Feature insight - Staff development
Staff development
Jeanette Hibbert, payroll and shared services consultant of Neonblaze Consulting, provides guidance on this crucial issue
S taff development, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, is “improvement of the knowledge and skills of employees within an organisation by providing them with training”. But how do you identify who to develop, how and why? In order to decide what training shortages are present and how best to assess them, you will need to carry out some form of assessment across your teams. Skills matrix There are many ways of assessing your teams. Utilising a skills matrix is a really powerful tool and one that can be used to identify not only where there are skills gaps, but also which team members can be used to train those who need upskilling. BeyondLean offer a short guide (visit http://bit.ly/2dnQ1V1) which explains why the skills matrix is a visual aid for management, used for lean six sigma (which can be used without committing to full lean methodology). According to BeyondLean, it is a simple, visual tool that can help to manage, control and monitor skills levels within a team or organisation. It shows all tasks and skills required and team members. It displays current skills
levels for team members which not only identifies where there are skills shortages but allows you to plan and utilise resources effectively when staff are absent. Skills levels are normally broken down into five levels: 1. untrained 2. learner 3. practitioner 4. developer, and 5. coach. If used fairly and appropriately, a skills matrix can be a good tool for motivating the team, by getting them involved in the constant development of the team and reducing boredom. The BeyondLean guide goes into detail about developing a skills matrix and cuts this process into four tasks: ● Plan – establish all tasks, knowledge, skills and team members for your function. ● Do – develop all procedures for your tasks and define skills and skill levels required as well as how performance will be measured. ● Check – measure team members against set performance levels and procedures (self-assessment is a great place to start, but should not be used in isolation).
● Act – clearly display the results in a skills matrix. Once you have the results you can carry out a gap analysis. Create a future state skills matrix – what does ‘good’ look like to you? Compare the current matrix with the future one to see where you need to focus. Are the skills shortages all around internal processes? If so, can you use level 5 employees, the coaches who are skilled enough to train others? Are the shortages more around the software skills, such as excel? If so, are there coaches who can do this, or internal courses or an external provider to utilise? Are the shortages more around soft skills, such as leadership, team work or resilience, which could be improved using coaching or mentoring? As well as establishing where the strengths and weaknesses are in a team for development and resourcing, the matrix can also be used to drive improvements. The process will often allow focus on processes and procedures that wouldn’t normally be possible, enabling evaluation and team initiatives to make improvements where necessary. This further develops and motivates the team, as well as driving a continuous improvement culture. TLNA and RAM In a factsheet (visit http://bit.ly/2d5ZAVy) the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) discusses developing
...a simple, visual tool that can help to manage, control and monitor skills levels...
23
Issue 25 | November 2016
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker