Creating a Skills Matrix: How Do I Classify Employee Skills Effectively?

Hi, I need to make a Skills Matrix, i.e., a list of skills available in my organization. I have rough data on employees' skills but I'm stuck on how to proceed. Can anyone help me with a list of broad classifications of skills? Please suggest.

Dear Sir,

You are already halfway through. You can filter the employee skills that you have collected from the data and come up with a list of core skills or competencies. Present this list to the management to obtain approvals. You might find that the following competencies/skills are required to be available in all employees:

• Time Management
• Self-development
• Communication skills
• Self-motivation
• Transparency
• Problem-solving
• Team Working
• Commitment
• Cooperation
• Confidentiality
• Efficiency

The level of these skills varies from one position to another, and you need to group them into administrative, technical, managerial, and soft skills categories.

There are also competencies that are job-related, meaning each job has its own set of required skills for performance, in addition to the core competencies agreed upon by management.

Furthermore, please search this site for materials regarding skills and competencies. Refer to the following site, which I find very inspiring on how to group your competencies: www.ida.gov.uk/upload/pdf/item.

If you wish, send me your raw data, and I would be more than glad to help.

Regards

Dear Dhara Mirani,

I am responding assuming you are referring to technical skills. Below is a sample multiskill matrix:

Open an Excel sheet.

| | Turning | Milling | Fitting |
|------------|---------|---------|---------|
| Ravikant | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Ramesh | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Selvam | 2 | 0 | 3 |

Legend:
0 - Does not have the skill.
1 - Can do but needs training.
2 - Can do very well.
3 - Can do very well, teach & train.

From the matrix, Ravikant can teach Ramesh and Selvam on Milling.

Your goal is to elevate most employees to level 3. Even achieving level 2 signifies a high level of multiskilling. Before commencing multiskilling, finalize the faculty (level 3 employee), course content (theory and On the Job Training), and duration to ensure effective training. Post-training evaluation is also crucial.

Trust matters are clarified. If you have any queries, please revert to me.

Regards,
M.V. Kannan

Obviously, each organization is going to have different skill sets that they will require. Normally, skills would be derived from a task analysis from within your organization for current and future skill/task requirements. They would then be transposed into a set of competencies/skills from which one creates job descriptions and hopefully finds someone to fulfill all competencies required. However, most people will only perform 75% of their job description, and the remaining 25% is generally what they prefer to do and not what they are hired to do.

When compiling a skills matrix, it will be more beneficial to break down the skills into closed questions. Instead of Time Management (for example, 2 for Harpreet and 1 for Pradeep), which will be meaningless for any future use of this data, i.e., for project deployment, retraining, coaching, or mentoring.

Time Management Completes simple tasks as expected for level X supervised Pradeep - Yes Harpreet - Yes Completes simple tasks as expected for level X unsupervised Pradeep - Yes Harpreet - Yes

Completes complex tasks as expected for level X supervised Pradeep - Yes Harpreet - Yes Completes complex tasks as expected for Level X unsupervised Pradeep - Yes Harpreet - No

This form of inquiry is more objective (using a Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-based (SMART) construction) and will give you valuable feedback about staff performance. In this example, Pradeep (should) be trusted to provide mentoring to Harpreet for future complex projects or can be deployed for a project lead position (as long as they fulfill the other competency requirements).

This skill matrix should be a dynamic database and should be updated weekly (if possible). I think staff should be informed of their perceived skills and also their competency gaps so that they have an opportunity to better themselves.

Cheers

Dear Jayesh,

The legend is prepared based on the analysis of the job. The more extensive the rating scale, the more difficult it will be for the evaluator to administer it. For each point on the rating scale, there is a standard set of assessment criteria, and the scores in the assessment will determine the rating of the individual. If you need to have more points on the rating scale, you will need to administer it more frequently and announce the ratings.

M.V.KANNAN

Hi Kannan, I got that. So, it is basically on the basis of assessment criteria to be derived, we set the points on a rating scale. (Hope I am right). That was a convincing response anyway. Thanks for the same.