OP1 Review the skills your business needs

Summary

Why this is important

Whatever the size of your business it is important to make sure that you have got the right skills to ensure your business can deliver its products or services to the customer. To do this, you need to look critically at what skills your business needs and decide how best to meet them.

Who might do this

You might do this if you are:

  • setting up a new business or social enterprise and thinking about who will do what;
  • expanding your business or a social enterprise and need to work out what skills will be needed; or
  • changing or adapting the products or services offered by your business or a social enterprise.

What it involves

Reviewing the skills your business needs involves:

  • working out the skills your business needs;
  • identifying what skills currently exist in your business and;
  • deciding how any skills gaps will be filled.

Other units that link closely with this

WB1 Check what customers need from your business
BD4 Carry out a review of your business
OP2 Plan what people your business needs
OP5 Make sure people in your business can do their work
OP6 Develop people’s skills for your business

Links to other standards

If your business grows and develops a management team it may be appropriate to consider the following units from the Management and Leadership Standards.

D4 Plan the workforce

What you need to do

  1. Review the activities of your business and identify what skills are needed to make the products or provide the service, manage your business, run your business on a day-to-day basis,
  2. Review how often each type of skill and ability is needed.
  3. Assess what skills people already involved in your business have and decide if there is any shortfall.
  4. Decide on the best way to get the skills your business needs.
  5. Work out how much it will cost your business to train existing staff or get new staff with those skills.
  6. Look at whether your business’s needs for skills and abilities is likely to change in the future.

What you need to know and understand

Business needs

  1. How to decide what skills are needed to run all parts of your business. (For example managing your business, marketing and sales, customer service, administration and technical support.)
  2. Whose contribution should be reviewed. (For example management, staff, subcontractors, non-executive directors or advisers.)
  3. How to work out which activities should be done by other people.
  4. How to assess the number of staff needed.

Recruitment

  1. The different ways you can employ people. (For example full time, part time, permanent, temporary or using professionals).
  2. How to assess the costs and benefits of different staffing options for your business:
    • costs (such as fees, additional wages, redundancy or incentive packages); and
    • benefits (such as added value of people, new business opportunities or increase in motivation and satisfaction).

Developing staff

  1. What options there are for training staff. (For example taking time to train someone yourself, sending staff on courses or bringing a trainer into your business.)
  2. What the costs may be for training staff. (For example fees or covering the job while the training is going on.)
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