构建企业技能战略+Building+an+Enterprise+Skills+Strategy

BuildinganEnterpriseSkillsStrategy

the

company

B

uildingtherightskillsisintegraltobusinesssuccess.Ineverycompany,regardlessofsize,leadersandmanagers

struggletohireforskills,identifywhatskillsareneeded,and

thencontinuouslybuildthoseskills.Thisisnotanewidea.OldindustrialbusinesseslikeGE,Caterpillar,andGMhavehad

corporateuniversitiesfordecades,eachbuiltwithitsownspecificfocusonbuildingtheskillsitneeds.

What’snewaboutthistopic?Alot.Todaywehavethousandsofnewtechnologiesandtoolstolearnabout;companies

aremovingintoadjacentindustriesfasterthanever(read

ourGlobalWorkforceIntelligenceresearchformore1),and

employeeswanttochangejobs,roles,andcareersastheygrow.Andthetechnologiesandtoolsforskillshavechanged.

OverviewandHistory

Inearly2000,webuiltcompetencymodels:detailed

descriptionsofthejobskillsneededforeachandeveryjob,

expressedasspecificcompetenciespeoplecouldunderstandandwhichenableacompanytoachieveitsbusinessgoals.Weembeddedtheseconceptsintojobdescriptions,assessments,recruitingprocesses,anddevelopmentplans.And,many

companiesbuilthugedatabasesofthesecompetenciestoassesswhatskillsweremissing.

Unfortunately,thisinfrastructurestartedtocollapseunderitsownweight.Whileitmadeperfectlygoodsenseonpaper,thisworkrequiredafixedsetofjobfamiliesmoreorlessfrozenintime.Ourcompanieswereorganizedasfunctionalhierarchies,soeachjobtitle,level,anddescriptionwereclearlydefined.

Conceptslike“agile,”“cross-functionalteams,”and“rapidjobmobility”werenotevenpartofthevocabulary.Ultimately,

thejob-competencymodelswebuiltweredesignedforthe

companyasitwasatthecurrenttime,shorteningtheshelflifeofexistingskillssetsandmakingthisworkhardtomaintain.

Whatchanged?Quitesimplytheworldofbusinessspedup.

Whilehierarchicallydesignedorganizationscontinueinmanycompanies,mostjobsbecamemoredynamic.Theinternetandothertechnologiesstartedtoautomatemanykindsofwork,sojobtitlesanddescriptionskeptchanging.Anditwasimpossibletoredothesemodelseveryyear.

1RedesigningJobs,Organizations,andWork:TheGreatestBusinessChallengeofOurTime,

JoshBersinandKathiEnderes,PhD/TheJoshBersinCompany,2022.

GrowthofSkillsTechnology

SoftwarevendorslikeWorkday,EightfoldAI,EdCast,Degreed,

andCornerstonehavebuiltskillstechnologiesintotheir

platforms.ThesesystemsuseAIandmachine-learning

algorithmstoscananemployee’sbackground,experience,

education,andbehaviortoinferwhatskillstheemployee

probablyhas.SomeofthesesystemsalsoprovideHR

practitionerswithskillsgapanalysisforworkforcepopulations

aswellasenhanceemployeeexperiencebysurfacing

recommendedlearningcontent,gigs,networking,andinternaljobsbasedonskill-matchingalgorithms.Andwhilethisisnotyetaperfectscience,it’sgettingverygoodveryfast.

Infact,eventhoughskillstechnologyisrelativelynew,

therearemorethan50HRtechvendorswithbuilt-inskills

engines,including:

•Recruitingtoolsthatsearchforcandidatesbasedoninferredskills

•Talentmobilitytoolsthatrecommendjobchangesandgigworkbasedonskills

•Developmenttoolsthatrecommendcoursesandcontentbasedonskills

•CoreHRsystemsthatuseskillstohelpidentifypayinequitiesorpeoplereadyforpromotion

Addedtothisareanewsetoftoolsthatcaptureconversations,interactions,andunderstandpeergroups,allofwhichinfer

differentskills.Manyoftheearlypioneersofthesesystems

pointoutsomeimportantfeaturestoconsider,suchas:

•Isthesystemopenandtransparent?

•Canyouauditinferredskillsandmatchingcriteria?

•Doesthesystemallowyoutocreateandeasilycombineskillsintosimplegroupsordeterminecriticalskills?

•Isthesystemeasytouse?

•Canlinemanagersandemployeesfindtheright

taxonomy,content,andjobreferencesoncetheskillsengineisinplace?

•Canthesystemincorporatethird-partydata?

Yet,aswithalltechnology,thesetoolsshouldbewelldesignedandleverageabroadrangeofemployeedataandHR

transactionaldatatoprovideeffectivemachinelearningresults.

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Jobtitle

Jobfamily

Description

Goals

Level

Pay

Additionally,companiesmustlearnhowtoapplytheseresultseffectivelyandensuretheiruniquebusinessobjectivesaremet.Theproblemofbuildinganenterpriseskillsstrategyismore

subtlethanitseems.

TheNeedforCapabilitiesandSkills

Beforewejumpintobuildinganenterpriseskillsdatabase,andthenfindingawayforeveryemployeeandmanagerto“assesstheirskills”forgrowthanddevelopment,itisprudenttopointoutthatskillsalonedonotmakeacompanybetter.Instead,it’sthe“businesscapabilities”thatmatter.Forexample,supposeyoudecidethatallyoursoftwareengineersneedtoknowJava,

C++,GitHub,Ancile,andthebasicsofSQLdatabases.Therefore,yougooutandmakesureallyourengineershavehighlevelsofthese“skills.”DoesthismeanyoursoftwareengineeringorIT

teamisgoingtobeworldclass?Ofcoursenot.

Everycompanyneedstoarrange,align,anduseskillsfortheprojects,strategies,anddifferentiatingproductsandservicesitbuilds.IfFordhiredelectricalengineerswho

hadbuiltnavigationsystemsatTesla,theywouldnot

justbeacquiringtechnicalskills,theywouldbeacquiringexperience,judgment,andlotsof“capabilities”developed

Figure1:UnderstandingJobs,Roles,Capabilities,andSkills

overtime.Manyofthese“capabilities”wouldbeveryusefulforFord,butsomewouldnot.Tesla,forexample,probablydoesnothavethequalityortestingstandardsofFord,so

despitetheseengineers’technicalskills,someofthoseskillsmaynotberelevant.

Tobeclear,everycompany,fromahospitaltoanoilcompany,hassomejobsthataretotallyfungible(jobsthatareidentical,soyoucanpickuppeoplefromanyothercompanyand

theywillbeproductiveveryquickly),butmostjobsrequire

company-specificdevelopment.

Weusethewordcapabilitiestorefertothe“business-

understandablecapabilities”thatmakeapersonsuccessfulinajob.Inotherwords,ifyouaskedatypicalmanager“whatmakesapersonsucceedinthisrole,”thesecapabilitiesarethephrasesthat

wouldnaturallybearticulated.Therefore,you,asanHRleader

orconsultant,needtoworkwithyourbusinessteamsanddecidewhatthese“capabilities”are.

Ratherthansimplymatchingpeopletojobs(whichareoften

ill-definedwithdescriptionsthatquicklybecomeoutofdate),wecanbreakdownthesejobsintoroles,eachofwhichhasclearcapabilityneeds.Thentheorganizationcanlookforpeoplewithrelevantcapabilitiesandexperiencesandfindanevenbetter

matchforcandidates.SeeFigure1.

Job

Role

Goals

Activities

Projects

Teams

Outputs

Goals

Activities

Projects

Teams

Outputs

Capabilities

Skills

IntheHRMSIntheworkIneverydayuseUnderthehood

Source:TheJoshBersinCompany,2022

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CurrentorFuture

TalentGap

Steephiringcurveandneedtorecruitfasterandmore

strategically

Desiretoexpandtalentpoolwithdiverseorexpanded

talentprofiles

Needtoimprovecareer

growthandinternalmobility

2to3Years

Long-Term

Transformation

Massivenewtechnologychangeinindustryor

business

Competitionthreatenstodisruptentirebusiness

•Newenergysources•5G

•Electricvehicles

•Newinsurancemodels

•Cloudbusinessmodel

ManyYears

andOngoing

ApproachestoSkillsStrategy

Howdowegoaboutbuildingaskillsstrategy?Webelieve

thatyouneedtodevelopthe“muscle”forbuildinga

capabilitynetwork,anditisoneofthemostimportantnewskillsinHR.WeasHRleadersmustlearntodothis,anditisadisciplineeverycompanyneeds.Thenextsectionswillprovideourexperiencesandsomeguidanceondifferent

waystheprocesscanwork.

BewareoftheBoiltheOceanApproach

Let’sstartwithapremise.Withtechnologyasexcitingasskillsinference,thereisatendencyforcompaniestosay,“let’sput

togetheraprojecttocleanupourjobarchitectureandbuildanenterpriseskillsdatabaseforthecompany.”

Wecallthisthe“boiltheocean”model,andwerecommend

againstit.Why?First,it’sanenormouslycomplexprojectandmaytakeyearsandmaynotaddmuchvalue.Insomepartsofyourcompanythiseffortmaynotbehighlyneeded,andyou

couldlettheHRtechtoolscarrytheweight.Inotherparts

ofyourcompany,however,thismaybeurgent.Andasour

experiencesshow,everysingledecisionwilltaketime.Youwillneedcommittees,linemanagers,andsubjectmatterexperts

tohelp.Ratherthanturnthisintoatwo-yearenterprisewide

effort,wesuggestyoudoitinpieces.

Considerthethreeoptionsbelow(seeFigure2),eachofwhichprobablyappliestoyourcompany.

Figure2:Business-DrivenSkillsTaxonomyProjects

Underperforming

Operation

Sales,customerservice,

orHRfunctionthatisnothittingitsnumbers

Businessfunction

(engineering,productmanagement,etc.)

thatisnot“keepingup”

Difficultyhiringpeoplebecausebrandispoor

6Months

to1Year

Source:TheJoshBersinCompany,2022

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ThreeOptionstoFocusYour

SkillsStrategy

Approach1:Focusonan

UnderperformingOperation

Togetstarted,focusonanunderperformingarea.Let’ssay

yoursalesorganizationisconstantlymissingitstargets,andthereisawidevariationinperformanceamongtheteams.

Youcouldspendthreetosixmonthsidentifyingthekey

capabilitiesofyourtopsalesteams,socializingthiswith

salesleadership,andbuildanew“salescapabilitymodel”forthecompany.TheVPofsaleswouldbethrilled,andwecanguaranteethismodelwilladdvalue.(Ourexperienceshowssalestraininganddevelopmentisanareathatcanalwaysgetbetterincompanies.)

Youcanthenusethiscapabilitymodeltoteachsales

leadershowtobetterhire,changetheperformanceand

developmentplansforthesalesteams,andthenalsobuildnewlearninganddevelopmentprogramsfortheteams.

Youmayevenwanttobuildin-depthassessmentsofthesecapabilities,comparethemacrossteams,andbenchmarkthemagainstpeercompanies.

Asfaras“salesskills,”weknowthatthingslike“building

rapport”or“communications”or“usingSalesforce”or

“handlingobjections”willcometomind.Andifyouhave

agoodskills-basedlearningorHCM(humancapital

management)system,these“skills”willappearalmost

automatically.Youcanthenmatchthemtothecapabilitiesyou’vebuilt,andyourdevelopment,careermobility,orevenrecruitingsystemwillgetsmarter.

Intheprocessofdoingthis,you’llfindyouneedtobring

differentgroups(e.g.,U.S.sales,Europeansales,andLatinAmericasalesteams)togethertodiscussthecapability

modelyou’rebuilding.Theyallhavedifferentopinionsandexperiencesbasedonculture.Therefore,youneedtodecide

ifthecapabilitymodelisglobalornational.Additionally,the

marketingteammaywanttocontribute(andworkontheir

ownmodel).Andthenyou’lldecidethatthesecapabilitiesallvarybyjobtitleorlevel,soyou’llbuildasimple“progressionofcapabilities”modelaswell.

Theskillstechnologywillallbetherebehindthescenestohelp,butasyoucanseetheplatformitselfcanneverdothisalone.Whatyou’lllearnthroughthisprocessishowto“scaleup”thiseffortandtakeittothenextbusinessareaoffocus.

Approach2:FocusonaCurrentor

FutureTalentGap

Nowwearegoingtotalkaboutaslightlybiggerwaytoboil

thisocean.SupposeyourCEOandCHROhavedecidedthat

“ourcompanyhastolearnmoreaboutblockchain,crypto,

NFTs(nonfungibletokens),DAOs(decentralizedautonomousorganizations),andallaspectsofWeb3.0.”Why?Because

we’reabankorfinancialinstitutionandourcustomersare

askingforservicesinthisarea.

WhenyouconsideryourITandproductengineering

teams,therearelikelyveryfewpeoplewhounderstandall

thesedomains,whicharerelevanttocybersecurity,cloud

engineering,datascience,5G,orelectricmotors.Every

companyhassome“strategiccapabilities”theywantto

build(e.g.,forinsurance,itmaybeactuarialscience)andatsomepointintime,theneedtoacquirethesecapabilitiesbecomesurgent.

Youstarttoexplorethisnewdomainandrealizeit’smuch

morecomplicatedthanyouthought.Notonlyarethere

lotsofnewtechnologiestolearnbutalsothereareuse

cases,industry-specificapplications,anddozensofvendors,tools,andplatformstolearnabout.Additionally,there

arebootcamps,certificateprograms,andlotsoftraining

providersaswell.

Todevelopbusinesscapabilitiesatscale,youneedtobuild

whatwecalla“capabilityacademy”or“capabilitynetwork.”

Thisapproachdoesnotnecessarilyhelpyoubuildlotsof

technicalskillsperse.It’samatterofbuildingtruecapabilities(andskills)inanewareaandcreatingasetofprogramsthatgivespeopletechnicaleducation,projects,developmental

assignments,andlotsofaccesstooutsideexperts.

Here’sanexample:

Oneoftheworld’slargestfinancialinstitutionsdecidedto

deepenandstrengthentheirskillsindataanalytics,risk

management,andglobalstatisticalanalysisofcurrencies,

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markets,andcommodities.Thecompanyleaderssaw

enormousgrowthinriskaroundtheworldandbelievedthesecapabilitiesin“riskanalytics”weremissing(orwerejustpoorlycentralizedandshared)intheircompany.

TheHRleaderinchargeofthiseffortdidananalysisofthe

jobsinthecompany(usingatalentintelligencesystem)andfoundtherewereapproximately18“jobtitles”(eachslightlydifferent)aroundthecompanythatwererelatedtothisarea.Theybroughtthemanagersofthesegroupstogetherand

builtacapabilitynetwork.Theseteamscametogetherand

startedtodiscussthis“newdomain”andhowtheywould

sharetheirknowledge,decidewhatwasmissing,andsearchouttraining,peergroups,andexternalproviderstohelpgrowtheirexpertise.

Asyoucanimagine,oncethis“network”wasestablished,theteamimmediatelyhadlotsofideas.Overaperiodofmonths(notyears),thisteamestablishedits“capabilitymodel”andstartedapplyingittojobtitles,developmentinvestments,

careergrowth,andhiringplans.TheHRteamwasnot

“designingthis”forthebusiness.Instead,theHRteamwas

facilitatingthebusinessinitseffortstosharpenthebusiness’scommandofthedomainandbecomeevenbetteratitscraft.

Thisparticularbankgotthisprojectupandrunninginafewmonths,andoncethis“capabilityacademy”wasestablished(withaseniorbusinessleaderassponsor),itsgrowthsimplytookoff.Notonlyisthisnew“riskanalytics”capability

widelyunderstoodinthecompany,lotsofotheremployeeswanttoparticipate,sothe“capabilitynetwork”isgrowingandexpanding.

Didtheskillstechnologyhelp?Ofcourse.Oncetheteam

decidedonitslistofcapabilities,thesoftwaretoolswere

usedtodetailtheskills,findcontent,andlaterconnectpeopletogetherandfindadjacentskillsinthecompany.

Approach3:PlanaStrategicTransformation

Thethirdwaytoembarkonanenterpriseskillsprojectistowrapitupintoamassivecompanytransformation.Maybeyou’vejustacquiredanewcompanyoryou’removingintoanewindustryorbusinessarea.Chevron,forexample,

ispushinghardtounderstandopportunitiesinsolar

andalternativeenergy.Ericssonistryingtounderstand

everythingitneedstoknowabout5G.Andcompanieslike

WalmartandWalgreensaremovingintohealthcare

anddiagnostics.

Anotherexample:

Alargeconsumerbankrecentlyacquiredasmallerregionalbank.Whilemanyofthejobtitlesandorganizationteams

weresimilar,therewasafocusondifferentproductsand

services.Astheleadershipteamsstartedtorationalizetheirofferings,theyrealizedthattheskillsetsweredifferent

aswell.Thetransformationteamsetinplaceanewsetof

commonskills,sothenewemployeescouldlearnwhattheyneededtoknow,andtheexistingemployeescouldgaintheexperiencefromtheacquiredcompany.

Everybusinesstransformationeventuallyrunsintoabrick

wall:howdowehire,train,andfindtherightpeopletorun,

operationalize,andleadthesenewareas?

Ifyourcompanyisfocusedononeofthesetransformations,

thisisthethirdwaytofocusonskills.Usingtoolslikeour

GlobalWorkforceIntelligenceresearch2,youcanfindout

thejobtitles,roles,organizationstructures,andeducational

backgroundsofthepeopleyouneedforthistransformation.

Thenyoucangothroughthedesign,implementation,hiring,

anddevelopmentyouneedforthistransformation.

Thesekindsofprojectstakemoretime,butyouwilllikelyhavetheCEO’ssupportandlotsofbudgettospare.

2The

GlobalWorkforceIntelligence(GWI)Project

helpsbusinessandHRleadersunderstandmajorworkforcetrendsthatwillshapecompaniesaroundtheworldincomingyears.This

projectwillanalyzehowskills,jobs,jobclusters,andcareerpathwaysareacceleratingand

deceleratingforeverymajorindustrysegment—historicallyandintothefuture.

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BringingItAllTogether

Thisreportonlyscratchesthesurfaceofanenterpriseskillsstrategy,butwewillleaveyouwithsixcriticalpoints.

Buildingaskillsstrategyisnota“project”buta“muscle.”Thisprocesswillneverbe“over”andonceyoustart

doingit,youshouldbepreparedtodoitonaregularbasis.

Therefore“boiltheocean”projectscanberisky.Ifyoustartinafewareasasdescribedinthisreport,youcanbuildateamthatdoesthisonaregularbasisandengagebusinessleadersintheprocess.Webelievethatcompaniesneeda“capabilityleader”ineacharea—thispersonislikelyabusinessleaderorexpert

whoshepherdsthisprocessyearafteryear.

Howdoyouorganizethisteam?Webelievecompanies

needanewcenterofexcellence(COE)forskills,ateamwebelievewillsoonbecalledtheTalentIntelligenceCOE.Thisgroup,whichneedstofunctionacrossrecruiting,L&D,andinternalmobility,canleadtheefforttorationalizetheskillstaxonomy,focusonaspecificjobfamilyorproblemarea,

andsetupwhatwecallthecapabilitynetworksorcapabilityacademiesthatbringbusinesspeopleintothediscussion.

OvertimethisCOEwillgettoknowthetechnologywell,

learnhowmuchdetailtoaddress,andidentifythe“unknown”or“futureskills”ineachdomain.Oneoftheworld’slargest

defensecontractors,forexample,hasaweek-longsenior

strategysessioneachyeartoidentifythe“criticalmilitary

defenseskills”theyneedtofocusoneachyear.TheTalent

IntelligenceCOEusesthisinformationtoidentifygaps,

rearrangecapabilitynetworks,andbuildnewskillseveryyear.

Rememberthattechnologyisanenablerofyourskillsstrategy.TechnologysolutionsfromWorkday,Eightfold

AI,Degreed,orfromwhereveryoubuy,canmakethisprocesseasier,buttechnologysolutionsalonewon’tcreateahigh-

impactsolutionwithoutyoureffort.And,asyoucanseefromthisreport,skillsstrategiesmustinvolvebusinessleadershipandcannotbedonebyHRalone.

Thisisaprocessthatmustincludeexternaldata.Youmayfigureouttheskillsyouneedbasedoninternal

discussionsandexpertise,butyoudon’tknowwhatyoudon’tknow.Partofthisprocessisgettingtoknowthedomain,

reachingouttoorganizationslikeusorothersthathavelotsofdata,andsocializingyourstrategywithpeersorindustry

groups.Manydomainsthatarenewtoyourcompanyarewell

understoodbycertainvendorsofindustryassociations.

Don’tgetoverlyconsumedwiththe“assessmentof

skills.”Thisisabitofablackholethatoftenwastes

time.Ineverycompanythereare“criticaloperationalskills”thatrequirecertification,testing,validation,andcomplianceprocessing.Insuchareas(safety,manufacturing,quality,foodhandling)youabsolutelywillwanttobuildaprocessforskillsverification,continuousrecertification,andtheassignmentofexpertsas“preceptors”tovalidateskills.

Butformostsoftskillsthe“assessmentofskills”isnotthat

necessary.Werecommendrelyingontheperformance

managementprocess,managerassessment,andindividual

self-assessmentofskills.Whilethisisnotatotallyscientific

approach,itgetsyouto90%oftheanswer,andthenyoucan letthesystemsanalyzedatatofigureout“whoisbehind”and“whoisinthelead.”

Yourenterpriseskillsstrategywillforceyoutodiscuss

orrethinkyourjobarchitecture.Ifyouaresettingout

toimprovetalentmobility,diversifyyourrecruitingprocess,or

createin-depthcapabilityteams,youcouldfindthatyourcomplexorinconsistentjobarchitecturewillgetintheway.Beawarethattheseprojectscouldbehighlylinked.

Ourfinalpoint:makesurethisworkisnotburiedin

L&D.WhileL&Dprofessionalsareoftenthemost

interestedandexperiencedatthiswork,theenterpriseskills

andcapabilitystrategymustbefamiliartoeveryone.Recruitingteamswilluseitforhiringorinternalmobility.Thecareerand

coachingteamswilluseitfordevelopmentandcareerplanning.Thecompensationpeoplemayuseittosetsalaryandbonus

plans.And,ofcourse,yourHRleadershipteamshoulduseittounderstandlong-termtrendsandgapsinthecompany.

EnterpriseSkills:HeretoStay

Thisideaofaskillsstrategyisnotneworatemporalproject.

Everycompany,regardlessofsizeandsuccess,isalways

findingwaystoimproveitsskills.Businesssuccess