Why organise around skills?

Look beyond job titles

An open role can quickly lead to a job advert or a search for a contractor. Start one step earlier. Identify the tasks, the skills they require and what someone could learn along the way. This brings people with different job titles or backgrounds into view.

Make room for talent you already have

A job description captures only part of what someone can do. Colleagues may have experience from a previous job, course or project that rarely comes up in their current role. Ask where they would like to use it again. A temporary assignment can be a first step towards a different role within the organisation.

Build teams for the work ahead

For each project, identify the skills the team needs and how colleagues can complement each other. Look for gaps and dependencies too. If only one person can handle a critical task independently, another colleague can start shadowing and practising before it becomes a bottleneck.

Example: building a customer dashboard

Imagine a service team wants to build a dashboard and is considering hiring a data analyst. An internal review reveals that a colleague in operations has reporting experience and that a service colleague knows the customer questions well. They can build a first version together. The team can then see which specialist skills it still needs and where external support would help.

Start with one capacity question

Pick one vacancy or project. List the three most important skills, see who already uses them and discuss who wants to develop them further. Then decide what you can organise internally and where to look outside the organisation.

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