Bridging the Strategy-Execution Gap – Identifying Critical Skill Gaps for Organizational Success

Over the past few months, many organizations have updated their strategic plans, adapting to new market demands, technological advancements, and shifting customer expectations. Boards of directors, eager to see these strategies in action, have approved them with high expectations. But one essential question often remains unanswered:

"Do we have the necessary skills and competencies to successfully execute this strategy?"

This question isn’t just about curiosity. It's about ensuring that the organization's workforce has the right skills and expertize to bring the strategy to life. Without them, even the most well-conceived strategies will struggle to succeed. Many organizations find themselves in this challenging position—an exciting strategy is in place, but they lack a clear understanding of whether their team has the skills needed to execute it.

As companies move into the execution phase, it's crucial to assess current capabilities, identify critical skill gaps, and develop a plan to build or acquire the expertise needed for success.

The Strategy-Execution Gap – Why It Matters

The disconnect between a company’s strategic goals and the skills within its workforce is a growing issue. This gap can manifest in several ways:

1 Overestimation of Capabilities

Organizations often assume they have the necessary expertise to deliver on strategic priorities without conducting thorough assessments. This can lead to an over-reliance on a few key individuals or teams, while other areas lack the depth of skills required.

2 Evolving Skill Requirements

Today’s strategies involve new technologies, innovative processes, and unfamiliar markets. For instance, a digital transformation strategy requires skills in areas like artificial intelligence, data analytics, and cybersecurity—skills that might not have been prioritized in the past. Additionally, improved leadership capabilities, such as active listening, empathy, and inclusive leadership, are now essential. Are these being communicated and measured effectively?

3 Unseen Skill Gaps

Many organizations lack a comprehensive view of the skills their employees possess. Or if they do, it contains the skills of consultants, working with and for the clients.

The skills of those, executing the strategy and doing business development are in the dark.

Without accurate data on strengths and weaknesses, it’s challenging to identify where the company may be vulnerable. Strategies often require specialized knowledge, and missing or unevenly distributed skills can slow down execution.

Steps to Bridge the Strategy-Execution Gap

Once a strategy is developed or renewed, aligning your workforce’s skills with these goals is crucial. However, many organizations rush into execution without fully understanding whether their teams are ready. Here’s how to ensure skill alignment:

1. Define Strategic Capabilities, Competencies, and Skills

Every strategy demands a set of core capabilities, competencies, and skills for success.

• Capabilities are the high-level strengths needed to achieve strategic goals.
• Competencies are the expertise areas within those capabilities.
• Skills are the specific abilities required for execution.

For example, a Digital Innovation strategy may require:

• Competencies: Data Science, Software Development, Cloud Computing
• Skills: Machine Learning, Python Programming, DevOps

A Customer Experience Leadership strategy may require:

• Competencies: Customer Analytics, UX Design
• Skills: A/B Testing, Customer Journey Mapping, UX Wireframing

By clearly defining these elements, you can ensure alignment between your workforce’s strengths and your strategic demands.

2. Visualize the Current Skills Landscape

After defining the necessary skills, assess and map your organization's existing capabilities. Tools like Skilbit provide a quick, agile way to visualize your skills landscape. Unlike traditional surveys, Skilbit offers a quick and agile way to get a data-driven, visual analysis of skills, skill gaps, and areas of excellence, all aligned with your strategic goals.

3. Identify Gaps and Strengths

It's essential to identify both strengths and gaps. Many organizations rely on gut feeling for learning and development (L&D), assuming they know where the strengths and weaknesses lie.

However, after visualizing actual skills, many are surprised to find weaknesses in areas they thought were strong and untapped potential in others.

This underlines the importance of a data-driven approach to learning and development. Accurate identification of skill gaps and strengths allows leaders to allocate resources effectively, targeting critical areas for improvement and leveraging existing strengths.

Building or Acquiring Skills

Identifying skill gaps is just the first step. Organizations must then decide how to address them. Options include:

• Upskilling or reskilling current employees through targeted training programs.
• Hiring new talent with the necessary expertise.
• Leveraging external consultants to fill temporary gaps.

An important, often missing component in this puzzle is that:

It’s not enough to offer upskilling or reskilling content—employees need real-world opportunities to apply their new skills in strategic and business-related contexts.

The Role of Skilbit in Visualizing and Closing Skill Gaps

In today’s fast-paced world, you need more than intuition and manual processes to assess your workforce’s readiness. You need a data-driven approach that provides clear insights into your organization’s competencies and skill gaps. This is where Skilbit comes in.

Skilbit helps you visualize and build strategic competencies by providing:

• Skills Mapping: Identify and map your skills, giving insights into strengths and how they align with strategic goals.
• Skill Gap Visualization: Get a clear picture of where your organization may be falling short and focus efforts on closing these gaps before they hinder success.
• Targeted Development: Plan for the future by targeting areas for upskilling, reskilling, and internal mobility, ensuring alignment with strategic goals.
• Data-Driven Decisions: Make informed decisions based on real-time data about your skills and gaps, improving the planning and execution of strategic initiatives.

Conclusion: Make Your People Development Process Strategic and Data-Driven

To execute your strategy successfully, it’s essential to align your workforce’s capabilities with your strategic goals. By using tools like Skilbit, you can take a data-driven approach to workforce planning, ensuring that your teams are equipped with the right skills to succeed.

It’s time to stop guessing and start knowing. With clear, actionable insights into your organization’s skill base, you can close the gap between strategy and execution, setting your organization on the path to success.

Ready to align your workforce with your strategic goals? Start using Skilbit today and unlock your organization’s full potential.