Andrew Mina

If we really do believe that skills are the new operating system for talent, then we must ask, How do we make transition with the power of AI and technology? 

This transition will have us moving from using ‘static roles’ markers using traditional measurements includes:

• job titles,
• tenure, and
• qualifications to…

‘Dynamic skills’ and knowing what your team members can really do. 

At this point I also need to be clear about skills versus competencies. And this is where we needed infrastructure to help us. I started out with Excel and it’s not fun. Maybe you’ve tried an Excel as well. Shhh…! Let’s not talk about it and maybe I need a therapy.

The point is, we want to actually to identify:

employees skills + their knowledge + their natural abilities to create a map of their competencies. 

The intersection where employees find joy at work. This is where AI and technology bring real value however we need a skills matrix to follow, for example ESCO, O*NET OnLine, and Ligthcast.  

How is this going to be expressed? I expect to see skills 

• included in job descriptions, 
• deeply embedded into learning and development, 
• core topics with performance management conversations
• goals setting, and 
• in your workforce planning. 

From this you can foster a culture where employees to have continuous opportunities for grow and their skills are the building blocks how show up to work and behave.  

So why does it matter now? It matters now because if you want to leverage your AI it investment it depends on having a structure to manage it and if you don’t have a structure. Like my Excel didn’t, you can’t scale, can’t communicate across your organization what skills are important or where there’s a gap?  

Without structure for AI to use we end up having shallow recommendations. Consider the following:

• It might come back with employee A should do this or that. Deep right?  And in reality, is that what they really should do? 

• Improve our workforce planning to mature from being reactive to leading. We all know that hiring another person may not always be the smartest answer. Especially since we know how long it is between hiring and on-boarding them, ramping them up ready to work. Just takes too long.  

• To stop living in spreadsheets.  

• We want to boost this internal mobility as well. And this means we can actually be aspirational. Where do we want to see the organization in a year’s time, even two years’ time? Not just fixing problems.  

Okay, no more spreadsheets, no more one else messing with the data. And the other thing about having a structure, having a home for your skills, we actually can create a place where there’s governance, consistent, it can be reused, no matter what happens in the organization . 

Using an infrastructure gives you a baseline for your organization to work with skills.  As a result it will it imbue trust in when you talk about skills. There is no about in our current context that is imperative to establish and embedded trust at every opportunity, and of course at every level of the organization. This will naturally lead to helping your employees trust the leadership when they talk about skills. 

Here’s the key thought from this blog:

Skills are the new operating systems for talent – HR is no longer to maintain a list of skills; it is to steward a skills infrastructure.  

Question for you:

What’s has your current journey with creating a skills infrastructure look like?