Skill Signal Score

Skill signal score measures how visibly an employee's capabilities show up in their daily work. They measure how often those employee skills are recognised, applied, and validated by the managers in the organisation.

HR leaders spend significant time assessing and developing the skills of the existing employees in the company. But very few track whether those skills are actually being utilised. A high skill signal score means an employee's strengths are clear, consistent, and contributing to outcomes. A low score means talent is going unnoticed, being underutilised, or the managers are not using them in the right way.

How does a low skill signal affect the organisation?

Skill signal scores drop when managers or team leaders fail to recognise or effectively utilise the team’s existing skillsets. 

• Managers trust only a select few: If a manager always assigns important projects to the same team members, it’s because the manager has only seen the skill set of those employees. They have not taken the effort to recognise the talent of the other team members. 
• External hiring affects existing skillsets: When organisations externally hire new employees on a short-term contract for work that the existing employees can easily handle, it gives the employees the signal that either the organisation does not value their skill set or does not even know about them in the first place. 
• High performers quietly disengage: Employees with strong skillsets, who do not feel the trust of their managers to handle critical projects, start disengaging. They stop volunteering for additional responsibilities, don’t voice their ideas in team meetings and just continue doing the bare minimum.  

What can HR teams do to increase the skill signal scores?

The solution is simple: recognise the talent and skills of the employees in your organisation by deploying the right systems. 

• Structured skill-sharing: Create forums where employees can showcase their skill sets, such as internal mentorship sessions and cross-functional problem-solving sessions. 
• Make contributions traceable: Use tools and processes to record the various skills of employees when they solve a critical client problem, close a major deal, or complete a project on time and under budget. 
• Train managers to spot employee skills: Managers need to actively trust their team’s skillset and utilise it correctly in a project. Managers should consistently push their team during daily team meetings, project debriefs, and leadership updates and not just during annual review feedback. ‍
• Avoid relying on self-reporting: Skills inventories are helpful, but they are usually incomplete. That’s because employees may not always correctly document their skills. Task managers and colleagues to spot unique skills and add them to the database.  

What is the cost of ignoring skill signal scores?

When HR doesn't track or improve skill signal scores, the organisation pays in ways that may not be immediately visible, but will eventually show up over time.

• Promotions become popularity contests: Without unclear skill signals, decisions are made on recency bias, personal relationships, or who's most visible in meetings. The effect of this is seen during annual promotion cycles when a deserving candidate with a relevant skillset is overlooked for someone who just talks a lot. 
• Diversity and inclusion efforts backfire: Underrepresented employees are less likely to self-promote or have influence to get a place at the table when an important project comes. If your system rewards visibility over capability, you're reinforcing existing inequities.
• Retention drops: High-performing employees stick around where their skillset and efforts are noticed and valued. If their skill signal score is down because their manager hasn’t bothered to take a note, they will swiftly move on to organisations where they feel appreciated. 

The bottom line

Skill signal is a strategic lever that determines whether your organisation is using its talent or letting it go to waste. When employee skills are recognised by the managers, then the right people get the right opportunities. When they're overlooked, the best talent quickly moves on to newer pastures.

HR teams are tasked with ensuring that these employee skills are recognised and utilised when it matters. Adopting the skill signal scores will help HR professionals to spot the right talent, which in turn will lead to smarter promotions, stronger retention rates and will foster a culture where the right talent is valued.