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As a leader, you must be familiar with how a skills matrix helps keep track of your employees&rsquo; skills and competencies. But do you know how to create a skills matrix?
Your organization&rsquo;s success is primarily built on how your employees perform and their skills.
Knowing how to make a skills matrix is a key differentiator, highlighting you amongst your competitors.
A skills matrix is a visual and analytical tool that allows organizations to map their employees&rsquo; skills and competencies.
This platform helps build a more resilient workforce and environment for your company, resulting in heightened productivity and profitability.
We suggest you read &ldquo;<a href="https://agyleos.com/post/what-is-a-skills-matrix" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What is a Skills Matrix?</a>&rdquo; to gain more information on how this robust tool constructs such benefits.
By knowing how to build a skills matrix, you can craft a well-designed interface that can efficiently identify skill gaps, help you make informed decisions about recruitment, allocate development programs, and more.
In this article, we will explore how to create a skills matrix, why you should build a skills matrix, and what to avoid when creating this platform to optimize your workforce&rsquo;s capabilities besides raising organizational success.

Our skill matrix software allows you to enhance self-organization and efficiency.
<a href="https://agyleos.com/skill-matrix-software" target="_blank" rel="noopener">👉 Check out our Skill Matrix Software</a>

Before diving into creating your own skills matrix, it is essential that you know what it entails.
A simple skills matrix is basically a grid or a table containing two axes: horizontal and vertical.
One axis includes the names of the employees, while the other enlists different key skills and competencies required for a particular role or project.
The intersection of the two axes represents the proficiency level of each employee in a specific skill.

Understanding The Structure of a Skills Matrix

How To Create a Skills Matrix

Creating a skills matrix bears much importance since it is a tool for determining your organization&rsquo;s skill sets and future hires.
With a carefully created skills matrix and the correct approach to exploit it, you will unlock new possibilities for your company as well as your employees.
We have enlisted 7 straightforward steps for you to create a skills matrix:
<h3>1. Define the Purpose and Scope.</h3>
One critical step before creating the skills matrix itself is defining what the matrix is supposed to achieve.
Depending on your project, the current status of the organization, or future targets, you must consider the specific skills and competencies you need to assess, who will be involved in the process, and how the data will be exploited.
Having a clear purpose in mind enables you to focus on more essential areas and better identify the requirements and development opportunities.
<h3>2. Build a Data Inventory: Identify The Key Skills and Competencies.</h3>
In our next step, you should discover which skills are most relevant to your organization and even industry.
Contrary to most beliefs prioritizing technical skills, the key competencies vary in range, from hard skills to soft ones, industry-specific knowledge, and various certifications.
You must take different approaches to uncover all your organization&rsquo;s requirements.
You can consult managers, team leaders, and HR professionals to ensure you have captured a comprehensive list of skill sets.
💡Pro Tip: What do your employees value?
Ask the most experienced employee in each business unit. It is common to miss trivial yet crucial factors impacting the employee experience.
Inquiring the employees and department heads is a practical way to cover all the bases.
There are several services, such as agyleOS, that ease the process of data inventory.
We provide you with accessible and straightforward tools such as <a href="https://agyleos.com/skill-matrix-software" target="_blank" rel="noopener">skill matrix tool</a> for further steps.
<h3>3. Choose a Grading System.</h3>
A grading system is used to evaluate and quantify proficiency levels.
You can choose conventional grading systems or generate your own approach to match your organization&rsquo;s requirements.
There are some basic grading systems, such as:
<ul>
<li>Likert Scale - This grading approach is not commonly used to collect skills matrix data. However, it is the most widely used approach to evaluate responses in research surveys.</li>
<li>Number Scaling (10-point scale, 5-point scale, 9-point scale, etc.)</li>
</ul>
Regardless of your grading system, you must assign a definition to each variable. For example, in scaling systems, the variable is a number.
Suppose you choose a 9-point grading system; in that case, the definition of each number is similar to below:
1= The least experienced. 2= Somewhat trained yet inadequate experience. 3= Performing under particular circumstances. 4= Satisfying performance in most circumstances. 5= Actively and sufficiently performing. 6= Experience and performance are above average. 7= Performing under no supervision. 8= &nbsp;Experienced enough to lead a small team. 9= The most experienced and can train others.
Carefully crafted grading systems meet the requirements of larger companies and challenging environments since they are detailed and thorough.

A 9-point grading system with a broad spectrum of ratings avoids confusion in decision-making.
Suppose you want to promote one employee out of 10 candidates.
In that case, a 5-point grading system will likely give you over five candidates with a rating of 2 to 3.
In this scenario, a 9-point grading system divides those candidates by rating them between 4 and 8, making your decision simpler and much more effective.
<ul>
<li>
<h3>Evaluate Each Employee.</h3>
</li>
</ul>
After advancing a grading system, it is time to use it. In this step, you will embark on your journey to discover each employee&rsquo;s proficiency levels in various fields.
For an extensive and adequate database, you must conquer all the approaches to employee evaluation. A few viable assessments are:
<ul>
<li>
<h4>Self-assessment:</h4>
</li>
</ul>
Ask your employee to rate and give themself a performance review. This MO outlines the strength of each employee according to their own experience at your organization.
💡Pro Tip: Ask About Your Employee&rsquo;s Interests!
A typical skills matrix is a tool identifying the current and missing talents. However, it is also an approach to demonstrating the potential skills.
By asking your employees about their professional interests, and personal improvable traits, you have enough data for a skills matrix so it can display what development programs and training are necessary for your organization.
<ul>
<li>
<h4>Explore the documents:</h4>
</li>
</ul>
Examine the past performance reviews and records to analyze how an employee has thrived and what skills they have developed over time.
<ul>
<li>
<h4>Ask For Manager Evaluation:</h4>
</li>
</ul>
With this method, you can assess the relationship between the employees and their leaders. You can also conclude how a leader evaluates its workforce.
<ul>
<li>
<h4>Ask For a Team Member Evaluation:</h4>
</li>
</ul>
This approach allows you to comprehend an employee&rsquo;s soft skills.
Teamwork capacity, work attitude, and behavioral patterns are all accessible through a colleague&rsquo;s point of view.
<ul>
<li>
<h4>Run a Test:</h4>
</li>
</ul>
Look for the necessary hard or soft skills with a quick test and assess an employee&rsquo;s proficiency level.
A customized test lets you prioritize the targets and purposes for which you are creating a skills matrix.
<ul>
<li>
<h4>360-Degree Feedback Tool:</h4>
</li>
</ul>
Here is the most viable and thorough approach you can take:
Designed with real-time assessments and dynamic skill monitoring, a 360-degree feedback tool is the best strategy for evaluating an employee.
If you&rsquo;re wondering how to create a skills matrix, this strategic survey-like method results in a detailed and practical database.
What makes our 360-degree feedback tool comprehensive is the constructive elements: self-assessment, colleagues&rsquo; reviews, and anonymous comments from peers, filtering items to choose specific skills and employees, constant updating status of employees regarding their position in different teams and projects, and insightful radar charts are a few of our numerous options when conducting the 360-degree sessions in combination with our powerful skill management system.
In each 360-degree feedback session, the employee is getting assessed by their manager, team leader, subordinates, peers, etc.
Moreover, a more thorough session includes inquiring about employees&rsquo; experiences and interests for better comprehension of the workforce.

⭐How does our 9-point grading system at agyleOS benefit your organization?

We help you run efficient and thorough 360-degree feedback sessions to prepare your people for your next challenges ahead!
<a href="https://agyleos.com/360-degree-feedback-tool" target="_blank" rel="noopener">👉 Check our 360-degree feedback tool</a>

Needless to exploit all the approaches to evaluating the employees, choose a few, or combine them to create a well-designed method to assess your company&rsquo;s status.
The fastest combo to employee evaluation is a self-assessment and a certificate check:
Letting your employees express genuine sentiments about their skills, besides a quick quality check, is your way to go for the fastest results.
The most essential part of this step is to have a thorough understanding of everyone&rsquo;s skills and proficiency levels.
<h3>5. How To Build a Skills Matrix Table:</h3>
As mentioned before, a skills matrix can be a basic table or grid: you can design your traditional matrix using an Excel spreadsheet.
However, there is a catch. Since each organization has a different status and requirement, you must design a skills matrix that matches your company&rsquo;s best interest.
A typical skills matrix must include the employees&rsquo; names, required skills, proficiency levels, and other company-related items that fulfill your organization&rsquo;s purposes.
Here is an example of a skills matrix grid:

Note that designing the matrix is one of the most significant steps, and the crafted matrix must have a user-friendly interface and an easy-to-use guide.
<h3>6. Fill In The Fields!</h3>
Once you have created your matrix, it is time to populate it. Use the data you gathered in step 4 and fill each blank with the correct information.
A simple approach is assigning the vertical axis to employees&rsquo; names and the horizontal one to different skills.
The corresponding blocks should contain the proficiency level of each employee in a specific skill. This step can be done manually or via skills matrix softwares.
Make sure to update your matrix regularly to keep track of the employee skill levels over time.
<h3>7. Analyze The Data and Start Planning</h3>
All the work comes to this step!
After having created and filled the skills matrix, you should start analyzing the data according to your status.
Whether taking on a new project with particular requirements, doing an HR analysis, or considering new hires, data analysis will help you through the process.
Once you comprehend the data, you can visualize your organization&rsquo;s requirements and potential.
Deploying the skills matrix analysis outcomes, you will consider strategic approaches and training programs for individuals in your company so they can grow and learn to create a resilient workplace.
A skills matrix empowers individuals and companies to live up to their potential and enhance productivity and profitability.
⭐Pro Tip: How should you define competencies and plan for development programs?
Align to the expectations! An ideal team consists of competent leaders and team members, whereas a realistic team always has flaws.
By comparing our team to an ideal one (obviously for the same project!), we can reach an agreeable difference in proficiency levels.
Remember that our goal here is not to push people but to encourage them to grow and contribute to designed training programs for a better work experience and overall organizational success.

How can a Skills Matrix Software Help You?

You may successfully create your desired table with the help of our step-by-step guide on how to build a skills matrix.
However, your matrix, no matter how detailed, is traditional. Traditional matrices come with a few complications:
<ul>
<li>
<h3>Chaos:</h3>
</li>
</ul>
It&rsquo;s not a matter of organizing or tidiness!
A traditional skills matrix, especially for larger companies, tends to become complicated and messy, drowning you in information.
<ul>
<li>
<h3>Time-Consuming:</h3>
</li>
</ul>
Suppose you need to make a quick decision about an employee, or you need to report an overall report on your organization or just a simple skill check.
In that case, a traditional skills matrix is quite complex to read. Finding specific data amongst a sea of information and numbers will take considerable time and is inefficient.
However, a skills matrix software is designed to provide organized and easy-to-use data with visual and comprehensive charts and graphs.
This software allows you to gather, allocate, and analyze the necessary information for a skills matrix, making your job easier and more efficient over time.
At agyleOS, we help you discover your company&rsquo;s hidden potential.
Besides, we guide you in planning further development programs to outperform your competitors in every possible field.

What To Avoid When Creating a Skills Matrix

After learning how to make a skills matrix, you must comprehend what pitfalls to avoid in order to successfully exploit your outcomes.
If created properly, a skills matrix is a powerful tool for organizational success.
Here, we have examined a few don&rsquo;ts when creating a skills matrix:
<h3>1. Poor alignment of the workforce&rsquo;s skills to the company&rsquo;s goals:</h3>
You must identify your organization's goals and purposes before assessing your employees&rsquo; proficiency levels in different areas.
If you fail to state your business goals clearly, a skills matrix will have a limited impact!
<h3>2. Forgetting to update the skills matrix regularly!</h3>
One primary principle in creating a skill matrix is updating it to keep track of your employees&rsquo; progress and the efficiency of the development programs.
Returning to your organization's previous status is inevitable by ignoring the update of the skills matrix.
<h3>3. Overpopulating the skills matrix: chaos!</h3>
This pitfall concerns larger organizations more particularly. If you have many employees, it&rsquo;s only expected if you need to add columns and rows to your spreadsheet.
However, you must know that overcomplicated and overpopulated matrices are no one&rsquo;s friend!
Not only can they not help you, but they will also create frustration and confusion in decision-making.
One simple and inexpensive solution to this problem is using a skill matrix software.
Our skill matrix software at agyleOS helps you gather, organize, and analyze your data using various methods and approaches, like a <a href="https://agyleos.com/360-degree-feedback-tool" target="_blank" rel="noopener">360-degree feedback tool</a> for a holistic view of your organization.
<h3>4. Failing to assess the right skills:</h3>
Knowing what skills to assess is the first and one of the most important steps in creating a skills matrix.
The skills matrix will probably not benefit your organization if you fail to choose the right skills for evaluation.
Suppose you need to review a group of employees for a web development job and another for networking positions.
Obviously, positive behavior is a more important trait than knowing JavaScript in the latter group!
<h3>5. Not taking the last step!!!</h3>
What value does your matrix offer if you fail to deploy it properly?
It might sound silly, but many decide against taking proactive steps to design development programs since their employees&rsquo; assessments are &ldquo;enough&rdquo;.
However, after collecting your data, the most important job is planning your company&rsquo;s next moves for training programs.
By integrating other HR systems, such as eNPS surveys, employee reviews, etc., you get a chance to plan strategic programs and development opportunities in your organization.
<h3>6. Overly prioritizing the job titles!</h3>
One common yet discrediting mistake when you intend to make a skills matrix is depending &ldquo;too much&rdquo; on the job titles.
A skills matrix is about each individual having the opportunity to expose their full potential and talents regardless of their current position.
Whether reviewing a manager&rsquo;s performance or any other employee&rsquo;s, you must unbiasedly grade their skills and competencies in various fields.
This important factor constitutes the skills matrix as a beneficial platform for future recruitment and promotions.
<h3>7. Not communicating the outcomes:</h3>
Once the skills matrix is complete, it is only fair that you share the results and data with your workforce.
Suppose you want an employee to have a more positive work attitude, develop a new technical skill, or exercise new knowledge.
In that case, you must exchange feedback with them to reach an agreement and plan for your individual and organizational success.

Learn how to create a skills matrix with our detailed step-by-step guide to promote knowledge, skills learning, and passion in your organization.
Knowing how to build a skills matrix may seem like a straightforward task, and it is!
However, you must watch out for the pitfalls on the way to avoid and complete each step as demonstrated.
By deploying the right tips and equipment, you can create a skills matrix to analyze and empower your organization as a whole.
Nevertheless, if you fail to prioritize the right skills, discriminate against your employees due to job titles, overpopulate a simple matrix, or fall short of action against the issues. In that case, the skills matrix will help you much.
Moreover, suppose you need a more detailed chart, or you have too many employees for a traditional matrix.
In that case, consider using a skill matrix software to gather data, build up specific charts, and filter employees based on various skills, etc.
A skill matrix software helps you run a smooth operation with a more positive workplace and higher productivity.

What now?

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Banner Blog 03 Create Skill Matrix

How To Create a Skills Matrix: A Comprehensive Guide

A skills matrix is a grid or chart that maps employees&rsquo; skills and proficiency levels.
As one of the most effective tools in HR, a simple skills matrix contains the employees&rsquo; names and respective skill levels.
However, a complete skills matrix demonstrates an organization&rsquo;s current skills, required skills, and missing skills.
It is typical to refer to a skills matrix as a competency matrix or capability matrix. There are, however, some slight differences that we will outline later in the article.
In this article, we will explain what is skills mapping, explore the benefits of a skill matrix, and explore what the purpose of a skills matrix in the workplace is to upgrade productivity in a workplace.
A skills matrix enhances decision-making, recruitment, and the overall organization&rsquo;s status through increased clarity.

Our skill matrix software allows you boost self-organization and efficiency within organization.
<a href="https://agyleos.com/skill-matrix-software" target="_blank" rel="noopener">👉 Check out our Skill Matrix Software</a>

The key to having a successful business is knowing what your organization needs and what your current employees provide.
Understanding your company&rsquo;s requirements and your highly demanded skills, you will surely give your future recruitment a second thought.
But what is a skills matrix, and how does it help organizations? A skills matrix is a simplification of your whole workforce&rsquo;s skills and talents. Whether someone is a fast typist or great in people management, you can spot it via a skill matrix software.
A skills matrix provides a strategic map of an organization's workforce's skills, competencies, and potential.
Now, this might sound like a facile victory to smaller organizations, but imagine handling a dozen business units, each having over a couple hundred managers and employees. Madness!
We will further explore skill mapping in HR, the benefits of a skills matrix, and how to deploy it to achieve higher efficiency.

Skills Matrix: How To Navigate Success

As mentioned earlier, a simple skills matrix contains employees' names and their proficiency levels in various fields. You can see an example of a skills matrix below:

Example Of a Skills Matrix

Even though the chart is basic, it obviously shows each employee's weak and strong traits.
There are also more advanced tools, such as agyleOS&rsquo; <a href="https://agyleos.com/skill-matrix-software" target="_blank" rel="noopener">skill matrix software</a>, that helps you manage your workforce&rsquo;s entire skill sets and make better decisions for a performance peak.
This is a sample of the agyleOS skill matrix software interface:

A skill matrix software eases the process of skill mapping in HR, skills management, and other evaluating projects with skills analysis throughout your organization.
A skills matrix helps organizations utilize their workforce and discover their full potential.
Here are some of the unique advantages of a skills matrix:
<h3>1. Skills Gaps Assessments:</h3>
A skills matrix allows organizations to identify where their employees lack some specific skills.
Companies can easily plan development programs and growth opportunities by identifying skills gaps.
<h3>2. Identification of Required Skills:</h3>
A skills matrix allows you to comprehend what types of skills and abilities are required for a specific team or a project.
For example, a well-crafted skill matrix software for a software development team could help prioritize the necessary skills for that cross-functional team setup.
<h3>3. Identification of Available Skills:</h3>
Reaching a performance peak is not difficult if you have thoroughly examined your team&rsquo;s skills and capabilities.
A skills matrix enables you to identify the existing skills in your organization and assign the best-fitting role to a candidate.
By choosing the right employees for different positions, your workforce will experience a higher work quality, which frequently results in increased productivity.
<h3>4. Specific Development Programs:</h3>
A skills matrix software provides enough data about your organization, enabling you to plan strategic steps for better performance.
By mapping your employees&rsquo; capabilities thoroughly, you can design development and training programs more quickly to fill the skill gaps and missing competencies.
<h3>5. Resource Allocation Utilized!</h3>
Assigning different positions to the most competent and suitable candidates indicates that the resources will be exploited carefully.
A skills matrix helps you decide what requirement is necessary for each employee regarding their particular skills and potential, leading to a more precise distribution of resources.
<h3>6. Enhanced Internal Mobility:</h3>
Skill matrix softwares uncover the genuine talents of employees: this is not always pleasant!
However, if an employee is not doing a sufficient job at their current position, you don&rsquo;t always have to fire them.
A skills matrix software demonstrates the employee&rsquo;s hidden potential and talents, leading you toward the relocation to another position or department.
Internal mobility helps your management and HR department spend less on new recruitment and utilize the existing talents.
<h3>7. Tracking The Development:</h3>
The data you have gathered from the skills matrix is used in employee training and development to upgrade the employees&rsquo; proficiency level and enthusiasm. L&amp;D (Learning and Development) is a significant part of an employee&rsquo;s life, empowering them to achieve their full potential.
Training programs are designed to fill the skills gap and improve an employee&rsquo;s strengths.
We can track employee processes in different programs by utilizing the data.
These programs and their results show how valuable a skills matrix can be in tracking individual and organizational growth.
<h3>8. Succession Planning Unlocked!</h3>
Choosing a successor is considered a difficult and challenging task in many organizations.
Skills matrix softwares help you analyze and identify the potential leadership traits in your staff.
With a complete overview of your team&rsquo;s talents, you can decide who could take over which role in the future.

What Are The Benefits of a Skill Matrix?

How To Craft a Skills Matrix: What Is Skills Mapping?

A customized skills matrix allows you to make better decisions for your team and achieve higher productivity.
Skills mapping in HR is a widely used concept that can help you soar over your competitors.
We have prepared a few steps for you to design your skills matrix and get a grip on what should be included in a skills matrix.
<h3>1. Define The Key Skills.</h3>
Whether you require specific skills for a new project or just need to conduct an HR analysis, you must prepare a skills database.
Define the essential skills your team members must possess and outline the specific characteristics of each position.
Having a clear and thorough skills inventory will make you proceed with the following steps more smoothly.
Here are some tips when gathering a skills database:
<ul>
<li>Don&rsquo;t Underestimate! Soft skills like communication, leadership, teamwork, and such are just as critical as technical skills. Don&rsquo;t overrule the soft skills while collecting the data.</li>
<li>Start with the most relevant skills. This tip allows you to have more worthwhile data in a shorter period.</li>
<li>Ask for guidance! You may miss a few items even though you&rsquo;re the one conducting the skills search. Ask the experienced employees and the heads of departments about the required qualifications to ensure you have enlisted everything.</li>
</ul>
Creating a thorough database requires effort. If you don&rsquo;t have enough time or consider it too challenging, we suggest you use different services such as agyleOS.
We provide you with easy-to-use tools to collect data and skill matrix software for further steps.
<h3>2. Generate a Grading Approach.</h3>
A grading system is used in this step to evaluate different levels of proficiency. You can customize your approach to suit your company best.
However, there are also some basic systems you can use, such as:
<ul>
<li>Likert Scale - This grading approach is not commonly used to collect skills matrix data. However, it is the most widely used approach to scaling responses in research surveys.</li>
<li>Number Scaling (5-point scale, 9-point scale, etc.)</li>
</ul>
Regardless of your grading system, you must assign a definition to each variable. For example, in scaling systems, the variable is a number.
Suppose you chose a 5-point grading system; in that case, the scoring approach and definitions are:
1 = Not experienced at all.
2 = Somewhat trained.
3 = Actively performing under supervision.
4 = No supervision required.
5 = Can train other employees.
The 9-point grading system, however, has a broader spectrum, resulting in a more comprehensive and thorough assessment.
A 9-point scale is usually interpreted as below:
1= The least experienced.
2= Unacceptable experience but somewhat trained.
3= Performing under particular circumstances.
4= Satisfying performance in most circumstances.
5= Actively and sufficiently performing.
6= Experience and performance are above average.
7= Performing under no supervision.
8=&nbsp; Experienced enough to lead a small team.
9= The most experienced and can train others.
The basic grading systems are effective. However, it is possible that they fall short of specific planning for larger companies and challenging environments.
<h4>Why do we use a 9-point grading system at agyleOS?🤔</h4>
A 9-point grading system has a broad spectrum of ratings while avoiding confusion in decision-making.
Suppose you want to promote one employee out of 10 candidates.&nbsp;In that case, a 5-point grading system will likely give you over five candidates with a rating of 2 to 3.
Whereas a 9-point grading system divides those candidates between 4 to 8, making your decision simpler and much more effective.
<h3>3. Assess The Existing Skills.</h3>

This step requires an objective evaluation of each employee&rsquo;s skills and capabilities.
There are several approaches to thoroughly reviewing an individual&rsquo;s performance:
<ul>
<li>Self-inquiry: Ask your employee to rate and give themself a performance review.</li>
<li>Previous Records: Explore the past performance reviews and documents.</li>
<li>Ask For Manager Evaluation</li>
<li>Ask For a Team Member/Colleague Evaluation</li>
<li>Run a Test: Look for the necessary hard or soft skills with a quick test and assess an employee&rsquo;s proficiency level.</li>
</ul>
360-Degree Feedback Tool: Having real-time assessments and dynamic skill monitoring, a 360-degree feedback tool is the best and most thorough approach to evaluating an employee.
In a 360-degree feedback session, not only the employee themself is getting interviewed but also their peers, co-workers, subordinates, leaders, etc., resulting in a reliable skills inventory for a detailed skills matrix.

A 360-degree feedback tool allows you to have a holistic and detailed view of your workforce and organization.
<a href="https://agyleos.com/360-degree-feedback-tool" target="_blank" rel="noopener">👉 Check our 360-degree feedback tool</a>

You don&rsquo;t need to exploit all the approaches. Choose a few and combine them to create a well-designed method for your company&rsquo;s status.
The fastest combo is a self-assessment and a certificate check: Letting your employee express genuine sentiments about their skills, besides a quick quality check, is your way to go for the fastest results.
🥇 Pro Tip: Ask About Their Interests!
A skills matrix is not only a tool for existing and missing talents but also a powerful approach to demonstrating the &ldquo;could-be&rdquo; skills.
By asking your employees about their favorite skills, strong areas, and improvable traits, you have enough data for a skills matrix to show you what development programs and training are necessary for your organization.
The most essential part of this step is to have a thorough understanding of everyone&rsquo;s skills and proficiency levels.
A competent skill matrix software, such as agyleOS, typically runs 360-degree feedback sessions to collect every existing skill in an organization; then, you can start allocating the data into a customized yet comprehensible matrix.
<h3>4. Populate The Matrix.</h3>
Develop a table or a grid to plot your data in the matrix. The easiest approach to creating a skills matrix is using an Excel sheet.
However, conventional matrix templates are not as visually appealing and maintainable as modern skill matrix tools.
Also, interactivity is limited, and as we all know, Excel files soon lose their value when the populated data set scales with growing team size.
The following steps will guide you through a skills matrix:
<ul>
<li>Put the categorized skills in vertical/horizontal blocks.</li>
<li>Put the employees' names on the opposing axis.</li>
<li>Fill the corresponding blocks with the collected data: proficiency levels, interests, etc.</li>
<li>Create a small guide for the skill matrix so everyone can use your data effectively.</li>
</ul>
If populating a skills matrix sounds like a daunting task, you can easily use a variety of our tools at agyleOS to have a well-designed and customized matrix.
<h4>Why Should You Choose agyleOS Over The Conventional Skills Matrix?</h4>

At agyleOS, we help you create an organized yet thorough database of all your employees&rsquo; skills.
Mapping out your team&rsquo;s competency is a practical approach to having a more functioning organization.
The typical skills matrix may be simple to make. It is, however, often chaos:
<ul>
<li>Complication - the matrix can get messy and incomprehensible, especially for larger organizations with more employees.</li>
<li>Confusing and Time-Consuming - Whether you need to make a quick decision about a position or require the data on a specific employee, you will have trouble finding every column and row to check the ratings.</li>
</ul>
But with a comprehensible skill matrix software, all this messy fuss will disappear.
A skills matrix software provides you with organized results and readable charts so you can make the best decisions for your organization quickly.
<h3>5. Analyze The Skills Matrix.</h3>
This step is where the magic happens!
Creating a skills matrix alone is not a solution to your problems; having an analytical input to your employees&rsquo; trends, skills, and skills gaps, however, will do plenty.
Analyzing the skills matrix helps you in future recruitment, planning training programs, offering career development, HR research, etc.
But how should you define the competency of a team for a project?
Expectations! The ideal team has an utterly competent leader along with skilled and productive employees.
Each team member has specific qualifications that justify their place in a project.
Now, in reality, we often don&rsquo;t have such a team. However, by comparing our existing team&rsquo;s qualifications, leader&rsquo;s characteristics, and employees&rsquo; skills with the ones of the ideal team, we will have a satisfying understanding of what our team needs to be sufficient for a specific project.
<h3>6. Strategic Planning Begun!</h3>
After evaluating your needs and requirements as a team, it is time to start planning for training programs and development opportunities.
By deploying the collected insights, you will create a more positive and resilient organization where everyone can flourish and improve themselves.
A skills matrix is not just about tracking abilities; it's about empowering individuals to reach their full potential and contribute meaningfully to the organization's success.
How can you organize your skill matrix results?
Of course, each company is different from the other, and they hold various positions.
However, when it comes to managing numerous employees, it never hurts to get help! You can get more information on skills management features and benefits in our &ldquo;<a href="https://agyleos.com/post/what-is-skills-management" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What is Skills Management?</a>&rdquo; article

A skill management software helps you organize, analyze, and plan your organizational success.
<a href="https://agyleos.com/skill-management-software" target="_blank" rel="noopener">👉 check our skill management software</a>

Competency Matrix Vs. Skill Matrix: Where To Draw The Line?

Even though the purpose and notion behind these HR matrices are the same and the names are somewhat interchangeable, there is a slight difference that should not be neglected: the components and where to apply them!
<h3>Skills Matrix:</h3>
<ul>
<li>A skill matrix specifically focuses on the technical skills and abilities required for a job or project. It outlines qualifications needed for a particular task or project, such as programming languages, SEO techniques, etc.</li>
<li>It is used to assess an individual's skill level in each professional area and ensure that the team has the necessary skills to successfully complete the project.</li>
<li>A skills matrix is applicable within a wide range of organizations. From large corporations to smaller teams, you can use a skill matrix software to upgrade your employee engagement and productivity.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Competency Matrix:</h3>
<ul>
<li>A competency matrix contains your whole operation&rsquo;s knowledge, different types of skills, attitudes, etc. It outlines the different competencies needed for success in a particular role, such as leadership, communication, technical skills, etc.</li>
<li>A competency matrix is used to evaluate an individual's proficiency level in each position-related area and identify rooms for development.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Case Study 👇</h4>
🛠 Skills Matrix:
Employee A is being reviewed as a candidate for a website development project at their company.
This project requires team members to be evaluated based on their technical skills such as HTML/CSS, JavaScript, React, Next.js, and Tailwind.
Employee A&rsquo;s skills in a 9-point grading system:
1. HTML/CSS: 8
2. JavaScript: 8
3. React: 9
4. Next.js: 7
5. Tailwind: 6
A skills matrix allows the team leader to decide which employee is more suitable for each role and how proficient they are in each area to achieve success in a project.
⚙️ Competency Matrix:
Employee B is being reviewed for a Sales Manager position at their organization.
The job role requires specific qualifications such as leadership, communication, strategic thinking, relationship building, and problem-solving.
Employee B&rsquo;s competencies and skills in a 9-point grading system:
1. Leadership: 7
2. Communication: 8
3. Strategic Thinking: 6
4. Relationship Building: 7
5. Problem-Solving: 5
A competency matrix, in this case, allows the management to decide who would fit better in a sales manager position, regarding their knowledge, technical skills, and behavior.
Indisputably, a skills matrix is a fraction of a competency matrix, making the competency matrix more suitable for management to apply for thorough assessment, future recruitment, and other organizational affairs.
The Skill matrix software within agyleOS can provide you with both skills matrix and competency matrix services, so that you can effectively evaluate individuals or teams based on a combination of competencies and technical skills to ensure they have the right capabilities for success in their roles or projects.

The skills matrix is a well-known technique many organizations have exploited to upgrade their workforce status, productivity, profitability, and so on.
We explored what potential a skills matrix bears for your company, its benefits and importance, how to deploy a sufficient software solution for the skills matrix and more.
With the proper application of a skills matrix software, you will inevitably achieve greater success and employee engagement since you utilize every field in your organization.
A skills matrix is a beacon of innovation in talent acquisition, offering a strategic framework to elevate performance and drive organizational excellence.
Embrace the insights of a skills matrix to embark on your experience towards creating a skilled and powerful staff that reflects your organization&rsquo;s new heights of success.

Conclusion

Banner Blog 01 What Is Skill Matrix

What Is a Skills Matrix? Guide On Skills Mapping in HR

Unsurprisingly, your workforce&rsquo;s skill sets define your organization&rsquo;s status broadly. But how would you know everything about your employees&rsquo; capabilities and potential?&nbsp;
Skill management is more than a buzzword in today&rsquo;s fast-paced business world: it is the process of comprehending your employees&rsquo; skills and deploying their needed abilities in your company to unleash your best possible outcomes.
Employers assign different job positions according to their candidates&rsquo; skill sets, but assessing many individuals for various positions is not always easy.
This is where skills management plays a crucial role in individual development and organizational success by selectively choosing the right staff for the challenges at hand and pointing out the needs and possible flaws.
We will proceed to discuss what is skills management and its components to uncover your team&rsquo;s hidden potential and learn how skill management will lead your organization to a more prosperous future.

Our skills management software offers you a great opportunity to enhance employee engagement and productivity.
<a href="https://agyleos.com/skill-management-software" target="_blank" rel="noopener">👉 Check out our skill management software</a>

Why Is Skills Management Important?

But what is the skills management method, and why is it significant? As a supportive tool, skill management is the cornerstone of HR management to boost your organization and utilize your staff&rsquo;s skill sets.
We will explore some of the significant advantages of skill management to better understand this system&rsquo;s necessity:
<h3>1. Enhance Performance</h3>
Nothing engages an employee more than a sense of belonging!&nbsp;
When you find the right skills and requirements for a position, you will assign that role to the most competent candidate.
Employees with a proper and efficient skill set are more engaged and productive. Therefore, your team will have a higher quality of work.
<h3>2. Increased Retention Rate</h3>
Misidentifying an employee&rsquo;s talents may cause frustration for you and them since the job isn&rsquo;t exactly suitable for their skills.
Comprehending what is a skills management system and investing in such tools will lead your organization to more specifically categorized skill groups, and prevents you from assigning an unfitting position to an employee.
Nevertheless, a skill management system doesn&rsquo;t always result in keeping an employee since it genuinely reveals their aptitude and benefit to the organization.
<ul>
<li>Case Study: Netflix 🎬</li>
</ul>
Being a well-known streaming and movie production company, Netflix pioneered the development of the &ldquo;Keeper Test&rdquo; program.
Reportedly, Netflix encourages growth opportunities to develop &ldquo;future stars from current players&rdquo;.
The Keeper Test includes one simple question for the team leaders about each of their team members: &ldquo;If a team member was leaving for a similar role at another company, would you (as their manager) try to keep them?&rdquo;&nbsp;
The test result indicates that if a leader is not willing enough to fight for their employee, it&rsquo;s time to let that employee go.
<h3>3. Improved Company Culture</h3>
According to some organizational studies by <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2019-10-24-happy-workers-are-13-more-productive">Oxford Business School</a> in 2019 and some older research by <a href="https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/new_study_shows/">Warwick University</a> based on a 2015 paper, happy employees work harder, making them around 13% more productive than others.
Skills management leads to correct role distribution and an improved work environment and company culture. An improved company culture creates a more productive workforce.
<h3>4. Creating An Innovative Workforce</h3>
If you have previously done a skills analysis, you must know that a job position doesn&rsquo;t solely define an employee!
Each team member is a combination of skill sets, personality traits, hidden talents, etc.
A skill management software demonstrates an individual's talent and potential in every area of your organization.
This system lets you realize how much time and money an employee will save you regarding your future recruitment.
<h3>5. Competency Mapping</h3>
This particular skill management benefit is mainly for healthcare, welfare, or manufacturing organizations. These industries require very specific qualifications for their positions since there are risks of fatality with their jobs.
When it comes to competency mapping, it&rsquo;s important to ask &ldquo;What are skill systems?&rdquo; to dive deeper into an organization&rsquo;s workforce and provide various approaches and systems to select the best skills and candidates.
An organized map of your team&rsquo;s skills and capabilities helps you decide who is the most qualified to fill a position in your organization. Competency plays a major factor in life-or-death carriers.
Moreover, a skills chart provides you with 2nd and 3rd best options if your first employee takes a sick day, a parental leave, another position, etc.
<ul>
<li>Case Study: Apple&nbsp;🍏</li>
</ul>
Apple highly focuses on succession plan strategies to groom potential employees for leadership positions.
Their program includes a variety of approaches, such as mentorship, stretch assignments, and leadership development programs.
Tim Cook, the current CEO of Apple Inc., declared that Apple allocates considerable resources to succession plans.
Cook stated, &ldquo;Because something that's unpredictable can always happen, and I can step off the wrong curb tomorrow&mdash;I pray that doesn't happen.&rdquo;

What Is The Skills Management Method: Components!

What is employee skill management, and how is it created?
Four significant steps constitute a thoroughly done skill management.
Leaving out any of these components from your management program will withhold you from a resourceful analysis.
<h3>1. Skills Inventory</h3>
You need to gather a thorough database of your workforce&rsquo;s skill sets. These abilities form a wide range, from technical and soft to leadership skills.
Skills inventory helps you have a comprehensive picture of your staff&rsquo;s full potential and the various possibilities they bring.
The skills collection is a general step, indicating a load of unorganized data.
You must gather all of your employees&rsquo; skills. We typically categorize skill sets into three groups:
<ol>
<li>Domain Knowledge: You should assess the professional knowledge your employee has acquired during their job or training. Knowledge is the premise of technical skills.</li>
<li>Hard Skills: The necessary skills an employee learns during practice are called technical or hard skills. Hard skills are an essential part of later evaluation.</li>
<li>Soft Skills: An employee&rsquo;s behavior, attitude in the workplace, teamwork potential, and other personal traits are considered soft skills.</li>
</ol>
There are some basic questions to review your skills inventory to check if you have everything:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>What sets of skills will your employee need in the future to do their job properly?&nbsp;</li>
<li>Are there any skill gaps or emerging obstacles in their performance? If yes, how can you support an approach to address it?&nbsp;</li>
<li>How are your employee&rsquo;s existing skills supporting your team or organization?</li>
</ul>
<h3>2. Skill Assessment</h3>
This step requires you to evaluate each employee&rsquo;s proficiency level in their different skills.
This component will give you a clearer view of your organization&rsquo;s potential. This step lets you identify skill gaps within your employees, departments, etc.
Companies like IBM use complex analytics tools to uncover their skill gaps and future talent needs to stay ahead of their competitors.
You can benefit from performance reviews, assessment interviews, and feedback strategies to gain worthwhile information for a thorough evaluation.
Gathering and analyzing different skill groups is a challenging job.
You will need a fully organized and understandable overview of your employees&rsquo; skills to enhance your organizational status further.
<ul>
<li>How Would a Skills Matrix Help?</li>
</ul>
Even though some roughly implementable approaches exist to collect and review your team&rsquo;s skills, we suggest using a Skill Matrix Tool as a specifically designed piece of software to meet your requirements and elevate your company&rsquo;s performance.
Our Skill Matrix Software offers a thorough yet organized skills inventory. We collect a resourceful database for your team&rsquo;s skill sets through 360-degree and individual feedback. Skills Matrix Software helps you combine the first and second steps for a more complete and easy operation to target your company&rsquo;s goals.
With agyleOS we provide you with your employees' specifically designed assessment chart so the development strategies and organizational purposes will be clearly seen.

A skill matrix software helps you apply a thorough skills management method for better productivity and management.
<a href="https://agyleos.com/skill-matrix-software" target="_blank" rel="noopener">👉 Check out our Skills Matrix Software</a>

<h3>3. Skills Development</h3>
This step requires you to take action on the basis of the skill management&rsquo;s data to enhance employee development, including skill gaps, emerging malfunctions, and other pending issues.
You should also exploit training programs, coaching, mentoring, and other growth opportunities to plan your team&rsquo;s performance strategy.
<ul>
<li>Case Study: Amazon 📦</li>
</ul>

Amazon introduced its &ldquo;Career Choice&rdquo; program as a development plan to empower its staff. Launched in 2012, the Career Choice program offers employees the opportunity to teach their highly demanded skills both within and outside the organization.
This program has long encouraged the workforce to pursue their passion and enhance their skills for better career growth opportunities.
<h3>4. Skills Deployment</h3>
After thoroughly examining your organization's status and planning an approach for skills development, you must align your staff&rsquo;s skills with their career growth and overall organizational goals.
As different roles require different qualifications, a perceptive leader knows the secret to success lies within their team&rsquo;s capabilities.
An organization will unleash its full potential by correctly deploying its employees&rsquo; current (or enhanced) skill sets.

By understanding the preceding chapters on what is skills management and following the primary steps of the procedure, you now have the recipe for an acceptable meal.
However, you always need extra flavoring pro tips for a magnificent dish.
We suggest you note the following aspects when applying a skill management system:
<h3>🔁 Continuous assessment:&nbsp;</h3>
A one-time skill assessment is good. However, for a more thorough experience, you must track your employees&rsquo; trends, gaps, and developments.
<h3>🪡 Personalized Development Plans:</h3>
Every employee and their needs are unique. You must tailor specific growth programs for them to enhance their skills.
Moreover, a personalized plan ensures your employee of their value in your team.
<h3>💪🏼 Encourage Teamwork:</h3>
By promoting knowledge-sharing, collaboration, and mentorship between team members, you will establish a more positive environment, strengthening learning.
<ul>
<li>Case Study: Google 🔍</li>
</ul>
Google is a pioneer in skill management tricks! They invented their G2G (Googler to Googler) program in 2007.
This training program encourages employees to share their skills with each other through mentoring sessions.
This development plan not only improves the overall staff&rsquo;s knowledge but also fosters a positive work culture for learning and growth.
<h3>📝 Plan With Rationale:</h3>
Use the data and analytics from the skill management system to discover your team&rsquo;s potential strengths.
A Skill management software reveals insights into your employee skills that will lead you toward a performance peak.

Looking For Enhanced Skill Management Results?

The Role of a Skill Management Software In Your Org

Skill management systems provide sufficient information to identify and assess the skill sets of your workforce.
By having a better and more comprehensive image of your employees, you will plan better strategies and more specific positions in your company.
A thorough skill management analysis gains numerous worthy data. Let us explore a few:
<h3>1. Skills Tracking:</h3>
A skill management software enables you to have a repository of your team&rsquo;s skills, certifications, and overall competencies.
<h3>2. Skill Gap Analysis:</h3>
If there is any existing distance between an employee&rsquo;s current and optimum skills, skill management software will discover it and inform you about it.
<h3>3. Training Programs:</h3>
After analyzing the skill gaps, you must plan for different approaches to enhance your employee performance.
A skills management software lets you schedule, track, and assess the programs to ensure their effectiveness for employee skills.
<h3>4. Strategic Alignment:</h3>
Assigning each individual&rsquo;s proficiency level with performance evaluations, skill management software finds the most productive approaches for you to match an employee with a position.
<a href="https://agyleos.com/skill-management-software" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Skills Management Platform</a> includes discovering your workforce's existing abilities, skill gaps, and growth opportunities.
With <a href="https://agyleos.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">agyleOS</a>, we help you implement strategic data to bridge gaps through training programs, align proficiencies with talent acquisition, get analytic reports on your team&rsquo;s status, and bring order to your company.
All to help you build a more powerful team for a promising future.

Skill management is not just an abstract concept; it is a means of strategy for organizations to thrive in a speedingly competitive environment.
Companies can unlock their employees&rsquo; full potential by comprehending the importance and components of skill management software and following the pro tips.
Through real-life and widely-known examples such as Google, Amazon, Apple, or Netflix, you can see that even the leading organizations are leveraging HR matters like skill management to foster a better work environment, productivity, and profitability.
Candidly speaking, investing in your employees&rsquo; skills and their development by mastering skill management techniques is the key to unleashing your organization&rsquo;s hidden talents.
Whether you long for a positive company culture, continuous learning environment, career development, or more profit, skill management is your lead to soar over your rivals.

To Sum Up

Banner Blog 01 Skill Management V2

What Is Skills Management: A Comprehensive Guide

Steven Gilmore

Steven has been working in HR for the past 20 years and for the last 10 in scaling startups here in Berlin. He grew and led People teams at Wooga (2012-2018) and SumUp (2018-2022). Last year he co-founded Feebee to build a better way to do feedback.

About Feebee:
Feebee's mission is to create a way to do feedback that would foster a growth mindset. Feebee empowers people to own their development and seek regular feedback. It provides eye-opening insights and suggests important focus areas for growth. It’s perfect for teams that want to foster an agile way of working.

A conversation about his view on agile, its history, and cultural development in companies with Steven Gilmore, Co-Founder of Feebee.

Nino: How would you explain agility in 1-2 sentences to someone who has no idea and no contact with agility?
Steven: I would say that it&rsquo;s the way human beings should have always worked. It is a commitment to work in a way that can create more fulfillment, with regard to our relationship with work.
It helps teams to become self-organized, self-reflective, and empowered. Allowing them to create more value for their customers.
Have you worked command and control type structure and thought &ldquo;there has to be a better way?&rdquo; There is, it's agile.
When did you first get in touch with agility?
I got 'hands-on' with agility when I joined SumUp. We embarked on an agile transformation shortly after I joined. Our ambition was to work in a different way and create a better environment than where we had worked in the past. Innovation and delighting customers for the long term was our goal.
So we found an agile consultancy and embarked on an agile transformation.

How is organizational agility measured?
Back then it was hard to measure and almost impossible to visualize. That&rsquo;s why I was quite excited when I came across agyleOS.
We measured our agility via surveys. We designed a survey based on 24 capabilities outlined in the book Accelerate. We sent the survey out along with our eNPS (employee net promoter score) survey every few months. We tried to measure our agility based on the results.
But there are many more things to look at. You capture many of them nicely in agyleOS.
Is agility a leadership competency?
It&rsquo;s a competency that everyone needs to learn. Leadership plays a crucial part in role modeling required competencies. Leaders also need to encourage teams to grow and to help people to understand why it&rsquo;s important.
I see the role of Leadership as &ldquo;creating the right conditions for teams to be successful and do their greatest work&rdquo;. If a leader is constantly thinking about this and guiding and coaching their team, then the team can grow. That team will go on to deliver exceptional value.

Back then it was hard to measure and almost impossible to visualize.

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What causes agile to fail?
It's usually down to inertia. The inertia comes from centuries of working in a command and control way. Agile is a long-term commitment to change.
What happens, in reality, is that someone in a company makes a decision and we go along with it. Let's say the CEO comes along and says "We're doing an agile transformation. This is going to be super exciting." The person (who would have kept going the way they were before) is not yet committed to this change and may never be. In this instance, the CEO's role is to show why this person (and everyone else) should be committed.
Usually, the commitment has not been established. Agile begins to fail in these teams first. Then, once the CEO loses enthusiasm, it starts to unravel everywhere. Before you know it you are talking about agile, but you are not living it.
Agile needs full commitment to a new way of thinking, behaving, and working. It takes time to change mindsets. Once the company hits a bump in the road old habits creep back in. People want to micro-manage because they felt in control when they were doing that.
It's a bit of a catch-22 situation. Because the last few years have shown us that the world is unpredictable. In an unpredictable world agile is extremely beneficial. If your team is more nimble and able to react and change faster, you have a better chance to survive and even thrive. Yet teams need time to develop these skills and they need the right environment to do it. If at the first sign of trouble, the environment becomes unsafe. The teams will never become agile.

Agile is a long-term commitment to change.

What is the required mindset in an organization in order to be agile?
There needs to be a full commitment to working in a better way. From everyone who is in the company and everyone who will join in the future. It can&rsquo;t be because it&rsquo;s a buzzword or because it will be good for PR. It also can&rsquo;t be temporary or just a passing interest. It has to be a fully lived commitment, forever. You need a Growth mindset.
What has changed in the area of agility in recent years?
I think the fact that people like me are talking about it in this way is the change I have seen. 5+ years ago it was only software development teams talking about agile. Now it is a cultural topic and a whole company commitment, that everyone has to live and breathe. It has to be really part of the soul of the founding team and the leadership team of the company.

I think the fact that people like me are talking about it in this way is the change I have seen.

A conversation about his view on agile, its history and cultural development in companies with Steven Gilmore, Co-Founder of Feebee.

"Agile has to be really part of the soul of the founding team and the leadership team of the company."

Sebastian Kamilli

He has experience as Agile Coach, Scrum Master and Agile Lead since 2009 and in addition build on experience as Systemic Coach, Developer, PowerMBA and Digital Gardener. Sebastian is also Father of 4 children.

Sebastian Kamilli, Product Program &amp; Operations Manager and Agile Coach at Blinkist, talks about his passion and experience with agility.

Erdal: How would you explain agility in 1-2 sentences to someone who has no idea and no contact with agility?
Sebastian:&nbsp;<a href="https://digital-garden.ontheagilepath.net/term-agility" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Agility</a> is your ability to respond effectively and efficiently to the unexpected and unplanned and quickly turn challenges into opportunities (The Agility Shift, 2015, <a href="https://pamela-meyer.com/agile-101-part-1-of-3-agile-vs-agility/))" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Source</a>)
When did you first get in touch with agility? What inspired you right from day one?
Back in 2008 I read the books Peopleware, Agile Software Development and then discovered Scrum. I learned about the importance of people in an organization and about close contact with the customer. And I understood and experienced how Agile and at that time especially Scrum enables people to bring out their best and create successes by building products that create value for the customer and the business.
What is an Agile mindset? And is it a condition for a successful agile transformation?
For me the Agile Mindset is based on a deep understanding of the agile values defined by the Agile Manifesto and the 12 principles behind and operating in alignment with the values and principles. Having an agile mindset is fundamental to a successful agile transformation.
How is organizational agility measured?
By the ability of the organization to respond effectively and efficiently to the unexpected and unplanned and quickly turn challenges into opportunities.
Supporting metrics are the development of Time To Learning, eNPS, NPS development and the development of actionable agile metrics like Lead-Time and Cycle-Time in addition to Business Metrics and DORA metrics.

Some people think that the OKR framework is not necessary if a company is working with a scaled agile framework anyway. What is your opinion on this?
The OKR framework is one approach to drive alignment and connect aspired outcomes with activities of teams. The kernel of a good strategy consists of the challenge and diagnosis combined with a guiding policy and derived coherent actions. OKRs can be a good practice for expressing the guiding policy and also to derive and monitor coherent actions of a strategy.
When scaling, alignment with the company strategy across the whole organization becomes a greater challenge.This is still the case when working with scaled agile frameworks. OKRs foster to scale effectively (in the right direction) and not just efficiently.
Are OKRs necessary? No. I guess there are many ways to ensure alignment with strategy.
Are OKRs supporting strategy and alignment and would I recommend using them? Yes.

The kernel of a good strategy consists of the challenge and diagnosis combined with a guiding policy and derived coherent actions.

What would be a good way to indicate a high level of maturity in an agile organization?
When the 12 agile principles are deeply embedded in the culture of an organization.
Is agility a leadership competency?
Agility, being able to respond effectively and efficiently to the unexpected and unplanned and quickly turn challenges into opportunities, is an important leadership competency. Being equipped with an agile mindset and skills to foster and drive agility enables impactful leadership that drives creating value for the customer and organization and people.
What causes agile to fail?
A focus on agile practices without understanding the agile values and principles.
Many forms of inertia to change the current system.

Agility is an important leadership competency

What has changed in the area of agility in recent years?
Agility crossed boundaries from its grassroots in being applied to Software Development to the transformation of the whole organization. Approaches matured and e.g. with the evolution of DevOps, Scrumban higher level problems can be addressed easier.
At the same time it became more complicated to navigate the agile landscape and figure out what contributes to agility and in what context to use what approach.
What are the biggest challenges in agile these days?
Dilution. Many quite similar approaches are available and less consolidation and unlearning is taking place.
Stronger commercialization aspects make it more difficult to understand driving forces and motives and it became even more important to tie back to the core of agile.

Stronger commercialization aspects make it more difficult to understand driving forces and motives

Sebastian Kamilli, Product Program & Operations Manager and Agile Coach at Blinkist, talks about his passion and experience with agility.

"An agile mindset enables impactful leadership"

Sebastian Kamilli, Product Program & Operations Manager and Agile Coach at Blinkist, talks about his passion and experience with agility.



Chris Combe

Chris Combe, currently working as a ways of working lead at a large financial services organization, co author of operating model and playbook. Australian, a bit of a nomad, having moved / lived in Sydney, Singapore, Nashville and now London. Started working in the helpdesk, business analysis, project manager, architect, CTO and now recently ways of working practitioner.

A conversation with Chris Combe, CDIO Group Functions Agile CoE Lead - Executive Director at UBS, about his personal view and opinion about agility and agile leadership.

Erdal: How would you explain agility in 1-2 sentences to someone who has no idea and no contact with agility?
Chris: The ability to learn and adapt to change in circumstances. Not fooling yourself into believing your own ideas are valid until you have tested them out as early as possible with users / customers etc.
When did you first get in touch with agility?
It was about 8 years ago when I was working in the US.

What is the value of agility?
Personally the focus on collaboration, learning and creating customer / user value is what I find most exciting
What is agility in a team?
A real team where the team is greater than the sum of it parts, people working together to learn and deliver, rather than handing over work to individuals.
What is Agile mindset?
Above all else, it is continuous to use a hypothesis based approach, using data and user feedback / behavior to drive improvements and outcomes
What are aspects of continuous improvement in agile?
Learning should happen continuously rather than every two weeks, that means pairing / mobbing on work and having shared understanding and learning. Reflecting, improving and sharing with others both inside and outside of the team. Getting better at getting better!
&nbsp;

The focus on collaboration, learning and creating customer / user value is what I find most exciting

Is &ldquo;agile scaling&rdquo; really necessary?
That depends what you mean by scaling, in any large complex organization that is looking to be more adaptive and nimble, you can&rsquo;t just have autonomous teams as the underlying communications and information systems don&rsquo;t support that. That requires modularity, cohesion between teams, process and architecture. So you can scale communication and collaboration until you can de-scale the work and remove the team for constant coordination to get things done. I don&rsquo;t think scaling frameworks are a panacea as they often give people a recipe to follow rather than help people learn to become chefs.
How is organizational agility measured?
That is a tricky question, I love Jon Smart and team&rsquo;s framing of Better Value, Sooner Safer Happier - if you do all of those you can begin to see the impact you are having in a balanced and nuanced way. Time to market is easy to game and should not be done without quality and value etc. Never optimize on only one metrics of a team, focus on the system as a whole.

I don’t think scaling frameworks are a panacea as they often give people a recipe to follow rather than help people learn to become chefs.

Is agility a leadership competency?
It is an everything competency, I prefer to think in terms of ways of working, ways of leading. Agile itself has lost a lot of value in terms of what is means and has been overly weaponized and commercialized to the point that it is often more bout certificates than improving how we work and getting better.
What causes agile to fail?
People giving up too soon when things aren&rsquo;t working, learning new behaviors and skills takes time. You don&rsquo;t give up flying a plane if you can&rsquo;t fly an A380 within 2 weeks. Real change takes time, but equally it should be done in small steps rather than giant leaps. Everything needs to change eventually if your goal is to enable fast flow of value.
What has changed in the area of agility in recent years?
It has become a hornets nest of commercialization and a lot of snake oil, I think a return to the basics / essentials and a focus on values and principles, with a view to learning and improving rather than committing to rituals and compliance. People use the terms doing agile vs being agile but that&rsquo;s a little confusing. I think if you focus on the basics, small steps, and learning. Learning to experiment and adapt, rather than make large assumptions that what you think you know what is needed. Don&rsquo;t fool yourself!

Real change takes time, but equally it should be done in small steps rather than giant leaps.

A conversation with Chris Combe, CDIO Group Functions Agile CoE Lead - Executive Director at UBS, about his personal view and opinion about agility and agile leadership.

"Don't fool yourself!"

A conversation with Chris Combe, CDIO Group Functions Agile CoE Lead - Executive Director at UBS, about his personal view and opinion about agility and agile leadership.



Erdal Ahlatci

Articles

How To Create a Skills Matrix: A Comprehensive Guide

What Is a Skills Matrix? Guide On Skills Mapping in HR

What Is Skills Management: A Comprehensive Guide

"Agile has to be really part of the soul of the founding team and the leadership team of the company."

"An agile mindset enables impactful leadership"

"Don't fool yourself!"