New Research Brief: Defining the Skills Gap

We're in the process of breaking down our newest research study into bite-sized pieces--our "research briefs." These one-pagers encapsulate a few aspects of the research report. Today's release looks at the gap between what organizations say they value, and what they rate themselves proficient in. The two skill sets are not remotely similar! And across all industries represented in the study, organizations display significant gaps when it comes to their most-desired advanced project management skills. Take a look.

It's not unusual for a research study to reveal this sort of gap between aspiration and reality. Often, organizations will record that they suffer significant challenges in an area--change management, for instance--only to turn around and say, on the next page of the survey, that they only plan to train for software skills. A kind of cognition gap seems to exist when it comes to understanding how to move from the present state to the desired state. I've said it before, and I'm sure to say it a hundred more times, training is the path, and it's one well-recognized by the higher performing organizations in our studies.