All too often we sit in conference rooms and have discussions on how we need some consultant to come in and teach our staff a necessary skill. The conversation goes something like this:
Not so pointy haired manager: “I need someone to come in and teach these people how to pull this report in Acme billing. We’ve never had this program and I don’t know how to use it.”
Me, kind of like Catbert but cuter: “Do we have any one on the floor that has used Acme?”
Not so pointy haired manager: We’ll I don’t know.
Me, kind of like Catbert but cuter: ? <—– blank stare but want to say “um, hello have you thought of oh I don’t know, asking?”
How do you not know the skills of your staff? The above conversation happened the other day at my office. And I did ask the question, politely but I asked it. We found out we have several employees familiar with the new software and other software we are struggling to understand.
Our HR team seems to understand the skills at its finger tips. Need someone to build performance review spreadsheets? New York. Need someone to help out with Wellness ideas? California. Need a techie to help out with the new HRIS implementation? Alabama. Need someone to…well you get the point.
I’m trying to bring the same team understanding to our local office that our HR team has and the suggestion was made for a skill bank. Some type of program (preferably homegrown or super cheap) that will hold names and skills. Skills would range from industry specific systems to Microsoft Office.
Does anyone have a similar program? Does anyone have a better idea than shouting from the rooftops “Hey, anyone know how to fix a widget?”
Hit me up in the comments with suggestions or shoot me an email at pseudohr@gmail.com
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi April,
A few months ago I expressed a similar sentiment on my blog: http://ow.ly/w3Na Like you, not having a clear overview of what resources (human or otherwise) are available to the organization can be frustrating!
If your company supports it, I suggest forming a mutli-department project team. Their focus can be to identify the skills you want to catalog, and how best capture that information.
Good luck!
@Victorio – Mutli-departmental, that’s the plan but multi-state within our division. I havent brought the subject up to my boss yet but our Center Director is all over it.
I will forever now think of you as “kind of like Catbert, but cuter”.
Well written post and good point!
@Jennifer HAHAHA! I’m so cuter than catbert, I wear contacts to make me cuter and I curl my tail. (too much information?
)
April if you wanted something really simple and free, you can set up a simple Google Docs form linked to a Google docs spreadsheet that you could send to your staff to use to self-identify against the skills that you feel are important. You can define what particular technologies or competencies that you want to capture information on. There are lots of other options that are way more complex and powerful, but to simply collect data and then have it in a usable format, Google docs is very powerful. Let me know if you want to talk about this, I can give you some other options as well.
@Steve I hadn’t thought of using a Google Doc for collecting data. I might take you up on that offer, I’ve never used Google Docs in that capacity.
Or: “Is there a tutorial or a training manual that comes with this program so we don’t have to 1. pay a consultant or 2. take time away from another employee?”