While working as consultants over the years, we noticed two simple but recurring issues.
One, people working together – whether in the same team or across verticals – weren't always aware of each other’s skills.
Two, as technology changes the way we work across the world – with companies increasingly hiring skilled consultants for projects instead of keeping them on the rolls – it has become more of a challenge for companies to keep track of the skills available to them.
We realized both these issues have the potential to harm project delivery and organizational efficiency (and subsequently profits).
For one, when people working towards a common goal are unaware of each one’s strengths and weaknesses, there can be miscommunications in meetings, unbalanced work allocations and unrealistic expectations, all of which eventually hurt project delivery and lead to unhappy clients and employees.
Similarly, organisations that do not have a good understanding of the basket of skills their internal staff and freelancers bring with them tend to be inefficient. They will be unable to allocate the right person for the right job or make plans to hire in areas where skills are in short supply.
Our personal experience showed us that teams that were aware of each other’s skills worked much better together, increasing the chances of the project’s success. Research backs this theory. Team members who “know each other’s strengths relate more effectively to one another, boosting group cohesion”, said one such report by Gallup, the American analytics and advisory company. This led to higher employee engagement, and success at work.
We felt we needed a tool that individuals could use to acquaint themselves with the skills of their colleagues.
In the context of organisations, CVs or the skills matrix or competency matrix have traditionally helped HR departments keep track of skills available to them. But with the increasing complexity of work, these have struggled to adapt to the modern workforce.
We felt consulting agencies needed a tool that would act as a Google search for skills and people that would also give them a better understanding of the skills at their disposal.
Our endeavor to find a fuss-free solution to this problem is how MuchSkills was born.
What is MuchSkills
MuchSkills is a new way to visualize skills and skill sets. The app beautifully visualises data about skill sets that individuals and team leaders can swiftly access in an attractive, easily comprehensible interface. This information is virtually available at your fingertips.
MuchSkills is about data visualisation of the kind championed by Swedish physician, academic, and public speaker Hans Rosling, who believed that data didn’t have to be boring. Rosling believed that data, when displayed in a visualised form, could tell detailed stories about people, organisations and countries, giving viewers valuable insights into lessons from the data that would have otherwise been lost in mind-numbing tables and charts.
How MuchSkills works
Here’s how the following users can benefit from MuchSkills:
Individuals
Easily visualize and map your skills and skill set. Keep track of how your skills have grown over the years. Share your skills map with colleagues and team leaders, allowing them to get an understanding of your current job focus, hard and soft skills and interests.
Teams/organisations
Each member of the team or colleagues in different departments stay on top of the skills and skill set their colleagues bring to the table.
Team leaders/managers
Discover all the available skills in your team such as hard and soft skills, level of software competence in a single view.
- Be aware of your team’s potential to grow, and track their skills growth over time.
- Create the most formidable team in minutes. Search across the organization to find the hard and soft skills you need to accomplish the job at hand.
- Hold productive one-on-ones with team members. Team leaders/managers can discuss which skills team members want to focus on and those they want to develop as they go forward.
Sales directors
Can quickly set up project delivery teams with the desired skills and skill sets. They can share with clients a beautiful visualisation of the skills the team possesses. The result: successful projects, happy team members and happier clients.
- Discover all the available skills in your team such as hard and soft skills, level of software competence in a single view.
- Be aware of your team’s potential to grow, and track their skills growth over time.
- Create the most formidable team in minutes. Search across the organization to find the hard and soft skills you need to accomplish the job at hand.
- Hold productive one-on-ones with team members. Team leaders/managers can discuss which skills team members want to focus on and those they want to develop as they go forward.
Interested? Sign up for the pre-release program
Work on MuchSkills has been moving fast since the solution was first conceptualized in October 2019. UX mapping, talking to users, testing, prototyping and concept validation was done in November and December 2019, and MuchSkills is in product development stage now. The beta version is expected to go live in May 2020 and we are now asking people and organisations to sign up for our pre-release program.
Organisations that sign up for this program will get our full attention and instant support. We will personally help with onboarding, training and make sure that everything works perfectly.
Sign up by clicking HERE and be part of history!
