Sometimes a very simple model is all that is needed. And paring a model down to its essentials can reveal what really matters. Here are two simple approaches to a skill and competency model. For general behaviors, relevant across your organization, use just behaviors and skills. For new capabilities, that you want to cultivate, use roles and skills. If you want to connect these to learning and development, add learning resources.

Most B2B software applications struggle with engagement. Of the four strategies for consuming meaning identified by Jean Umiker-Sebeok (Pragmatic, Critical, Utopian, and Diversionary) it is assumed that B2B is all about the pragmatic. But in a world of change the Critical and Utopian can be just as relevant, and at times the Diversionary. Is there a Utopian reason to use a skill and competency management system?

Inspired by a strange aspect of quantum physics - entanglement. A sub-particle that was in contact with another particle—even light-years away—will instantly change its properties, as if the two are connected by a mysterious communication channel. Are skills connected in the same way? Perhaps yes, as can be seen when one looks at an architect’s skills.

Customer journey maps have become a key tool in customer experience (CX) and user experience (UX) design work. They are one of the best ways to organize service designs. We recommend calling out trust as an explicit part of these maps. Trust and skill management are tightly connected. To succeed with skill management people have to trust the system, the data and, most importantly, each other.

Trust is the glue that lets us work together. It is a skill, a critical skill even? What other skills might trust depend on? What skills does trust enable? Can we help each other to learn how to trust?

The skills we need to develop resilience and adaptation are changing. Ibbaka is researching the critical skills we will need for the future of work. Please share your ideas with us.

In a networked economy one of the most important skills is that of making connections. People, ideas, data, goals, results all need to be connected. Learning how to create and manage connections is central to the future of work.

What can we learn from the skills that we use outside of our day-to-day jobs? Is there a correlation between what browser we use and our approach to life? Who are professional amateurs? Why do we want them on our teams?

Trust is the foundation for performance in a virtual world. How do we build trust? Through conversations. Having meaningful, extended conversations has become a critical skill for the future of work.

Harold Jarche has helped many organizations understand the nature of learning in the context of work and how to develop learning and collaboration networks. Ibbaka interviewed him at the end of June 2020 as Canada was emerging from the first phase of the Covid 19 pandemic.

The Covid 19 pandemic has increased people’s uncertainties about the future of work. A scenario planning approach can provide powerful ways to think about this, but to create scenarios we need to explore the critical uncertainties. Please share your thoughts on this important theme.

We all have skills. Many skills. We connect them in different ways. How should you get started with skill management? How are skills assessed? How to skills evolve over time? These are central questions for a skill and competency management program.

Inspired by the 1959 Miles Davis recording - Kind of Blue - an amazing album created by equally amazing teamwork. Is it possible to achieve the same synergy when composing a skill-based team? How will that impact performance?

Individual, team and organizational use cases for skill and competency models fit together and reinforce each other. Understanding the connections between use cases will help you implement a skill and competency strategy. Choose one use case of each type to get started.

Skill and competency management is the key enabler of digital transformation. Successful execution requires a series of design decisions. The cascading choices, the use cases and three key decisions are covered here, along with a link to a presentation on this theme.

Finding your talent or your element is the key to success, and understanding your skills makes it possible. Ibbaka Talent will help to unlock your true potential.

The past months have put a lot of stress on our organizations, challenging us at first to show resilience and increasingly to adapt. At the same time, cost controls are pushing us to be more efficient. How can we manage the tensions between these, what do these imply for skill and competency management?

Skill management is emerging as the core responsibility of HR and talent management organizations. It involves answering key business questions around the skills available in an organization, how they are being used, the skills needed for the future, and how to bridge skill gaps. Individuals also need to take ownership of and manage their own skills.

Connecting a Role or a Job defined in the Competency Model to a Skill Profile can change how you see yourself. Your collaborators and peers give you insight into your skills while the model populates your profile with new skills, some of which will be the core skills for your role, others will be target skills that you want to develop.

The Covid 19 crisis has underlined the need to build resilience and adaptation into our talent strategies. This is true for individuals, teams and organizations. Scenario planning is a powerful tool to help us think about the future and prepare for it. Building skill and competency models for different scenarios can help us prepare for and even to shape the future.