janicemarie's picture Submitted by janicemarie on
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General Questions and Comments

Hi All,

I work within a team of nine and have been tasked with conducting an audit of the skills of the team which may not directly relate to our respective roles but could be useful to the team.

I'm talking about a sharing of past careers which may not seem relevant, hobbies that could be useful, passions that may mean you have a unique insight into one of our clients.

Has anyone ever done anything like this before? How have you handled it?

I have been on the other end of one in a previous role but I didn't keep the questions (silly me).

thanks!

Janice

bug_girl's picture
Submitted by bug_girl on Wednesday April 21st, 2010 7:59 am

One thing that might be useful is the Knowdell skills sorts--they have several that will help you identify skills, as well as the different levels.

You do need to be certified to administer them, or hire someone, but you end up with a really nice skills matrix.

http://www.careertrainer.com/trainingsys/motivated-skills-planning-kit-knowdell-ff80818123928a960124174b170a6fe0-p.html

There is also an online version.

This will NOT tell you if someone is good at coding, or can use Ruby on Rails. The skills tend to be a little more broad and squishy (writing, paying attention to detail, etc.).

It's usually a fun exercise for employees, and helps them understand why they might be good at some things, but not enjoy them.  So, in addition to providing your audit, it can become a tool for discussions in O3s, too.

When you pair it with the Values sort, it can be really powerful.

An aside:

I had a really interesting experience giving these skill sorts to a group of teachers--every one of them said they hated following rules and detailed forms work. Guess what they are now required to do for No Child Left Behind?  

That major "AH HA!" helped identify why teacher retention  and job satisfaction was an issue for the district.