Proficiency in a specific skill is crucial for business success, as it reflects the depth of knowledge and competence among employees, while performance is measured in controlled settings. This focus on proficiency aids in recruitment, performance evaluation, and ultimately, maximizes productivity and profitability within organizations. Developing employee proficiency involves targeted measures such as self-assessments, promoting soft skills, and personalized learning pathways to adapt to individual needs.

1. Proficiency
Why it matters to the
success of your business

2. What is proficiency?
Job proficiency refers to an advancing level of skill and
knowledge in a certain field.
While someone who is proficient is usually considered highly
skilled or knowledgeable, proficiency itself can be a sliding
scale of competence when developing a skill, attribute or
knowledge.

3. How does it differ from performance?
Performance is measured in controlled circumstances.
Proficiency, on the other hand, is the act of using a skill at any
time.
Proficiency, then, is the crux of employee training or the desired
end state of a test of performance.

4. In the workplace
We can look at proficiency as a way of understanding
employees’ day-to-day performance.
If we know an employee is proficient at X and Y but not Z, then
you have a better foundation for understanding your
organisation’s strengths and skills gaps.

5. Importance of
Proficiency

6. Why does it matter in L&D?
Learning and development programs need to have a purpose
and strive to deliver a business outcome. Outcomes rooted in
business goals can be continually assessed and measured
beyond the end of a course.
And this is where proficiency comes in.

7. Efficient Recruitment
Use mini assessments to shed light on a candidate’s niche
skillset in a standardised way e.g., writing tasks for
communications roles. Build a standardised criteria for
recruiters and HR to use in interviews to help make culture-
based choices as well as performance-based ones.

8. Performance Evaluation
Very few enjoy the performance review. But
proficiency-based performance management ties
behaviours to successful goal execution, enabling real-
time course correction.

9. Benefits of
Proficient
Employees

10. Maximised Productivity
A highly proficient individual can confidently say why
something would or wouldn’t work, which saves their
team time, money and duplicate work.

11. Optimised Resources
A proficient individual knows the scope of their abilities
and can better delegate areas of weakness to other
employees – or even more sophisticated software.

12. Increased Profitability
A handful of highly skilled employees are more likely to
deliver the results you want than dozens of workers who
have, let’s say, a tolerable proficiency. (Quality over
quantity always wins out.)

13. Developing
Employee
Proficiency

14. The challenge
It can be easy to recognise high proficiency in a high-performer,
but harder to narrow down how a high-performer develops it.
Proficiency measures competence, knowledge and skills – and
competence, knowledge and skills are developed through theory
and practice.
By following through on this line of thought, you can develop
workforce proficiency in 3 different ways.

15. Measuring Job Proficiency
If you’re starting from scratch, it often helps to review
your onboarding experience. Beyond that, consider
utilising self-assessments, routine performance
reviews and specific work assignments.

16. Target Soft Skills
Transferable skills like adaptability and critical thinking
bolster chances of employees understanding and
applying new knowledge. People have to be willing to
change for a development program to be effective. If
people aren’t adaptable, they can’t change.

17. Personalise The Process
Learning in the flow of work gives employees a chance
to see real-world implications of what they learn.
Adaptative learning utilises technology to adjust
learning pathways to accommodate pace, preferences
and capabilities.

18. You can learn more about this
topic by checking out the full
article:
https://acornlms.com/enterprise-learning-
management/proficiency