How to spot and fill capability gaps?

What I have done in in my expericence is do a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opporunties & Theart) analysis. Find out the sweet spot, and do a heat map of the same from (Business , IT, Operational, Financal). Based on the results, the heat map will let u what needs to be done. And now based on the priorities and investment, u need to start building the solution, framework, strategy for the same.

It is advisable also to have a third party vendor to do this exercise first time,as it will give the management a real picture and from there on it is up to the mangement whether to do it in house or have a periodic check by thrid party vendors....

A lot of different approaches and I find each of them offering something!  I may end up saying "I agree" to every one.  Navneet, Hasmukh and Gandhi have a point each.  Not happening meeting is a good idea.  When thoughts flow freely, gap perception increases.  I and Hasmukh perhaps sail in the same boat.  We are both self employed and are used to identifying these capacity gaps with a combination of intuition, contacts, client feed back or simply by applying our mind on an issue.  Sometimes (many times!!), we find the theoritical approaches makes things cumbersome.  The competency mapping tools usage will provide a good source in the process. 

I would say that we should start indexing available talent and skillset to as many diverse indices as possible .  on the client requirement, the need analysis should include breaking down of the task on the indices we have in house and those we do not have.  It will then be easy to compare and identify gaps. 

I have always maintained that specific skill sets should engage workinkg on their strength area.  Unfortunately, they end up spending lot of their time on unrelated front-end and back-end jobs.  An organisation should take care to provide these front/back end facilities to the employees.  Productivity will be higher if one performs on his/her strength area not laboriously but comfortably. 

Look at front end/back end also as strength areas of other people and assign them that task.  For example, drafting a letter is something many techies spend hours on.  You ask them to fill a form - they would rather write a code. 

But these assistance forms should be done efficiently, amiably with least processes and with confidence.  Delivery should be responsibility of the assignee not assignor.  When the assignor assigns, he should proceed with other arrangements not bothering whether the assignment is going to be carried out or not. 

We can have a follow up cell in every organisation which does only follow up of assignments.   

With this framework, it will be easy to divide the task, assign to individuals, followup efficiently and any strength that is strategically important but not available, can be acquired or outsourced as a business decision.  Without the framework, we will not be able to create intellectual assets. 

One simple effective method is to have regular " Not Happening" meetings. Every organization have review meetings but these meetings have a funny way of becoming a" been there, done that". That's why you need to have a separate " Not happening" meeting. You only discuss what's not happened or happening and why. Most of your capability gaps gets identified here. Ones the correct gaps are identified then, it's a question of understanding if the gap could be filled by acquiring skills or acquiring talent.

Cheers

Navneet

I believe that people who perform the best in interviews, not necessarily turn out to be the best employee! While theoritical explanations shall always remain inadequate, it is objective perception of the immediate senior level that can sense n identify the gaps. Consumer response can also be a very faulty guide. If there is structural defect in the planning and marketing, it would be beyond the capacity of the employee to fill the gap. I am compelled to repeat, a strict theoritical managerial strategy may not work in all the cases, a more humane appraoch may be required to bridge the gap, sometimes even between performance and capapbility!  

Hi,

Before identifying a capbility gap, its very vital for the middle mgmt/top mgmt to make sure they put different ppl with different competencies in a team.A HR should not only prepare a JD with current skills required, but also should be able to forecast the future needs.

If you could understand the client's requirement perfectly, it would give an idea abt ppl with what kind of capabilities are required for a certain project/product. And recruitments should be done accordingly.

If this does not happen initially, and you suddenly find a GAP during the process..the best way to find it would be

1. Your performance appraisal shall give an idea about where things are going wrong. PA is the first and farmost tool to find the competency GAPS

2.You can go for an interim interview for the existing employees.

3. you have tonnes of competency mapping tools & Techniques to find the current competencies of the emloyees. Once you get the available competencies..compare them with the required competencies, that would help in finding the GAP.

Regards

Pradeep.B

To start with a detailed review of the customer feedback - should throw up these Gaps.

Where is the product 'failing?'. If this question can be answered truthfully, the 'capability gap' can be identified!

When we say 'strategically important' gap it automatically denotes that there is something 'lacking' in the rpoduct and it is thus behaving differently than expected! So what is most important is the feedback that Customer Service department gets which will help the Product Development department to locate the 'chinks' in the armoury and hence deduce the 'gap' that needs to be filled.

Feedback of the utility plays a very important role in the machinery of success as this is the 'one' most important form that can make or break a brand / product!

Hope I have been able to do justice to your query!

Thanks Gargi. :)

Deasign a test paper based on your requirement and creat an evaluation criteria. Conduct the test and identify the gaps. Based on evaluation report, select the properous candidates and train them.

OR

Conduct the survey by professional organisations like TUVW, SGS, Gallup.