Creating a Feedback Loop to Continuously Improve Skills and Competencies Initiatives

Every worker is unique. They learn differently from one worker to another. They also develop differently. This is because they have different personalities, attitudes, and behaviors. More importantly, they have different skills and competencies.

Company leaders know that these are vital aspects of a worker. Their skills and competencies are the elements that will get the job done. For this reason, firms are serious about making every effort to help their workers develop their skills and competencies. But of course, they need feedback to know if they are making efforts the right way.

Skills

Experts refer to skills as the strengths that a worker gains through training and experience. Workers use their skills to achieve great results. A perfect example is when managers use their leadership skills to guide their team. This includes the way they communicate, delegate, solve problems, and motivate team members.

Firms also list the set of skills for a specific job role. This is for candidates to know if they fit the role and how they can use the skills they have. In this way, hiring managers can also assess if they are a good fit for the role. Experts classify skills into two – soft skills and hard skills.

Soft Skills

This refers to the non-technical skills a worker has. They are not specific to one field. As a result, workers can use them for a variety of roles. The most common soft skills include communication, listening, and resolving conflicts.

These skills help workers interact to others in the workplace. Workers with great soft skills can work well with others. They can also manage their time more efficiently. Plus, they are good at solving issues and overcoming challenges. Some of the soft skills examples are the following.

1. Adaptability
2. Being dependable
3. Solving issues and conflicts
4. Time management
5. Teamwork

Hard Skills

On the other hand, hard skills are technical skills. These are skills that are specific to a certain field. This can include the ability to use a certain tool or machine for a job role. Like soft skills, workers use hard skills to complete a task or goal.

Hard skills can also include special knowledge like that within the field of technology. This covers skills with coding computer languages or applying certain techniques when running a task. Some of the common hard skills are as follows.

1. Video editing
2. Graphic design
3. Machine maintenance
4. Marketing analytics
5. Statistical analysis

Competencies

This refers to a worker’s capability the is a blend of skills, abilities, and knowledge. Most firms refer to them as the on-the-job behavior of workers. These behaviors show how workers competently perform a certain task or role.

As an example, workers in the health care profession must have patient care competencies. This includes caregiving skills and the right habits for serving patients. There are three main types of competencies – behavioral, functional, and professional.

Behavioral Competencies

These are the skills and habits of workers that they use in their daily tasks. Experts also refer to them as life skills. People use these to ensure they meet the daily demands of their life. These are a blend of soft and hard skills.

Functional Competencies

These are everyday skills that workers use to succeed in their job roles. They need these to ensure they function efficiently.

Professional Competencies

While functional competencies are specific to a job role, professional competency is broader. These are skills and behaviors that can help workers succeed within the industry. These can help them in advancing their careers.

What are Skills and Competencies Initiatives?

These are efforts that firms make to help workers in developing their skills and competencies. They do this with the aim of improving the workforce’s work quality. It also helps increase productivity and keep workers competitive.

Like with other efforts, firms also need to assess their skills and competencies initiatives regularly. This is to find out if what they are doing is effective. This is where feedback comes in. Requesting feedback in an effective way for firms to use in this process.

Creating a Feedback Loop for Skills and Competencies Initiatives

To assess their skills and competencies initiatives, firms use a feedback loop. This is a process of gathering feedback to assess a certain task or process. This is where firms use the output of a system or process as an input. Here are steps to creating a feedback loop.

1. Defining purpose and goals.

A feedback loop must have a concrete purpose and goal. This should say what the firm is trying to achieve. Also, it should say how the initiatives help a worker’s skills and competencies. Leaders should also relay the purpose and goal of the feedback loop to their workforce.

2. Choosing methods and tools.

The next step is picking out the method and tool to deliver and receive feedback. This could be through online platforms, surveys, reviews, or one-to-one meetings.

3. Setting up rules.

Rules need to be set up next. This should ensure that the feedback is respectful, honest, and relevant. Rules should also include how leaders should manage conflicts and disagreements. This also includes how leaders will check and assess the entire process and results.

4. Supplying and requesting feedback.

Next, leaders can start requesting feedback and workers can start supplying them. Leaders need to do this regularly and consistently.

5. Take action.

Once leaders receive feedback, they need to take action. Effective feedback leads to action and improvement. Firms need to take note of key takeaways from feedback and create an action plan to enforce the changes they need to take.

6. Review and refine the process.

Finally, the feedback loop itself needs evaluation regularly. This is because it is a cycle of improvement. It is critical that the feedback loop adapts to the firm’s changing needs and goals.

The ability of workers to complete a task and how efficiently they do it is vital to every company. For this reason, skills and competencies play a key role. As a result, firms must help workers grow them through various initiatives. Firms also use feedback loops to ensure the effectiveness of these initiatives regularly.