Moving people decisions onto skills
Step 1 / 4·Four decisions that change how you operate
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Learning objectives — after this module you will:
- Know the four people decisions that move onto skills
- Build a phased implementation roadmap
- Recognise where projects typically fail
Four decisions that change how you operate
Know where the real value appears.
Skills-based only matters when it changes how decisions get made. The four decisions below are where value appears — and you should pick ONE to start with, not all four.
Four decisions and how they change
| Decision | The old way | The skills-based way |
|---|---|---|
| Hiring | Require a degree and years in an equivalent title | Require specific skills, assessed by practical exercise rather than by CV |
| Internal mobility | Post the role internally and wait for applicants | Query the skills data to actively find and invite suitable people inside |
| Learning and development | A general course catalogue people sign up to | Learning proposed from the gap between current skills and those needed for a target role |
| Pay | Pay bands attached to job titles | Additional recognition for scarce or critical skills, independent of title |
Which decision to start with
Internal mobility is usually the best starting point. It produces visible results quickly (a role filled from inside instead of hired externally), the value is easy to translate into money, and it touches fewer sensitive systems than pay does.
Pay is the decision to do LAST
Attaching pay to skills is theoretically attractive, but it demands highly trustworthy skills data — because the moment pay depends on recorded skills, everyone has an incentive to overstate. Leave this one until the data has been validated across a few cycles.
Key takeaway: Four decisions; start with internal mobility and leave pay until last.