Skills- the global need

I wrote two specific articles on “Skills Really Matter” (reference my Linked articles dated. 29.11.2015, 28.05.2016 respectively). Quickly referring to some of the points I stated in these earlier articles-

·      A skill is application of knowledge, it is the learned ability to carry out a task.

·      Skill is an ability to do an activity or job well, mainly because you have practised it.

·      It is an ability, coming from one's knowledge, practice, and aptitude to do something well.

·      An ability and capacity acquired through deliberate, systematic, and sustained effort to smoothly and adaptively carryout complex activities or job functions

As you can see the above definitions, Skill is invariably linked with “To Do” part.

Skills make you to do or act. You need to learn and do practice.

Knowledge transforming into Skill:

Knowledge gets transformed into skill through a process.

This will become evident from one simple example-

Suppose I need to acquire the skill of operating an industrial screw compressor handling cryogenic LPG.

Operating includes starting, sustaining, stopping and re-starting and maintaining specific process parameters.

Following are the steps how the skill is acquired and how knowledge is transformed into a skill.

i.                Education/basic knowledge- Observing actual compressor operation in field,

ii.              Understanding working of a compressor by linking the knowledge with actual operation,-Asking questions and clearing all doubts, closely watching how compressor is operated by experienced colleagues,

iii.            Operating the compressor under supervision- Carrying out every step for the operation of screw compressor under the supervision of senior colleague/s,

iv.            Operating the compressor independently- Consistently performing and demonstrating skill of operating the compressor

Depending on the task, the details will vary. Process of transforming the knowledge into skill will remain similar.

Up-gradation and Acquiring of New Skills:

In today’s context, it is essential that professionals are duly equipped with relevant skills. Moreover, one needs to keep upgrading and adding new skills.

In industries, training is largely focused on imparting skills because we need people having specific skill set to carry out the complex tasks within the industries.

 Look around you- people who are continuously growing in career are those who are adequately focused for both knowledge and skills up-gradation.

We could be in trouble if we keep on upgrading our knowledge without actually upgrading and improvising our skills. Particularly referring to industrial skills, it really starts with knowing or knowledge about the process, system or equipment.

Deficiency of Relevant Skills

Not having right set of skills is detrimental for anyone. Appropriate or right set of skills will vary from task to task or role to role. Skills required by an engineer for running the Crude Distillation plant operations of a refinery will vary from an engineer running a pharmaceutical plant of a company.

I was reading a paper published by Times of India sometime back. According to that, biggest problem of fresh engineer is lack of required skills.

In fact there is a mismatch between how engineering graduates are groomed and what our industries are looking for in engineers.

I wrote an article long back on LinkedIn stating specifically about this.

(Reference: My LinkedIn article “What are they looking for in fresh engineers?” dated 19.08.2017.)

It is the high time when a suitable climate for acquiring right set of skills is created. Everyone needs to be focused on sharpening own skills. One needs to believe and demonstrate that “I am responsible for my skills. “

Way Forward

If fresh engineers lack relevant skills, better alignment is required to be created between academics and industries. It is the joint responsibility of academicians and Industries to bridge the skill gap of fresh engineers. This will be only possible when academicians and industry professionals jointly address this point. There should be close dialogue and a common target for them. This is happening in a scattered way but more and more of this must happen.

I remember that there was a similar arrangement at Jamnagar Refinery, Reliance. For Degree and Diploma in Engineering and Post Diploma in Industrial Safety, such tie up was made with suitable Engineering College/s/Institute/s. I handled this for couple of years from the Refinery Learning Centre side. This worked very well but lot of efforts went into setting up and managing these activities.

Can we conclude?

We look forward to a society where there will be no skill deficiency at any level for any segment

Shobhan M Mehta

Qualified NEBOSH PSM professional, Tech IOSH

Member of American Institute of Chemical Engineers