How to spot and fill capability gaps?

If there is one word that can capture the essence of today's environment, then it has to be Volatile. Although volatility has always been around, the rapid changes in technology and business conditions that we have seen and continue to see have made it a serious and noteworthy concern. One of the key outworking of this volatility is the emergence of Capability gaps in organizations.

Now, what exactly is a capability gap?

A capability gap is the difference between the ability of existing systems to meet operational requirements and of what's expected of it. It's the lack of knowledge, skills and abilities in the current system to meet set organizational/individual goals or expected capability.

What causes a capability gap?

• Capability gaps may occur due to:
• Faulty recruitment procedures
• Incorrect identification of required resources
• Inability to connect capability requirement to the business goals
• Inability to sustain & scale up the existing capability by providing the right physical and cultural environment
• Shortage of required trained knowledge professionals
• Rapid changes in technology and systems
• Unclear goals or targets
• No proper training, development and implementation plans
• Lack of funds to train or to recruit trained professionals
• Individuals disinterest or lack of ability to do the given responsibility
• Lack of leadership capability
• Lack of Operational ability

How can a capability gap be spotted?

The two main ways in which a capability gap can be spotted are:

1. Competency Mapping
2. SWOT Analysis

Some of the other ways of spotting capability gaps are through:

• Formal (specific result)/informal discussions with leaders or peers
• (Completed) Project feedback from customers and from (project) leaders will point out towards any capability gaps
• Informal talks with colleagues

More on Competency Mapping:

The Competency mapping process is a way of identifying competencies that are required to meet or exceed customer requirements. It charts the critical competencies that a person must have and the desired competencies that would be an added advantage, if the person has them.

Competency mapping aids in both, the recruitment of new staff and in the training requirements of existing staff. For example, in recruitment, candidates with more of the desired competencies can be recruited, from among those who have the critical competencies required.

Some of the methods that can be used to map competencies are:

• Identification & Analysis of Tasks/Jobs
• Analyze Recruitment strategies
• Interviews
• Questionnaires
• Performance Appraisals
• Group feedback

Following is a step-by-step process of creating a competency map:

• Profile a particular job or a role
• Work out competencies with the help of a job specialist; interviewing past members who have been successful in that role or current members successful in that role, will additionally help.
• Point out knowledge, skills, attitudes, values etc
• Competences are then further broken down into results i.e. what has to be achieved, behavioral indicators etc
• Once done, the same process can then be repeated for other roles too.

More on SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool used to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats involved in a project or venture. It audits both an organization and its environment. SWOT gives a good snapshot of an individual's approach as well as his competencies by indicating internal factors such as the individual's strengths and weaknesses, and the external factors in the environment that serve as opportunities and threats to the individual's strengths and weaknesses as well as to the company.

SWOT is highly recommended because of its ease of use and its ability to scope the entire setting (playing field) i.e. both internal and external factors (environments), its ability to match between the two and because of its ability to chart out sound strategies thereafter.

You can read our article on SWOT here, to have a detailed understanding of SWOT and its benefits.

How to fill capability gaps?

Once the capability gaps have been identified, they can be filled by:

• Moving to technologies which are recent and the need of the hour
• Obtaining appropriate capabilities
• Training available resources through workshops and seminars
• Coaching & mentoring existing team

How to avoid capability gaps?

Capability gaps can be avoided by incorporating an integrated strategic planning process to facilitate development of cohesive planning options that anticipates & identifies potential gaps, so that timely and cost-effective solutions can be formulated.

This Planning process, then needs to be integrated to a smart decision making process that will seek to implement the outcome of the planning process.

Capability gaps are closely tied with customer needs and requirements. It is crucial then to:

• Constantly define customer needs
• Constantly review & evaluate solutions & people capabilities. It is pivotal that an organization keeps pace with the best solutions that the market offers
• Constantly evaluate to see if customer requirements are met, else identify the discrepancy and re-run the same process.

Today's competitive markets require the process of identifying capability gaps to be an ongoing one. A constant effort in this direction is bound to ensure that an organization stays healthy.

Knowing how crucial this factor will be in the coming days, we at BeakWare, have designed our solutions to incorporate features like competency mapping and SWOT analysis and to thereby enable the early detection & filling of capability gaps.

BeakWare: We specialize in providing HR software solutions which are not just about the ‘usual' HR software. We go beyond the existing frameworks to create innovative software, which serve your business intelligence requirements too. Know more about us and how we can serve you.