Talk. Let’s chat a bit.

As you know, nowadays, there are many places where talking, discussing, exploring, and pushing a narrative can lead to all types of information and disinformation.

No one platform is immune from it.

On the professional side, you see it with LinkedIn and that thread you still can’t figure out how you are seeing this and, better yet, how you can stop it.

Those ads. Dear G-D.  

I would pay an extra $2 to remove them.

I think this is a skill.

Writing is a skill.

Listening to History Podcast from the BBC is an interest, that could lead to a new skill.

That’s skills development to me.

Skills Development – hasn’t he talked about this before? (YES, YES – with SBL though)

Why again?

Because it continues to grow, with new ways to push out the content around the context of it, using AI forgetting though of another piece happening on a global business and government scale.

Losing the opportunity to continue to grow those skills, even those – albeit often ignored – personal and professional development skills.

Onboarding plus Employee Development or is it the other way around?

You see it in systems that have been around, systems that have tapped into what they see as a growing market, systems that are new, or systems that try to play both sides of the coin – customer training here, and hey, employee development and onboarding there.

What you don’t see, or perhaps realize, is that today, many systems are going this way.

The narrative is heavily pushed, not necessarily on their website, although you can find it if you look around.

Sometimes, it is very visible, and sometimes, it is like playing Waldo and then saying, ‘Why am I wasting my time here?’

Onboarding isn’t new.

It is not for learning systems; you are using the platforms for it.

Every system on the planet can be used for onboarding.

The content is the crucial part here – often ignored – because a lot is downright boring, and I guarantee if you, the person overseeing the whole onboarding process, read it, you would want to see what that bird is doing on your tree rather than continuance.

Functionality is the secondary part, usually seen as the primary.

The metrics are the last part when, in reality, they should be in tandem with the content and what output can be extracted by using the functionality, tapping into what is a need to work versus a need to know versus a need to know but you don’t know, so you see it as a maybe I should know, but do I really need to know?

Moving away from the content side – for the record, nobody wants to read a PDF that is 15 pages long, nor a video that looks like you pulled it from those rotten VHS tapes nobody watched.

For those new to this, the VHS tapes with onboarding – thank your lucky stars.

I one time fell asleep watching one.

I woke up just right before they came in, and then I said, ‘Yes, very informative, or some other nonsense.’

Don’t worry; those metrics will say I read it, and I’m all good.

Skills get tricky here because everyone, if those heavy on customer training, includes it.

Those who see the employee development and onboarding piece as a crucial step – wrapped around that nice warm blanket of employee development, perhaps are unaware of the following:

• Skill ratings can be a deceiver.
• Likert Scale Skill Rating establish falsehoods, and when used with AI – tied as part of those skill ratings – the output is skewed
• Skills tied to content for the opportunities angle only work if they truly reflect the person’s strengths, areas for improvement, and the manager’s perception, which may or may not be 100% accurate and, therefore, without validation.
• Skill mapping is a benefit, yet many systems ignore it because the system does it for you rather than having you do it yourself—which is a long and awful process. It’s just like watching those DVD onboarding videos, especially the ones with the CEO welcoming you—hey, thanks. Is it too early to get a raise?
• Skills taxonomies, skills this and that, skills assessments – the best in the business isn’t one you may have heard of – but you should
• If just the word “upskilling” entices you, it’s because systems from day one were about identifying skill gaps and improving them—thus upskilling. Yep, back in 1999. Wow. Who knew?

That is a lot of skill pieces here.

A Likert scale of 1-5, whether a smiley face or just 1-5, without context on what each number means, is worthless.

On top of that, not showing a box of expectations/definitions is another step in misinformation.

If I see 1, the box would say, “no knowledge of the topic,” and it is basically a beginner level.  

Then, #2 is the next step and what is defined as number two.

In addition, it is rare to find words that identify as 1, the lowest/beginner, or at the bottom, and 5, the best.  

The assumption is that everyone will know this, and yet, what if I, the human looking at the data, believe one is the best and five is the worst?

How is that going to output actual data? If the vendor is using AI to push out content recommendations and skills to improve instantly if you are not aware of them, is that wrong?

The manager sees the same numbers, and the assumption is that the manager knows the employees, meets with them weekly and is aware of their actual skills.

If I have 50 employees under me, will I really know all the above information? Or will I just rely on the system’s ranking based on how the employees see themselves?

Honesty is the crucial step here.  

Explain what each means. This gives me a baseline. However, it doesn’t guarantee accurate information unless the system leverages some assessment beforehand.

Best System for Skills Assessment

You are not buying it for all the UI or assuming it has content—because it doesn’t.

It can be deeply integrated into your learning system or used as a standalone with integration alone.

Ability Map

I looked at it solely from the talent, i.e., employee development side.

I hate the word talent – because it is a double-end word jumble.

It implies superiority, and aren’t we all talented? Wait, Jimmy, who plays video games on his phone all day, is talent?

Thus, when I looked at the platform, I only considered it from the employee development standpoint, not the recruiting or hiring aspect—because that isn’t employee development.

On the employee dev side, I liked it.

Is it perfect?

No.

But no system is – not one.

Ability Map uses several skills frameworks and competencies, including SFIA9.

Here is an example of the output, data-wise: ignore the candidate profile and focus on the skills.

If I were to look at this data and focus on, say, Setting Goals, then I would need to provide skills content to improve it.

They showed me some other items, which their site shows, a bit of what it shows -nevertheless, I came away quite impressed.

Why did I think that other systems, such as LMS, LMS/LXP, and so forth, couldn’t have a type of skills assessment that identifies at a far better level than, say, rating myself?

As with anything, honesty has to be in play here.

I would feel a whole lot better using something like this for skills outputs and areas to improve than my manager or my peers (yes, I’ve seen systems that do this—maybe the worst idea since your boss forcing you to read “Who Moved my Cheese,” and then afterwards you realize your boss doesn’t follow the mantra).

I will go a step further here because a skills validation program, even within your system, without having to use or purchase a 3rd party such as above.

Yours could go far beyond because you could leverage lots of data that had never been viewable. That would help your employees, benefit them, and empower them to do what training’s goal is: synthesis.

Bottom Line

Skills are a great push.

People want to improve themselves.

They want to learn new skills – not just for the job, but for personal growth.

And they want to have an engaged approach that should be fun.

Fun it seems is left out in the learning of new skills.

And with employee development tied to skills, it usually lacks personal and professional growth.

This is often left out of any skills platform I’ve seen, whether it is standalone or built into a learning system that taps into skills for employee development and onboarding.

You won’t find it in any ERP, HRIS, or HR system that spins the whole narrative around skills development as though the holy grail is right before your eyes.

I tested out BambooHR, for example.

The skills thing was an utter joke.

If you want to take some content, there is no problem – just put a link to it.

Yes, it is an HR platform with HRIS too, but it is the next “vendor to watch” in the HRIS side, with a lot of folks in HRIS pointing to it as such.

Yep, the next Workday, before Workday became this bloated entity.

Workday has skills development.

SAP SF does too.  

Oracle – well, let’s move on from them – like so many have – Boom! Drum Roll, please! (No doubt Oracle will disagree with me, and yes, you make a lot of money, but I wouldn’t use anything around learning in your system)

But as I wrote in this LinkedIn thread, would you really want to use any of these for skills development—upskilling your employees?

I am confident HR folks aren’t be all over the idea of personal development data.

It is skills for the job.  

Skills for the job we just or are going to lay you off. Skills for reorganization because we found out AI can do your job for you.

That is the reality of skills for employee development.

It isn’t about the ratings, recommended content, or suggested content on skills based on variables that lack any real context—you, the person looking at this information, need to be able to extrapolate it rather than rely solely on the system to say it is this or that.

Validation, when used in the right format, is based on multiple skills frameworks, ideally with a validation, certification, or verified statement from the entity or entities that these frameworks for skills are worth having for your organization’s employees.

It is, however, a combo of moving parts that is a must here.

This congruence shows that it isn’t only about skills development around the job under the premise that they will always have that job or always be at your company.

Instead, it is about dreams.

Possibilities and the opportunity for each of those employees to better themselves.

Not just those who work in the office environment, whether physical or remote.

But also, those on the frontline—at the restaurant, hotel, retail, and other areas—and those who work on the plant floor or at a construction site and provide maintenance to your location.

It has to be all

Something to remember the next time you focus on skills – for employee development.

Otherwise, what’s the point?

E-Learning 24/7

FWIW – My new biz site is being developed – launch date end of March. A new piece will be my Resource Center – lots of cool content And the launch of my app available on Apple and Google Play. (that’s coming in April)