A skill map or competency map empowers your organization. It is a detailed overview of the skills your organization's employees possess, providing you with a visual representation of the existing skills and skills needed to scale.
The process of skill mapping involves the following:
The purpose of skill mapping is to ensure that the organization has the required skills and expertise to achieve its goals and objectives. By identifying skill gaps, employers can provide their employees with targeted training and development programs, increasing productivity, job satisfaction, employee retention, and competitiveness.
Creating this "skills matrix" is a powerful data-rich tool every organization needs.
Simply put, skill mapping is an analysis of the past, an overview of the present, and a plan for the future for any organization.
The types of skill mapping are based on the goals the process is meant to achieve. They are:
The most significant benefit of skill mapping for your organization is how it gives direction to accomplish goals. In addition, it benefits your team, organization, and clients because the tasks are done faster and more efficiently.
1. Targeted training: Skill mapping can make training more focused, personalized, and engaging for an employee. The outcomes of such training modules are also more efficient, with a higher retention rate.
2. Aligning actions with goals: Skill mapping also gives a broader picture of where the organization stands and helps plan for the future. What skills need to be acquired to meet goals? The skill map answers that.
3. Identify skill gaps: To improve accuracy and efficiency in an organization, knowing who needs to be hired and how a current employee needs to improve is vital. That is solved through comprehensive skill mapping.
4. Identifying potential successors: The skills an employee has defines the profile they handle in an organization. When deciding on promotions/raises, skill mapping helps make an informed choice.
5. Efficient project management: Let's understand this with an example. You have recently received a project that requires excellent design skills. Nadia has great design skills, and Jane has average, according to the skill map. You can easily pick Nadia over Jane, knowing she would be more equipped to handle and execute the project efficiently. Also, you can explore skills management software to automate this process.