrix.
Why Use A Skills Matrix?
As the famous adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. At its core, a skills matrix does just that - it visualizes data. This reliable tool is especially useful for HR, operations managers, team leaders, and project leaders because it offers a high-level overview of the knowledge and skills available within a team, those that are necessary, and those that are lacking - at just a glance. These insights enable managers to monitor the development, efficiency, and productivity of employees, balance workloads wisely, and assign training as needed. Leaders can better understand current skills, identify skill gaps and high-risk areas and accordingly plan the way forward to advance the business goals.
Benefits Of Skills Matrices
A well-constructed skills matrix is a tool for making data-driven business decisions, the benefits of which are felt at multiple levels.
Individual: With a visual insight into their own competencies, experience, and skill gaps, it’s easier for employees to understand their tasks and responsibilities and have clearer development paths. It can also help in significantly reducing stress and workload.
Team: The team gains clarity of current skills and skill gaps, can track and monitor key performance metrics, and improve efficiency. The team can also decide whether to hire new people with the relevant competencies or upskill existing employees.
Organizations: The organization gets a general overview of available competencies and performance. This can be useful while deciding budgets and investments, workforce planning, or redistributing talent in order to function better.
Clients: When the teams are more self-aware of their competencies and weaknesses, the final output is invariably better service to clients.
There are a few other benefits of using a skills matrix, such as:
Reduced bias: helps to identify individuals with specialized skills who might otherwise have been overlooked by human error/bias
Cost-effectiveness: Training and development resources can be focused on the people and the skills who will for sure deliver results. One can also identify which training is most effective
Strengthened Performance: Teams with a strong, clear set of goals will lead to better performance and improved organizational efficiency.
Every organization proudly declares that its employees are their strongest asset. Developing a system that understands, manages, and utilizes that tremendous human asset will help the organization grow stronger and further its business goals. A skill matrix for small teams can easily be created using a spreadsheet, however, if you are working in a larger company / multi-location environment, you might like to consider a software tool that will allow managing the entire workflow online. Let us know how you maintain, manage, and track employee skills in the comments below!
Want To Learn More?
SkillOps helps your business manage skill assessments, capacity, and project planning more effectively and scale up your performance. Contact us to find out more.