Introduction
Training is a key
weapon to manage change in the battle for increased competiveness in a rapidly
evolving environment.
This article offers
important tools to optimise training investment by accurately determining the organisation’s
competency needs.
Competency as key to competitiveness
The business of
implementing efficient and effective supply chains is transforming at light
speed. This presents new opportunities for greater cost reductions and market
growth.
Training is an
essential but expensive tool in building and maintaining competitiveness.
To make this
investment effective we must be able to target training for maximum impact.
The first step is to
accurately determine the organisation’s competency needs, where competency is
defined as a combination of knowledge, skills and attitude.
How to do this without
the need for sophisticated software or specialised knowledge?
This particular
elephant is best tackled in meal sized chunks:
Business strategy
Consider these trends:
Consumers
More than ever before,
consumer is king and the pace of change in consumer demands is accelerating.
The agility to adapt to these radical and rapid changes is what makes a winning
organisation.
Technology
The ability to identify
and embrace new technologies which will strengthen the organisation’s ability
to determine changing market needs and adapt to them is a vital competitive
weapon.
One world
Whilst “multinational”
denoted a corporation with turnover in the billions and workforce in the
hundreds of thousands, this is no longer so: the tools are there for even the
smallest to diversify into global markets and this versatility is crucial to
all.
Today’s business strategies focus on how to
meet rapidly changing consumer needs by harnessing best in class technology for
enhanced competiveness over an expanding global footprint.
It is essential that
such a strategy also defines the competencies required to achieve the
objectives. It should answer the question “Which are the competencies which, if
we don’t have them, will prevent us from achieving our strategic objectives?”
Skills profiles
The strategy describes
the future state of the company- by analysing the current skills profile of
each function within the company we determine:
- How the current functions need to be adapted to achieve the strategic objectives
- To what extent the identified competencies are applied in the current functions, and at what level. For example, the competencies, Distribution, Warehousing and Logistics are practiced at many different levels
- Which of the identified competencies will need to be acquired/ enhanced in the adapted structure.
Whilst there is no
rocket technology in carrying out this exploration, it will take time and the
commitment of Line Managers. Best to see that they are compensated/ recognised.
Individual Assessment
A critical step in the
process is to determine the extent to which each individual within the
organisation possesses the required competencies to:
- Carry out their current function
- Function successfully in the future organisation.
To determine these
gaps requires that those within the organisation (and possibly outsiders) who
already have these competencies to write assessments which determine the
knowledge and skills areas required by each function.
This may be unfamiliar
territory but it has been done in many organisations.
The results of these
assessments will identify the company’s unique skills gaps and give clear
direction as to where training resources need to be allocated.
The
bottom line benefits
- Ensures learning is directly aligned to organisational strategy
- Directs resources to areas of greatest demand effectively and efficiently
- Identifies the "gap" between required and current performance
- Enables the organisation to tailor training to meet current and future requirements
- Provides a platform to enable an organisation’s sustainable competitive advantage based on employees’ ability to learn and adapt to change.
Would this strategy
work in your company?
How could you adapt it
to better serve your needs?
Is this an area which
receives enough attention?
Are there better ways
of determining the competency needs of an organisation?
Please share your
thoughts.
