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Undertaking a skills audit

Learn how your organisation can undertake a skills audit and complete a skills matrix to map out what you need from your workforce now and in the future.

Group of people in discussion

Introduction

A skills audit is a way of mapping out the skills, experience and behaviours you need to run your organisation effectively and achieve your aspirations. The benefits of completing a skills audit include: 

  • Being able to identify people's motivations and interest areas.  
  • Identifying any hidden talent that you can put to good use.  
  • Confirming people's interest in continuing to volunteer.  
  • Revealing any skills gaps and helping you plan how to fill them. 
  • Flagging any training and support needs. 
  • Supporting you with succession planning so you can continue to operate without disruption.    

What skills do you need?

Before developing a skills audit, it's important to be clear what type of organisation you want to be. The skills and behaviours you need will vary based on:  

  • The size and complexity of your organisation and your activity offer.  
  • Your organisation's ambition and outlook. Do you want to maintain your status quo, or do you aspire to grow, diversify your income streams and form closer links with your local community? 
  • The diversity of your people. It’s important you have the skills and behaviours you need to meet the needs and aspirations of your participants and volunteers. It's also important to ensure you have diversity in your decision making and operations.
  • Whether you own, lease or license your facilities or hire them. Organisations that have responsibilities for running and maintaining their facilities are likely to need extra skills to do this.
  • The structure of your organisation and its legal status, as this may require you to fulfil certain rules and regulations.

Undertaking a skills audit 

Creating a skills audit will help you to assess the skills you need to run your organisation effectively. It can play a key part in helping you achieve your goals.  You can create a skills audit by following this easy step-by-step process.

  • Step 1: Create a small working group to lead the skills audit

    A skills audit should be a living document that is done at least annually so it reflects the changing needs of your organisation and the skills and interests of your volunteers.

    Before you begin the process of creating a skills audit, we recommend: 

    • Identifying someone to lead the skills audit and others to support the process, review and action planning. 
    • The timescales for each stage of the process.
    • How you will undertake the audit and manage the information you receive to ensure confidentiality. 
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  • Step 2: Identify existing roles

    Identify the existing roles that you consider to be critical for your successful operation. If you already have a diagram or a list of all the roles in your organisation, you can use this as your starting point.

    Think about all the roles involved in the:  

    • The management and governance of your organisation.   
    • The delivery and promotion of your activities. 
    • The day to day running of your organisation and any facilities you might have. 
    • Events and fundraising.
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  • Step 3: Break existing roles into tasks

    Break each role down into tasks. List the key tasks that must happen to enable you to function and those needed to ensure your plans become a reality, as in our examples.

    Club Secretary key tasks:

    • First point of contact for enquiries.
    • Organising and overseeing administration and meetings including the AGM.
    • Dealing with incoming and outgoing correspondence.

    Coach key tasks:

    • Organise and deliver sessions.
    • Record attendance.
    • Team selection.
    • Performance evaluation.
    • Coach team.
    • Safeguarding and welfare.
    • First aid.
    • Team motivation.

    Treasurer key tasks:

    • Manage money coming in and going out.
    • Create and manage budgets.
    • Prompt the collection of subscriptions and fundraising.
    • Keep accurate financial records.
    • Make payments.
    • Produce accounts and financial statements.
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  • Step 4: Identify any specific objectives for the coming year

    Think about your aspirations for the coming year or two. Are there any new roles or skills that you need to help you achieve these? If there are, build these into your skills audit too, as in our example.

    Aspirations for the coming 12 to 24 months: 

    Grow our social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

    Skills needed to achieve this:

    • marketing and communications
    • IT literacy
    • knowledge of social media platforms
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  • Step 5: Identifying necessary skills and behaviours

    Once you have identified the roles and tasks that need to be undertaken, both now and in the future, list out the skills and behaviours needed for each role or task. You can use the following example list to help you think about some of the skills, experience and behaviours you might need.

    Skills and expertise needed:

    • Administration
    •  Project planning and project management
    •  IT literacy
    • Financial
    • Legal expertise
    • Business acumen and strategic planning
    • Income generation and fundraising
    • Social media
    • Marketing, PR and communications
    • Website development
    • Governance
    • People management
    • Experience of equalities and diversity issues
    • Troubleshooting and problem solving
    • Coaching or instructor skills and qualifications
    • Safeguarding and welfare
    • Human resources
    • Logistics and operations
    • Events management and stewarding
    • Committee or board experience
    • Customer care
    • Conflict resolution
    • Facilitating meetings
    • Facilities management
    • Facilities maintenance including trades (electrical, plumbing, decorating, gardening etc)
    • Managing risk
    • First aid

    Behaviours needed:

    • Empathy and patience 
    • Innovation 
    • Interpersonal skills 
    • Emotional intelligence 
    • Teamwork 
    • Ability to work independently 
    • Enthusiastic 
    • Accountability 
    • Assertiveness 
    • Creative thinking 
    • Leadership 
    • Motivational 
    • Committed to equalities, diversity and inclusion 
    • Active listening 
    • Supportive 
    • Ability to work in partnership 
    • Well organised 
    • Integrity 
    • Buddying 
    • Mentoring 
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