As you look ahead at the year to come, what improvements to your management processes could you make that would boost business performance?
For example, how effective are your staff appraisals? Are they a pain or do they represent gain?
So often, the agenda at an appraisal is too vague. The discussion often revolves around predictable questions which give the impression that the process takes place only for the record. ‘How have things gone over the last year?’ ‘Do you need any training courses?’ Could you have carried out your tasks differently?’
These are all potentially relevant questions, but wouldn’t it be better to have better information about the skills your business needs and whether your employees have those skills – at the right level or at all – before you ask them?
Which leads us to the SFIA Framework. SFIA is an internationally recognised ‘catalogue’ of IT skills, which uses a ‘common language’, defined by industry experts, to clearly describe skills. By applying SFIA, you can be certain that all your job roles, and the individual skills that form them, are all described in a consistent manner.
That consistency will make it so much easier for you to deploy skills in the right direction, form suitably skilled project teams, identify skills gaps, recruit the right people into the right roles and so on – and, of course to conduct highly relevant and focused staff appraisals!
Adopting SFIA in your organisation is so simple if you use the right tools. Our ‘IT Skills Analysis’ tool (‘ITSA’ for short) involves the employee completing a simple self-assessment questionnaire and nominating someone (usually their line manager) to view and consider its outcome. The verification process that follows offers a wealth of meaningful data that will not only make for a dynamic, relevant and measurable appraisal process for each individual member of staff; it will transform your business, align training to business needs, boost productivity, improve processes and save everyone time and energy by focusing on the jobs that matter most.
So, how about contacting us to ask for a demonstration of ITSA? We’ll be glad to arrange either a conference call where we share our screen, or a face-to-face meeting.
