WORKPLACE SKILLS
can be relatively rigid. The tension is clear – a traditional job-based architecture in which careers unfold within geographic and functional divisions, with progression typically vertically through those hierarchies, is at odds with the goal of enhanced mobility and agile redeployment of skills to where they are most needed by the wider organisation. To realise the benefits of investing in skills-first HR practices, organisations need to review their structures with a view to reducing barriers to mobility by broadening their organisation’s architecture. Managing the transition Skills-first HR enables a much more proactive and strategic approach to meeting skills needs. It involves a shift from reactively responding to skills demands to proactively contributing to the development of organisational strategy and enabling the implementation of that strategy. However, moving to skills-first HR is disruptive because it impacts every employee and manager in the organisation. The transition to skills-first HR for an established organisation is therefore likely to have all the characteristics of a transformational change programme. While at its core this is an HR change programme, many of our respondents emphasised the importance of it being positioned as a solution to a strategic business challenge and the need for agility. One chief human resources o cer described this as “HR fading into the background”, allowing senior organisational sponsors to drive the skills discussion in the business in order to maintain strategic momentum. Organisations that reported positive progress also highlighted the value of piloting skills initiatives in critical parts of the business that were experiencing skills challenges; examples included software engineering, sales and data analytics. It is important to recognise the change in skill required by HR teams to deliver on this agenda. Specifically, HR teams need to embed themselves in the business in which they operate to truly understand corporate objectives and emerging strategic priorities. It requires HR professionals to think beyond traditional silos, such as centres of excellence, and to operate across the full range of functional areas of HR. They also need to become increasingly comfortable with data, technology and evidence-based decision making in their organisations.
with large numbers of geographically dispersed employees. However, research suggests that employees are willing to share their skills data. For example, one Deloitte study found that almost 80 per cent of workers were willing to share their skills data to help organisations make decisions such as matching them to suitable work opportunities. For many of the participants in our study, skills audits emerged as a roadblock as they struggled in their ambitions to perfect data quality. This is an area where we argue that perfection can be the enemy of good and highlight the importance of building good enough data to get the skills project up and running. Building block 3: Demand modelling Skills-first HR processes, using high quality current internal skills data and analytics, can significantly reduce dependence on external labour markets to achieve strategic objectives. While skills audits focus on the supply of skills internally, a skills-first approach also requires an understanding of demand trends. Demand analysis can inform the identification of skills ‘pinch points’ over time and provide insights into how to address them through a blend of development, redeployment and external hiring. Our interviewees described a range of skills-first actions under this heading, ranging from strategic workforce planning to externally sourced expert analyses of demand and supply of key skills in global labour markets and specific geographic regions. We have seen evidence, in a minority of organisations, of increasingly structured approaches to assessment of external labour market data. This was particularly evident in larger global corporations that possessed significant resources. There are a growing number of specialist providers of this type of data. We saw evidence of external data influencing key decisions, such as where to locate critical work to align with skills availability in specific geographies. Such data can also inform investment decisions by highlighting skills that are growing in importance versus those in decline. Providers such as Burning Glass and Coursera are building richer insights and in-depth understanding of a skill’s value to the organisation, the time it takes to build those skills and their longevity. Building block 4: organisational architecture Traditional approaches to work design emphasise a job-based architecture that is structured around hierarchical organisational charts and
BIOGRAPHIES
John McMackin (pictured top) is an associate professor at Dublin City University Business School and chair of the school’s executive MBA programme. He teaches on executive programmes on topics ranging from personal leadership skills to performance management and cross-cultural communications. McMackin’s current research focuses on the application of agile concepts to human resource management, the role of skills in the future of work and the relationships between these topics David Collings is chair of sustainable business at Trinity Business School at Trinity College in Dublin. His research, teaching and consulting focus is on sta ng with a particular interest in global mobility, talent management and sustainable work
Ambition NOVEMBER 2023 | 21
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