Skill Management,
that doesn't become outdated before it's finished

A company wants to know what skills its employees currently possess and which ones will be critical in the coming years. HR launches a competency project. Roles are defined, workshops are held, Excel spreadsheets are created, and competency catalogs are developed.

Months later, a comprehensive model is ready. But the crucial question often remains unanswered: What exactly do we do with it now?

This is exactly where many initiatives related to competency management and skills-based workforce development fall short—not because of the idea itself, but because of how it’s implemented.

Here at MaxBrain, we’re convinced that a different approach is needed—one that’s geared toward the actual demands of the job market, can be continuously refined, and, above all, enables us to translate identified skill gaps into concrete development measures.

Why Traditional Competency Management Often Fails

The idea is sound: Companies want to understand what competencies they have and what skills they will need in the future.

In practice, however, implementation often fails due to three recurring challenges.

1. The Pace of Change

Job profiles are changing. New technologies are emerging, responsibilities are shifting, and skills that were previously less important are gaining significance. No sooner is a carefully developed competency model completed than parts of it are already outdated.

2. The Complexity

The more detailed a competency model becomes, the more difficult it is to apply in everyday practice. Extensive workshops, countless competency descriptions, and complex evaluation systems mean that projects require a great deal of effort before any concrete benefits are realized.

We ourselves have seen on several occasions how ambitious initiatives have fizzled out shortly after getting off the ground.

3. The Confusion Over Terminology

What exactly is a skill? How does it differ from a competency? And are we even talking about the same ability when one company uses the term “project leadership” and another uses “project management”?

Different definitions make it difficult to systematically identify, compare, and develop skills.

The result: In many places, competency management remains a theoretical concept rather than becoming an effective tool for human resources development.

Our Approach: Skills from the Real Job Market

What if companies no longer had to develop their competency models from scratch, but could instead build on an existing, data-driven foundation?

This is exactly where our collaboration with x28, the Swiss labor market data specialist, comes in.

x28 has been analyzing job postings from the Swiss labor market for many years. Its database includes over 20 million archived job postings dating back to 2012. This makes it possible to systematically identify trends in occupations, job roles, and in-demand skills.

In addition, x28 provides a skill ontology that structures and links skills.

What is a skill ontology?

Simply put, it is a structured map of skills. It helps identify different terms for the same or related skills, illustrate relationships between skills, and systematically categorize them. This creates a common language that makes it much easier to compare competencies.

MaxBrain brings this information to where it is most valuable to companies: in human resources development.

We have integrated x28's skill database and ontology into our learning ecosystem. This allows companies to build on an existing skill framework rather than spending months developing their own competency catalogs from scratch.

In doing so, we combine two perspectives:

• The Big Picture: What skills are in demand in the job market? How are job profiles and skill requirements changing?
• An Inside Look: What skills does our company actually need? What skills do our employees already have, and which ones do we need to develop specifically?

After all, job postings reveal what companies are looking for in the job market. However, they do not automatically answer the question of which skills are strategically crucial for a specific organization.

It is only by combining these two perspectives that skill management becomes truly valuable.

From Skill Profile to Specific Development Measures

How does this work in day-to-day business operations?

Let's take the example of a Swiss manufacturing company that wants to prepare its project managers for increasingly complex client projects.

In the past, the focus was primarily on traditional project planning, cost control, and meeting deadlines. Today, stakeholder management, agile collaboration, and dealing with different interest groups are also gaining importance.

Using a skills-based approach, this can be used to design a concrete development process.

Step 1: Identify the skills that are needed

Based on labor market data and internal requirements, a target skill profile is created for the “Project Manager” role.

The company decides which skills are actually relevant to this role and at what level they are required.

Step 2: Identify Existing Skills

The next step is to assess employees’ existing skills. This involves not only determining whether someone possesses a particular skill, but ideally also how confidently and independently that person can apply it.

Step 3: Identify and Prioritize Skill Gaps

Comparing the actual and target profiles reveals potential competency gaps.

For example, a project manager may have in-depth knowledge of project planning but still has little experience dealing with demanding stakeholders.

The key now is prioritization: Not every skill gap is equally important. What skills does the person need for their current tasks, upcoming projects, or their next step in their career development?

Step 4: Identify Appropriate Development Measures

This is exactly where the MaxBrain learning ecosystem comes into play.

A specific development initiative should be devised to address an identified skills gap. This could be a relevant course, but it could also involve mentoring, job shadowing, or a targeted hands-on assignment.

In this example, the project manager could take a training course on stakeholder management and then apply what she has learned to a client project, with the guidance of an experienced colleague.

The measure is agreed upon and documented during the performance review.

Step 5: Review the development

After a specified period of time, a joint assessment is conducted to determine whether the skill has actually been developed and can be applied in day-to-day work.

After all, completing a course is not in itself proof of a newly acquired skill.

For us, that is precisely where the key difference lies: skill management should not end with the recording of skills, but should enable targeted development.

Fewer competency catalogs, more strategic workforce development

The benefits extend far beyond individual performance reviews.

Let's imagine a company is looking for a new team leader for its customer service department. In the past, it might have posted a job opening externally right away.

With structured skill profiles, HR could recognize that a sales employee already possesses many of the required skills. Instead of relying solely on external recruitment, an internal development path can be identified.

Another example is strategic workforce planning.

Based on labor market data, an industrial company recognizes that data analysis and AI skills are increasingly in demand in certain technical professions. It can compare these trends with its own needs and decide early on which employees should receive targeted professional development.

This makes skill management a foundation for better decisions in human resources development, internal mobility, and, in the long term, succession planning as well.

And L&D will have the opportunity to make its strategic contribution even more visible.

Who Benefits from the MaxBrain Ecosystem

Employees

You'll gain greater insight into your current skills, your opportunities for growth, and potential next steps in your career.

A personalized, updatable skills profile—a kind of modern " Work ID "—can help make one's skills visible and document them beyond individual job titles.

It is important to have clear rules regarding transparency, data use, and access rights.

Company

You can better identify which skills are already in place, where relevant gaps exist, and which development measures are most likely to be beneficial.

Instead of merely documenting competency models, they can be specifically linked to workforce development and corporate strategy.

Educational Providers

You can better understand trends in in-demand skills based on current labor market data and use this insight to develop new or updated learning programs.

Associations

They can monitor changes in job profiles more systematically and develop their competency profiles and continuing education offerings in a targeted manner.

Where We Stand Today and What's Next

We haven't reached our goal everywhere yet. And we're being deliberately open about that.

Together with our first pioneer clients, we are currently working to map key corporate roles using current and target skill profiles and to integrate these directly into our talent development initiatives.

The foundation for this is the integration of x28's skill data and ontology into our learning ecosystem.

For us, the next major step in our development lies in the targeted use of artificial intelligence.

AI can help create role profiles more quickly, identify relevant skill gaps, and suggest appropriate development paths.

What used to involve months of conceptual work is now expected to become significantly faster and easier.

One thing remains key: Technology does not determine which skills a company needs. Rather, it supports HR, managers, and employees in making more informed decisions.

Our goal, therefore, is not to identify as many skills as possible. Our goal is to enable companies to identify the right skills more quickly, develop them in a more targeted manner, and deploy them more effectively.