Firms are facing an “agility gap” as they struggle to quickly adapt to changing circumstances. Questionmark, the online assessment provider, is encouraging employers to check that their people have the skills and attitudes they need to create an agile culture.
90% of business leaders believe that agility, the ability to quickly, is critical to their future success. However, just 10% are confident that their organisation is as agile as it needs to be.
Agility gap is a growing concern
Without the capacity to respond to ever-changing requirements, firms risk missing out on new opportunities to grow revenue and develop more efficient business processes.
John Kleeman, Founder of Questionmark, said: “The ‘skills gap’ is high on everyone’s agenda but it’s also crucial that employers start grappling with the emerging ‘agility gap’. Strengthening agility involves creating rather more flexible systems and processes.”
“But the ability to adapt also needs to be baked into culture. Employers have to ensure that people possess the skills and attitudes to move quickly. Staff assessments give employers real information on the prevalence of those skills and attitudes across the workforce.”
How employers can assess their workforce
Regular staff assessments can help employers assess the agility of their workforce through:
- Ensuring team members understand processes and procedures properly
- Checking that staff have the skills to use agile systems and applications
- Measuring attitudes to change and adjustment
- Introducing certification programmes, underpinned by robust assessment, can help increase agility-related skills. Research shows that people who are certified have increased confidence and problem-solving ability as compared to those without certification.
With the information from staff assessments, employers can strengthen training programmes to nurture the necessary skills. Further assessments can check that the training is working.
