In order to advance a team and improve the organization of a company, the assessment of employee skills is essential. Discover the essential things you need to know to assess employees, retain them and make your business grow.
Competency assessment: what is the definition?
Competency assessment Professional skills is an approach that allows a company to measure the level and quality of the skills of its employees. In this way, we validate the skills of an employee for their position, but we also determine the knowledge that they have and that they could use for a future position.
Under what criteria should employees be evaluated? Skills assessment is often divided into two main groups: technical abilities (or Hard Skills) that are easily quantifiable: software proficiency, language proficiency, technical performance, digital skills, etc. And behavioral skills (or Soft Skills) that are more difficult to quantify that represent “soft skills” refer to the employee's ability to interact with others: time management, ability to negotiate, communicate, etc.
Skills development is done throughout professional life. Thus, you continue to learn and develop during your career, you are not limited to the knowledge acquired during your studies. These skills may be subject to a validation of prior learning (VAE, validation of acquired experience), sometimes by a certification body, which then issues a diploma to validate these new skills in a more official way.
Why assess business skills: what is the importance?
It is important to assess employees regularly in order to be able to act as quickly as possible. In the event of a dropout or a particular problem (for example, an employee has a lot of trouble negotiating and concluding contracts with the company's customers), a vocational training specific can be proposed in order to help the collaborator.
Measuring skills also makes it possible to adapt more quickly to business needs. Indeed, the rapid evolution of industries requires constant adaptation and the acquisition of new skills in order to remain competitive. The assessment of professional skills will make it possible to identify their strengths and weaknesses, to design their career prospects and to meet their needs : internal mobility, training needs, repositioning in a team, etc. It is also a question of matching their professional aspirations with their skills and the needs of the company. Maintaining this principle within a company makes it possible to strongly encourage the commitment of employees.
Finally, an accurate assessment of competencies allows for an optimal distribution of roles and responsibilities within the team.
Methods for evaluating the skills of employees
Instead of a simple conversation, several methods can be used to assess professional skills : first of all there is self-assessment. Employees assess their skills themselves using tools prepared by the organization. In this method, the employee and the manager both fill out the evaluation form, which is in the form of a questionnaire, each on their own. This assessment tool is a great way to engage the employee and give them a voice. The training courses will only be more effective.
There is also evaluation by superiors, which is very common. Assessing a person's skills requires preparation and a framework. It takes the form of a annual individual interview which will have been prepared in order to take into account the employee's environment and the objectives given during previous interviews.
Then you have to establish an evaluation grid, a tool often built by human resources, which will help ensure that the evaluation is both complete and rational. This grid will often be divided into two phases, hard skills and soft skills.
Each competency and each criterion will be precisely defined so that their evaluation is stable and shared. There will be 4 evaluation proposals (very unsatisfactory, unsatisfactory, satisfactory, very satisfactory) in order to avoid unclear evaluations. Finally, the evaluation will clearly state to what extent the objectives have been achieved.
It will end with a general assessment and the setting of new objectives which, as a reminder, must be SMART (Simple, Measurable, Measurable, Ambitious, Realistic, Timely Defined) and must be carried out every year. These objectives are part of the strategy to be put in place in order to obtain results the following year.
The third option is 360 degree evaluation. It is a process of evaluating a person's performance that involves collecting feedback from various sources. These sources can include supervisors, colleagues, subordinates, subordinates, customers, and even the person himself or herself (self-assessment).
The idea behind a 360 degree assessment is to provide a comprehensive and holistic overview of an individual's performance. Instead of relying solely on the assessment of a direct supervisor, it takes into account the views and interactions of all the stakeholders with whom the person works or interacts.
360-degree evaluation is often used in professional contexts for more comprehensive and nuanced performance evaluations. However, it is important to note that this type of assessment can be complex and requires careful implementation to ensure that it remains constructive and positive for the development of the person being evaluated.
Evaluations must be carried out seriously and with respect for each employee, their work and their background. By using effective tools and following best practices, skills assessment allows good predictive management of employment and skills (GPEC), to create an environment where employees develop with confidence and where they can identify career developments, corresponding to their skills and aspirations. Thanks to the assessment of skills, a personalized plan of attack can be put in place for each employee.
