When it comes to leaders taking decisions on assigning tasks in an organization, it is very important for them to thoroughly know the skills and experience the team possess. A skills matrix is an ideal tool that provides better clarity about the talent and competencies available on the work floor. In this article, we will be talking about a skills matrix, its advantages and what are the important steps that must be considered while creating a skill matrix in an organization. So, let’s get started.
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Skills Matrix-An introduction:
One of the best reasons for planning a skills matrix is that it makes easy to determine the potentials of new employees while hiring them for a certain role in a team. Knowing the skills which are missing in a team before time helps companies to find the individuals who possess these skills and hire them to get the task done successfully. So, we can define a skill matrix as a tool which is used in the workplace to detect the skills required by a team to successfully complete a project. This matrix lists the skills already possessed by team members as well as the skills that need to be developed. By listing out the available skills and competencies, managers and leaders can be clear about the contributions of the team and areas where improvement is required.
Tips on creating a skills matrix:
Mentioned below are the steps that are significant in creating a skills matrix for a team:
- Identifying the skills essential to complete a project
- Gauge the current skillset of every team member
- Rating the interest level in a skill of each team member
- Use the skills matrix to determine the lacking skills
1. Identifying the skills essential to complete a project:
The first important step in generating a skills matrix is to outline the necessary skills that the company requires in a team to complete a project. The leaders or managers must specifically define the skills and highlight their expectations for each skill.
2. Gauge the current skillset of every team member:
The next step is to list out all the team members and assess their ability for each skill which is needed by the company for a project.Their skills can be assessed either by asking them about their proficiencies or by taking some competency tests. Then the supervisors can rate each employee’s competency level with the help of a number system.Here is an example relevant to a rating system that can be possibly used.
- No aptitude/experience
- Over-all competency/experience
- Transitional level of competency/experience
- Advanced level of competency/experience
With the help of this scale, management can indicate each employee’s competency on the matrix by rating them from 1-10.
3. Rating the interest level in a skill of each team member:
The next step is to rate the team members interest level in using the skills that they already possess or learning a new one. Each skill can easily be rated as either” no interest” or” interested” by asking the employees to share the level of interest for every skill.
4. Use the skills matrix to determine the lacking skills:
Once all the information has been input in the skills matrix, you can use this information to see what skills are missing in your team. Either training can be given to them to gain that skill or the company can hire a new employee who is proficient in that skill already.
Benefits of a skills matrix:
A skills matrix has overall many benefits for the company. It increases the team performance and boost productivity in many ways. Some of the benefits of a skills matrix at a workplace are:
Makes team members aware of their skills:
A skills matrix can show employees the key areas where they excel and the ones where more improvement is needed in terms of skills. This can help the team members to know their competencies well. They will have more clarity in focusing on the areas where they need some improvements and acknowledge the skills, they are already proficient in.
Identifies weak areas:
It identifies the weak areas of teams. This will help them to work together to compensate that lack as a whole or to make sure that missing skill is not becoming an obstacle in their performance.
Peak period planning:
It is a fact that each company mustdeal with the absenteeism of staff or sometimes during peak periods, company requires more employees. At such times, its vital that the management safeguards continuity and productivity by responding efficiently and in no time. A skills matrix is a perfect tool to look for replacements with the right expertise when a key member is at leave or to slope staffing levels ahead of peak periods by moving qualified staff from one department to the other. This can also eradicate the need of hiring temporary staff. Using skills matrices, you can do effective planning in ensuring the adequate staff levels.
Progress monitoring:
Companies which maintain their skills matrices properly, gets a clear picture of the progress they are making at both individual and team level. Skills matrix is also a means of accessing the effectiveness of various organizational factors such as professional development, productivity and the number of skills that owned/lacked by the staff
Flexibility &adaptability:
Skills matrices are well known for flexibility and adaptability. Management can do much by using them, all depending on their requirements and motives. Skills matrices can also be used at a team or departmental level which allows you to make devise some custom solutions in response to different organizational challenges.
Final thoughts:
Hence, we can say that skills matrix is very helpful in assigning certain tasks to employees and covering up the deficits of the current staff. Skills matrix allows leaders to wisely assign tasks to team members who are eager to use their skills for the task and can complete it successfully. It gives a bird’s eye view to the management about the competencies and discrepancies of the existing staff and the need to hire new staff. Overall it is a beneficial matrix, so organizations must consider creating skills matrix to ensure efficient performance.
