How to tap into talent and plug your skills gap

As training and development professionals, we know that having the right workforce capability is critical for organisational success.  

But at a time when industries across Australia are facing skills and staff shortages amid ‘talent wars’ and change disruption, building your workforce capability isn’t as easy as it once was.

With recruitment not always a viable option on its own, many organisations we’re working with are choosing to unpack the hidden skills that exist within their organisation through skills audits.  

Skills audits have emerged as a powerful – and cost-effective – way to tap into and pivot capability to address emerging organisational challenges.  

They can boost morale and talent retention in the process, and, with a little guidance, they’re also pretty easy to implement. Here’s how.

Understanding the basics

According to McKinsey, a staggering 87 per cent of organisations know they have a skills gap or will have one within the next few years.

Skills audits can help organisations address this issue in two ways.  

Firstly, an audit will help you identify which skills are in short supply, and in which areas of your organisation.  

Secondly, an audit can help you understand the full suite of capabilities that your existing talent could bring to your organisation if they were supported to do so. 

Perhaps they weren’t the skills those individuals were hired for, perhaps they’ve never had an opportunity to identify their full range of capabilities, or perhaps they’ve developed new skills ‘on-the-job’ during their employment.  

Either way, recognising and providing opportunities to tap into and enhance these skills is a fantastic way to address skills gaps whilst boosting employee morale and talent retention at the same time.  

Defining your future state

Knowing what you’re looking for is the first step in undertaking a successful skills audit.

To do this, consider your organisation’s workforce strategy, and the capability profile your organisation will need to address any emerging challenges. This may include short- and long-term capabilities based on industry-related changes and new technology.  

For example, if integrating artificial intelligence (AI) technology into your products or services is a priority for your organisation, a skills audit can help you identify skills gaps and existing workforce knowledge related to AI in areas like data science, data management, machine learning or coding.   

At this point you can decide on the scope of your audit. For example, you could choose to limit the audit to just technical skills, leadership skills or interpersonal skills, depending on what your biggest organisational challenges are.  

Alternatively, you could invest more time and energy in expanding the scope to include the full range of capabilities your organisation will require to achieve your desired future state. 

It’s also important to identify the type of information you will collect – which could include certificates, performance review information or managerial reviews – and how you will collect it. Collection methods can include one-on-one interviews, providing a self-assessment survey, collecting historical information or issuing a formal skills test.

Conducting your audit 

The next step is to audit the current skills you have in your organisation. We recommend a group skills audit which involves creating an inventory of the skills that all employees in your organisation possess. This method is important for several reasons.  

Firstly, an inventory will capture all the skills that your employees were hired for in the first place, bringing together data that might otherwise be located within some dusty job descriptions in a filing cabinet.  

Secondly, the inventory will allow you to identify any employees with skills that either match or are related to the skills you know your organisation needs to reach your desired future state.  

And lastly, it is quite likely that a group skills audit will uncover some important capabilities you didn’t even know your employees had!  

Leveraging your findings

Once your skills audit is complete, you can use the data and insights to inform your workforce development strategy.  

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023 states that one of the most effective ways to weather the skills gap is to invest in training and development for your existing workforce – a tactic an increasing number of organisations are employing in their workforce planning approach, according to Wiley’s annual Closing the Skills Gap Survey.  

“Employers would be wise to invest in employee learning and development initiatives, workforce training and flexible education benefits to deal with this burgeoning skills gap and boost retention,” Todd Zipper, Executive Vice President at Wiley said. 

The benefit of having your skills inventory is that you now have some insights into the existing skills you can enhance through upskilling, so you can build the capability profile your organisation needs to achieve its goals.  

For example, your team of employees with skills in data management might be the perfect candidates to upskill in machine learning to help you automate your business.  

The best workforce training for your organisation will depend on your organisational goals, but could range from enrolling staff in practical and focused short courses, leadership programs, or a developing bespoke learning and development solution, customised to suit your needs from a reputable provider like Professional and Continuing Education. 

This article was written by Dr Nina James and Richard Wortley from Professional and Continuing Education at the University of Adelaide. It was first published in the September edition of Training & Development Magazine, an initiative of the Australian Institute of Training and Development (AITD).