• Skills-Based Approach: Performance Review

    Thinking of a performance review, an employee pictures a sit-down with a supervisor where there is a discussion of positive and negative experience over the prior period. With good management, the supervisor has a report consisting of grades or measurements based on desired behaviors and expectations; a great report has benchmarks and input from team… Continue Reading

  • Using Intelligence Competencies to Identify Skills

    Generally speaking, you can map skills to various intelligences: cognitive, emotional, creative and contextual (and in the diagram below I also include skills related to using artificial intelligence). I say generally because there is some overlap where skills require multiple intelligences. Understanding intelligent competencies and then mapping them to skills is useful for the planning… Continue Reading

  • What Is Knowledge?

    Google’s definition of knowledge: facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. Let’s discuss each clause separately. The underlying notion of knowledge is going through a transformation. Memorization of ‘facts and information’ is less important, and building skills is more important. All possible content… Continue Reading

  • Squeeze on Higher Education

    The de facto college degree is getting squeezed from two directions: employers requiring professionals to build new-age technical skills (where there is currently a skills gap); and typical students who are faced with the rising cost of a traditional college degree and must take on significant debt. Moreover, according to a recent Gallup poll, a… Continue Reading

  • Power in Presenting a Skill Set

    There is a benefit in presenting your skill set to not only recruiters and potential employers, but also an ‘internal network’ – co-workers and supervisors – and an ‘external network’ – partners and clients. As I talk about presenting a skill set, I want to clarify that there are many ways to present a skill.… Continue Reading

  • Base Compensation on Skills

    I wonder how a Skills-Based Approach should affect the way employers pay employees; planning, building and validating of skills have a strong correlation with an employee’s job performance. Should employers consider a skill-based pay system versus the traditional job pay system? Here is a good definition of a skills-based pay system (“SBP”): Skills-based structures link… Continue Reading

  • Finding The Key To The Skills Gap

    Why is there a “skills gap” – employers are having difficulties placing employees while so many professionals are seeking employment? Is there a problem with our traditional college degree? Are employers unwilling to invest enough in onboarding and training?  I read a Forbes article, Can We Fix The Skills Gap?, where Dennis Yang presents the… Continue Reading

  • Skills Based Approach Infographic

    I have dedicated a website to promote a skills based approach: click here Developing a skill set throughout a career should be the goal of every professional and can be accomplished in four stages: planning, building, presenting, and validating. This infographic shows what should be done at each stage. A professional website has features to support… Continue Reading