The document outlines a presentation on skills audits and staff development. It defines skills audits as assessing an organization's workforce competencies against requirements to identify gaps. The purpose is to focus training to improve skills. It discusses best practices for skills auditing including using job analyses and measuring multiple competency types. It argues skills audits provide strategic benefits like compliance, increased productivity and lower training costs. While skills audits require costs for implementation, the benefits of improved workforce skills and informed development plans outweigh expenses when done properly.

1. SKILLS AUDIT AND STAFF
DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE 2016
CHARLES COTTER
HOLIDAY INN, SANDTON
22 FEBRUARY 2016

2. PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
• Definition, purpose and outcome of a Skills
Audit
• Diagnosis: Current Skills Audit practices and
processes
• Defining and Measuring of Competence
• Building a Business Case for Skills Audits
(Benefits and Costs)

3. ORIGIN OF THE WORD, “AUDIT”
• The word audit originates from the Latin word
‘audire’ which means to “listen”.
• An audit is a systematic, objective risk
management tool for how well the workplace is
complying with regulatory and policy
requirements.

4. INTRODUCTORY QUESTIONS
• Q1: For any business manager, what is their
most crucial financial and business risk
mitigation tool?
• Q2: For any Learning & Development
Manager/Skills Development Facilitator, what
is their most under-utilized people/skills risk
mitigation tool?

5. INTRODUCTORY LEARNING ACTIVITY
• Individual activity:
• Complete the statement by inserting one (1) word only. In order
to conduct an effective skills audit, I need to/to be
.…………………………………..
• Now find other learners with the same word as you.
• Jot these words down on the flip-chart.
• Each learner will have the opportunity to elaborate on their
chosen word.

6. PURPOSE/OUTCOME OF A SKILLS
AUDIT

7. DEFINITION, PURPOSE AND
OUTCOME OF SKILLS AUDITING
• A skills audit is a snapshot that allows an organization to determine the
level of skills and knowledge of the workforce.
• It is compared against the competencies that are required in order to
determine the gaps and to focus training and development accordingly.
• Skills audits are conducted to determine training needs within an
organization in order for that organization to improve its skills and
knowledge.
• A skills audit establishes an individual’s current competence against the
skills matrix for a particular position.
• A skills audit gathers more information than current qualifications levels.
• The outcome of the skills audit process is a skills gap analysis.

8. BEST PRACTICE CRITERIA: SKILLS
AUDITING
• #1: A job analysis must be used as a basis for the skills audit
• #2: Definitive performance standards must be developed, written,
and provided to all stakeholders, regardless of the type of rating
• #3: Raters are trained to use the rating instrument properly
• #4: Formal appeal mechanisms must be in place and assessment
results need to be reviewed to ensure fairness and reliability
• #5: Multiple techniques/approaches are utilized and ratings are
supported with documented examples of behaviour
• #6: Employees are given a chance to improve their skills
through targeted development opportunities

9. BEST PRACTICE CRITERIA: SKILLS
AUDITING
• #7: The 6 E’s - the Skills Auditing process is efficient, effective, economical,
educational, ethical and evidentiary
• #8: Compliance with the following principles of Skills Audits:
 Fairness
 Validity
 Reliability
 Transparency/ Openness
 Constructive feedback
 Objective
• #9: The outcome of the skills audit generates predictive analytics and business
intelligence, providing the organization with a strategic competitive advantage
• #10: Skills Auditing must be a holistic, systematic, integrated and aligned
approach

10. CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTOR:
INTEGRATION AND ALIGNMENT

11. V-I-P SKILLS AUDITING
• Valid (accurate & correct
Measurement)
• Interrogative (3rd degree)
• Protective (against skills
& reputational risks)

12. LEARNING ACTIVITY
• Individual activity:
• Review and evaluate your organization’s
current skills audit process against the ten
(10) best practice criteria.
• Identify gaps and recommend improvement
strategies to address these process gaps.

13. SUB-COMPONENTS OF COMPETENCE

14. TYPES OF COMPETENCE
• “Applied Competence is the union of practical, foundational and reflexive
competence”
• Practical Competence - the demonstrated ability to perform a set of tasks in an
authentic context. A range of actions or possibilities is considered and decisions
are made about which actions to follow and to perform the chosen action.
• Foundational Competence - the demonstrated understanding of what the learner
is doing and why. This underpins the practical competence and therefore the
actions taken.
• Reflexive Competence - the learner demonstrates the ability to integrate or
connect performance with understanding so as to show that s/he is able to adapt
to changed circumstances appropriately and responsibly, and to explain the reason
behind an action.
• Thus competence is understood as including the individual’s learning,
understanding and ability to transfer and apply learned skills and knowledge
across a wide range of work contexts.

15. MEASURING COMPETENCE

16. HIERARCHY OF SKILLS

17. LEARNING ACTIVITY
• Individual activity:
• Evaluate your organization’s current
competency assessment and skills
measurement tools and process.
• Identify gaps and recommend improvement
strategies to address these process gaps.

18. COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS FOR SKILLS
AUDITS

19. STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE OF SKILLS
AUDITING
• The key piece of information an organization needs to improve and to
deliver to its Mission Statement and strategy is to know what skills and
knowledge the organization requires and what skills and knowledge the
organization currently has. This information is essential for a number of
reasons:
 Without this information you don't know where to improve.
 With this information your training and development will be better planned
and more focused.
 Recruiting needs are better defined and more likely to result in the most
appropriate candidate.
 Placement decisions are easier with knowledge of current competence levels.
 Career pathing and succession planning is assisted with accurate information
on individuals.
• Meyer, Mabaso & Lancaster (2001) recommend proactive needs
identification and a more futuristic approach to the assessment of
training needs.

20. 5 C’S – THE KEY BENEFITS OF A SKILLS
AUDIT
• Compliance
+
• Competitive
+
• Cash
+
• Credibility
+
• Competence
= Clean Skills Audit

21. KEY BENEFITS OF A SKILLS AUDIT
• Valid and valuable Workplace Skills Plans (WSP)
• Improved skills and knowledge
• Lower training and development costs because development efforts are more focused
• Business intelligence - acquisition and use of information that can be used for purposes such as
internal employee selection and placement
• Increased productivity as people are better matched to their positions
• The results of a skills audit can be reported for each division to show individual and divisional
competency gaps against competency needs.
• This assists with the collation of a WSP that complies with the provisions of the Skills Development
Act and Seta regulations.
• Lancaster, Mabaso & Meyer (2001, p86) claim that “the skills plan can only be produced after the
organization has conducted a skills audit and a comprehensive needs analysis”
• Certain SETA’s have included skills auditing as one of the requirements for the discretionary grant.
Organizations that conduct skills audits in a structured manner, may submit levy claims against
Grant D of the skills development regulations.

22. COSTS OF SKILLS AUDITS
• Training
• Time
• Administrative expenses (e.g. stationery)
• Information system/software
• Communication
• Use of consultants (where necessary)

23. POTENTIAL REPERCUSSIONS OF NOT
CONDUCTING A VALID SKILLS AUDIT
• Invalid and unreliable training plans
• Training plans that are not specific to individual, departmental and
organizational needs
• Little or no commitment to training & development by
management and staff, as plans are not seen as value-adding
• Little or no alignment of training and development to
organizational strategy and objectives
• Non-implementation of the Workplace Skills Plan and therefore the
organization will not be able to claim reporting grants

24. LEARNING ACTIVITY
• Individual activity:
• Develop a business case for Skills Auditing i.e.do
the benefits outweigh the costs?
• Do skills audits comply with:
Viability
Feasibility
Sustainability

25. CONCLUSION
• Key points
• Summary
• Questions

26. CONTACT DETAILS
• Charles Cotter
• (+27) 84 562 9446
• charlescot@polka.co.za
• LinkedIn
• Twitter: Charles_Cotter
• http://www.slideshare.net/CharlesCotter