How to Discover Untapped Skill Sets Within Your Team

Over the last several weeks, companies have spent countless hours preparing and transitioning their workforce for a virtual reality. The goal, of course, is to ensure every employee has the tools and resources they need to remain productive, operate efficiently, and stay healthy.

As everyone continues to adjust to the new normal, many are now embarking on Phase Two: engaging and maintaining a productive virtual workplace. If your organization has implemented a hiring freeze and is continuing to operate “business as usual,” you might have concerns about access to the right resources. One of the most impactful ways to meet these talent needs? Tap into the skill sets that already exist within your organization.

Here’s how you can get started:

1. Review Existing Talent & Identify Skill Gaps

Evaluate each team member’s performance and identify any skill gaps. What competencies do they lack? Now’s the time to take appropriate steps to address those gaps to help them become more productive. After identifying the competency gaps, provide training to address those requirements. To ensure you aren’t training your employees in the wrong areas, identify the most critical skills required for each job.

Related: Skills Gap Analysis: The Missing Piece to Your Internal Mobility Puzzle

2. Identify Business Problems & Address Them

Look inside your own business and identify problems that may exist (and yes, they exist in every organization!). Encourage your employees to form small teams and tackle these challenges. Consider hosting a hackathon, or event where teams can either work together or compete to solve a problem in a designated amount of time. Not only are they breeding grounds for innovation, but they can also be a win-win for everyone involved. Companies can solve a business problem and teams can identify untapped skills among their members. When things get back to normal, you can remember those individual competencies and solve day-to-day problems faster and more efficiently.

3. Leverage Your Internal Recruiters

Recruiters are experts when it comes to searching for specific skill sets to match open jobs—and they can be your super sleuths when it comes to identifying internal talent. If your company is experiencing a hiring freeze but hasn’t slowed down its business efforts, tap into this team to find internal talent who can help. Recruiters can identify skill sets quickly and assist in search strategies.

4. Build Trust Among Your Teams

Trusting team members is essential—without it, there are no teams. Start by relaying the value of diverse talent within your teams. Make it exciting and interesting to try something new and different. Assign projects that are out of their comfort zone and trust that they will accomplish the tasks.