By
Ray Van Iterson

"A knowledge economy company unable to track the skills of its employees is equivalent to a manufacturer not knowing what machines are in use on the shop floor"
-- Robert Maina, CIBC World Markets

"There is in this world no force more powerful than a man determined to rise"
-- W.E.B. DuBois

By 2002, 60% of IT shops will institutionalize skills management (75% probability). Of those, 80% will have a 25% productivity advantage (70% probability).
-- Gartner Group

Throughout the economy, successful organizations outperform their competitors by better managing their assets. In resource industries this means locking up key raw materials. In manufacturing it means better managing equipment and inventory. In the knowledge economy it means getting the most out of your people. Of the three industries, companies in the knowledge economy face the greatest challenge in managing their assets because while there are established tools to manage physical assets, there have historically not been tools to manage human assets.

The challenge of managing your people is that, unlike managing other assets, managing people requires a solution that meets the needs of both the individual and the organization. Organizations have been trying for years to improve their ability to attract, retain, develop, deploy, and market their people but have largely failed because the programs introduced have usually benefited the organization but provided little benefit for the individuals involved.

We propose a new approach where organizations realize their skills management goals by implementing solutions where employees have as much to gain as the organization. A Skills Certification System (SCS) is an example of such a solution. SCSs' allow individuals to ensure their long-term marketability by certifying their existing skills and receiving detailed feedback to allow them to develop new skills - all at no cost to the individual. In return, organizations get the ability to truly manage their skills for the first time. Data from all the certification tests are captured in a single database to allow the organization to track skill levels, assign people more effectively, speed personal development, and improve the team's marketability.

Benefits of a Skills Certification System

Benefit to the Individual

An SCS is a powerful tool for employees to accelerate their personal development and manage their careers. Professionals are interested in certifying their skills because certifications have become the currency of employment in the knowledge economy, and feedback from certification tests can help them to focus their skill development efforts. The demand for certification and feedback has generated tremendous support for SCSs. In a recent survey of professionals at leading IT companies, an overwhelming majority (90%) was in favor of their company adding certifications to their career development programs.

Individuals control their own development. In this free-agent economy individuals are taking responsibility for their own careers and recognize that their personal skills are what will determine their future success. As a result, many individuals are actively developing new skills that are important to their personal development even though they may not be required in their current job. SCSs support individual efforts to develop new skills by offering certification in many different skill areas - not just those employed in a person's current role.

The importance of skill development to professionals should not be underestimated. Individuals are recognizing the importance of skills development to their long term success and studies are finding that many professionals value skill development more than increased compensation:

• Watson Wyatt found that the opportunity to develop skills is the number one factor affecting the decision making process of top performers under 30. This ranked above promotion opportunities, increased compensation, and increased vacation time.
• Techies.com found that the chance to learn new skills is key when potential employees evaluate an employer, with 96% of survey respondents rating it as either very or extremely important.
• Gartner Group found that personal growth is the primary reasons why IT professionals get certified - A survey of certification candidates found that all of the top three reasons why people took certifications were to improve their abilities, with all three ranking above personal rewards.

Certification ensures marketability. Professionals recognize that guaranteed employment is a thing of the past, and that employment security not job security is what matters today. Employment security comes from knowing that one's skills will still be in demand even if one's current job ceases to exist. Certification has become the key to employment security because it validates individuals' skills against widely recognized external standards. An SCS allows individuals to be confident about their future because they can easily communicate their skills should they ever need to look for a new job.

Faster skill development through tailored feedback. The key to rapid skill development is the same as the key to improved performance of any operation - immediate, clear feedback. An SCS allows individuals to focus their learning efforts on the areas where it will be most valuable by clearly identifying individual strengths and weaknesses immediately after a test is completed. SCSs can then help individuals to address their weaknesses by identifying training material that meets their personal needs.

Benefits to the Organization

An SCS offers significant benefits to your organization because it helps throughout the entire skills management process - An SCS will help you to: attract and retain skilled employees; increase your overall skill level; manage your team more effectively; and better market your people.

Improve your ability to attract and retain skilled employees. In an environment where professionals are actively managing their own careers and are deliberately seeking out employers that are committed to employee development, introducing an SCS is the clearest message your organization can send that you are committed to the personal development and marketability of your employees. Having an SCS tells your employees that you recognize the importance of them developing their skills and you are committed to support their efforts to do so. This highly visible investment in your employees' future will have a significant benefit in both recruitment and retention because it sends a clear message that professionals in your organization do not need to worry about their long term employability. The impact of this message should not be underestimated because employee turnover is usually highest in the early years when skills development is at its peak.

Increase your overall skill level. An SCS can dramatically increase an organization's skill level because it works on both the individual and organizational levels. Individuals develop their own skills faster because they have both the incentive of certifications and the benefits of test feedback supporting their efforts. Organizations can proactively manage overall skill levels by using the skills database to target training towards groups and skill areas where it will be most beneficial, and identifying and resolving potential skills shortages before they become an issue.

Improved personnel assignment. Effective staffing occurs when all employees are assigned to the role that makes the best use of his or her abilities. However, effective staffing occurs rarely occurs in most organizations because few people in the organization really know each individual's skills. As a result, people tend to be assigned to the most convenient project rather than the one that is the best match for their skills. An SCS can increase overall staffing effectiveness by allowing mangers to assign individuals where they will be most useful, even if this requires moving them to another department.

Having a certified workforce increases your organization's marketability. Certifying your workforce will significantly improve your organization's marketing success because in competitive bidding situations you will be able to offer a team made up of certified experts while your competitors will not be able to vouch for their employees in the same way.

Conclusion

Certifications have revolutionized the employment market for professionals by creating a skills-based employment market. Skills Certification Systems now have the opportunity to do the same to employee development by creating skills-driven organizations. SCSs' ability to align the interests of professionals and organizations makes them a powerful tool to drive success in the knowledge economy.

About Brainbench

Brainbench is rapidly becoming the accepted skills measurement standard for knowledge workers worldwide. Brainbench pioneered online skill certification and is now used by over two million users, including employees of 96 of the Fortune 100. Brainbench certifications are offered in over 300 individual skills in areas ranging from information technology to finance to human resources to languages. Brainbench's Skills Certification System allows organizations to offer unlimited certification testing to their employees and have the results captured in a corporate skills database. Brainbench offers industry leading feedback and reporting allowing comparison between individuals and the rest of the company at both an overall and topic level. Corporate customers include EDS, Ernst & Young, IBM, Dell, and PeopleSoft. Major Investors include Manpower, Thomson Learning, Terra Lycos and Primus Venture Partners.

About the Author

Ray Van Iterson is the Vice President of Strategy at Brainbench, the world's leading independent skills certification authority. Prior to joining the company Ray worked as a strategy consultant for the Boston Consulting Group, CDI Education Corporation, and Dean & Company. In these roles he helped companies in a variety of industries develop and implement their corporate strategies. Ray is a graduate of Harvard University and the Richard Ivey School of Business.