How Can We Map and Measure Soft Skills to Bridge Gaps in Employee Guidance?

Hi there,

Can anyone guide me on the steps to be followed to define, measure, and map the soft skill competencies to identify the gap?

In my company (IT), we are facing a major problem with senior and middle-level employees as they are not guiding the juniors properly. Employees are not accustomed to "out of the box thinking," being innovative, creative, or demonstrating the maturity level needed to handle projects and tasks effectively.

Regards,
Kevina

Dear Kevina,

I wonder whether you searched the web using Google before posting! Had you done so, you would have found the Competency Matrix - a knol by Shyam Bhatawdekar, which lists 40 competencies at soft skills competency + IT + gap analysis - Google Search.

Have a nice day.

Simhan
A retired academic in the UK

Hi Kevina,

As Mr. Simhan mentioned a link, you can go through it and implement the same with a few modifications according to your requirements and the company's needs.

Regards,
SitaS

Dear Kevina,

First and foremost, please understand the difference between soft skills and managerial skills. The problems that you have projected do not belong to the soft skill category.

Your seniors need to be trained on:

Building organizational culture
Decision-making skills

Not helping the juniors, not thinking out of the box are all cultural issues. Have you checked their motivation level? Does leadership encourage innovative thinking?

Conduct the survey in your company on one single statement - "Do you agree that in our company, we have a 'boss is always right' kind of culture?" Your survey report speaks for itself.

Have you checked the level of empowerment in your company? Or is it just lip service that is paid to empowerment? I came across a few techies who draw hefty salaries but they did not have any financial power to speak of.

Do you allow your employees to do experiments of any kind? Have you earmarked a budget for experiments? Do your employees fear failure?

Training is not a panacea for organizational problems. Before taking any training, check first whether your seniors do some "inside the box thinking" - far from thinking out of the box. Have you trained them on decision-making skills? Have you measured the index of indecisiveness? Is there any increase in the index of decisiveness after the training? Have you taken a survey of your culture to understand whether your organization rightly supports a "Decision-Making Environment"?

Ok...

Dinesh V Divekar