What Your Employees Should Know (and What if They Don’t)

A Guide to Skills and Competences for the Entire Team

Online courses for employees with practical cases of leading US companies

CONTENTSPart 1. C-Level Management

1. Chief Executive Officer (CEO)2. Chief Financial Officer (CFO)3. Chief Technology Officer (CTO)4. Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO)5. Chief Learning Officer (CLO)6. Chief Sales Officer (CSO)

Part 2. Medium and First Level Management

7. Sales Representative8. Financial Manager9. HR Manager

10. Project Manager11. Marketing Manager12. Procurement Manager13. T&D Manager14. System Administrator15. Administrative Manager16. Business Analyst

WHY DO WE CARE ABOUT EMPLOYEE COMPETENCES?

Each position in the company requires a specific set of knowledge, abilities, and skills that enable a person to act effectively in a job. In other words, it is what you are looking at when hiring, promoting and assessing employees.

Because each level of responsibility has its own requirements, competence can occur in any period of a person's life or at any stage of his or her career.

Each position requires a set of abilities, commitments, skills, and knowledge that enable a person to act effectively in his or her job.

There is no quick-fix to identifying employee must-have competences in your organization. Just as with everything else in business, if you want it done right, then you need to invest time and effort.

We created this Guide to assist you on this tricky way, and help you develop the team where everybody perfectly fits his role and contributes to the company’s growth.

In this white paper, we are digging deep to determine what your employees need to possess to make your company prosperous. Also, you will get instructions on best training for each employee. For those who read till the end we’ve prepared a free competence mapping tool. Enjoy!

Part 1C-Level Management

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (CEO)CEO is one of the most desired and least understood jobs in a company. Everyone believes that CEOs can do whatever they want, are all powerful, and are magically competent. Evidently, nothing could be further from the truth. By its very nature, the job description of a CEO means meeting the needs of employees, customers, investors, communities, and the law.

VisionCreates and communicates a compelling and inspired sense of core purpose. This is based on the vision of the future, not the reality of today.

Strategic OrientationAble to think long-term and beyond his own area. It involves three key dimensions: business awareness, critical analysis and integration of information, and the ability to develop an action-oriented plan.

Change LeadershipTransforms and aligns an organization through its people to drive for improvement in new and challenging directions. It is energizing a whole organization to want to change in the same direction.

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CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (CEO)

Financial AcumenUnderstands the key leverage points in the Income Statement and the Balance Sheet as well as the critical aspects of ensuring short-term cash flow and long-term profitability.

Customer FocusHas a clear understanding of customers needs, preferences, interests, timelines and decision-making criteria.

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Collaboration and Influence— Works effectively with, and influences people, both inside and outside the company for positive impact on business performance.— Articulates the company’s values and vision.

Team Leadership— Manages the business so that departments and individuals work together to fulfill the vision.— Puts the right team together, motivates them and provides development opportunities.— Empowers and strengthens the team, delegating authority

Business Acumen— Knows about trends, practices, and policies affecting the industry and business.— Has a firm understanding of competitors and a good grasp of effective strategies and tactics that work in the marketplace.— Learns continuously. Can analyze both successes and failures and learn from the experience.

CEOs NEED TRAINING TOO

CEOs (especially those who are new at their position) must routinely make decisions concerning matters they’ve never before tackled.

When have they ever had to make a takeover or defend against one? Resolve a crisis as the public face of the company? Deal with a board of powerful directors with different opinions? All these demands require new talents from the companies’ leaders.

43% of CEOs say that “conflict management skills” are their highest priority. Top bosses often get tapped for difficult decisions above all other problems.*

43%* www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/08/05/ceos-just-want-to-get-coached

Recommended Courses

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER (CFO)CFO is the corporate official in charge of a company’s finances. The CFO is sometimes also the company treasurer and is seen as the second most important person in the organization (since managing the quarterly results often depends on an understanding of how to keep the books). The qualifications of CFOs are critical to the company’s credibility.

Increased ExpectationsExperts say, the role of the CFO generally has broadened over the past decade. To fulfill the increasing expectations, the contemporary CFO has to be seen as a key organizational leader and communicator requiring a combination of professional and ethical foundation, as well as commercial acumen.

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Given their professional education and training, and with relevant career experience and aptitude, professional accountants in CFO and related finance leadership roles should be well placed to meet expectations.

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER (CFO)

Resource Allocation

— Manages the general allocation of resources to business unit or to a project.— Estimates value creation or value destruction of allocating a valuable resource to the business units.

Finance Expertise— The expert level in finance function — controlling, treasury, audit, financial planning and analysis, financial regulation, international accounting, capital structure.— Strong finance expertise is critical to effective compliance and standardization of processes.

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Investor communication

— Demonstrates effective communication skill in order to build credibility – that information delivered are reliable – among institutional investors who use information for company’s stock valuation or stock trading strategy formulation.

Strategic Risk Management— Has a strategic view of risk and consideration of how external and internal events or scenario will affect the ability of the organization to achieve its objectives.

Strategic Thinking— Helps CEO manage the business and offer leadership— Has to know what is to be in the future and how will the company get there — by accommodating divergent interests and values. — Demonstrates objectivity and independence of decisions.

Investment

— Ensures cash flow for internal financing of operational costs, working capital investment, and fixed asset investment. — Produces information about the strategic assets required to be invested in the future to exploit growth prospect.

LEARNING FOR CFOs

A professional accountant education brings the underlying common ethics and mindset of a professional accountant, while the organizational knowledge, business acumen and appreciation of the perspective of other disciplines should be achieved through personal experience and development.

29%27%27%

* EY survey of 669 CFOs / http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/The-DNA-of-the-CFO-2010/$FILE/The-DNA-of-the-CFO-2010.pdf

Recommended Courses

Degree in Finance

Professional Accountancy Qualification

MBA*

The most common level of education for a CFO:

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER (CTO)CTO is likely to be seen as the second or third most important person in any technology company. A CTO is responsible for research and development and possibly for new product plans.

The only true way to measure the success of a CTO is to look at the success of the enterprise. A CTO must understand how IT drives the company and understand the context of the technology in terms of other technical areas, the customer’s needs, the business impact, and the corporate strategy.

Policy

Policy is an important area for government CTOs. All of the work needs to be done within the framework of existing policies and the final product needs to support the policies of the organization.

Emerging Technologies

Understands the emerging technologies that are coming on the scene and must be able to determine which ones could positively impact their organization.

Cyber Security

The issue of security is huge these days and anything that is implemented in the organization must be secure.

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CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER (CTO)

Evolving Infrastructure— Is constantly in the process of company’s IT infrastructure evolving. — Enables company to move from its ‘as-is’ IT architecture to its ‘to be’ architecture”.

Capital Planning and Investment — Understands how the IT portfolio is managed in the organization.— Makes decisions on investing in emerging technologies or acquiring them.

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Leveraging Technology— Knows how to make the most of the new technologies within the resource constraints that we are all living within these days. — Understands how to use the technologies in order to save money by increasing efficiency.

Team Leadership— Has leadership skills to communicate and smoothly and successfully integrate the new technologies into the processes and policies of the organization.— Possesses credibility as a technology leader in the eyes of the other corporate leaders, the employees and other interested parties.

Future Technologies Forecasting and Assessment

— Forecasts on IT trends and enables other executives to rapidly adjust the strategy and tactics of the company development according to the new promising technologies.

Project Management — Knows what time, human and financial resources are required to implement new technologies or projects.— Uses strong PM capabilities to ensure that the project will be successful.

Of course, the tools that the CTO uses to drive the business success are technical ones. These include technical expertise, technology leadership, and use of information technology for strategic gain.

The challenge is not just to understand these issues, but to be able to communicate them in terms that apply to the interested parties. The most important issue to a development engineer may be quite different from the most important issue to a customer, but each should understand the impact of their issues in the larger context.

* CIOs Vs CTOs / http://www.slideshare.net/payam.ansari/cios-vs-ctos

Recommended CoursesLEARNING FOR CTOs

Technology

Leadership

CTO

CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER (CHRO)Chief HR Officer is responsible for providing leadership in developing and executing human resources strategy in support of the overall business plan and strategic direction of the organization. The CHRO provides strategic leadership by articulating Human Resource needs and plans to the executive management team, shareholders and to the board of directors.

Emotional Intelligence

First and foremost, you need to have outstanding interpersonal and communication skills. However, that is not all. You also must be a great listener, trustworthy and authentic in your interactions with others.

Effective LeadershipUnderstands the emerging technologies that are coming on the scene and must be able to determine which ones could positively impact their organization.

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CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER (CHRO)

External Stakeholder Alignment— Customers, end-consumers, potential employees, best practice companies, and academia — all of which can be valuable resources for helping maintain a world class talent operation and an attractive employment brand.

Driver of Change — CHRO should be sought after to drive change across an organization. Encountering resistance, CHRO knows how to regroup and try to persuade others in a convincing manner why the change is critical for the organization.

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HR Basics— These include the fundamentals of HR: payroll, employment contracts, pension plans, contracts with unions, and the other familiar transactional aspects of the role:skills that are usually acquired by experience in the function.

HR Practices— These include structures and processes that require significant experience: recruiting, conducting interviews, assessing performance and potential of employees, developing talent, and ensuring employee retention and engagement.

Strategic Alignment

— The CHRO should be able to develop and execute an HR strategy in sync with the company’s business strategy, focusing on mid- to long-term business objectives and their implications for the company’s talent needs.

Business Focus — CHRO thinks business first and human resources second. Understands the business, its trends and how he or she can utilize all of the necessary tools and levers to ensure the company is meeting or exceeding its expectations.

Many of these roles have been filled with leaders from outside of HR – executives from marketing, finance, operations, or lines of business*.

It isn’t that surprising as the need for CHROs with strong business and financial acumen is more pressing than ever. To be competitive on the HR executives’ market, CHROs need to develop their skills beyond talent management and recruitment, to understand where the business is going and how the business makes money.

36%

* The Changing Role of the CHRO, Bersin by Deloitte / http://www.bersin.com/blog/post/The-Changing-Role-of-the-CHRO.aspx

Recommended CoursesLEARNING FOR CHROs

turnover among CHROs in F100 companies over the past 2 years

CHIEF LEARNING OFFICER (CLO)A CLO's responsibilities may include onboarding, training courses and materials, employee development initiatives, executive coaching, knowledge management and succession planning. CLOs may also supervise the selection and implementation of learning technology, such as learning management systems (LMS).

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Learning Methods and Concepts — Is familiar with key concepts of instructional design, methods, tools and techniques for evaluating the effectiveness of learning on both the individual and the organization. These include a general knowledge about levels of evaluation, ROI, scorecards and dashboards.

— Understands the qualities of multimedia, simulations, role play, case studies, virtual classrooms, traditional classrooms and blended instruction, as well as understands what each one does best. This all should be coupled with an understanding of learner, content and management competency systems.

CHIEF LEARNING OFFICER (CLO)

Leadership Skills— Develops and communicates a strategic vision, motivates people to achieve results and aligns them around a clearly articulated strategy.— A learning executive must be skillful problem solver and coach, able to impact decisions within and outside of the organization.

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Strategic Management — The actual implementation of specific general management activities and their strategic application.— CLOs can help their organization by identifying and teaching the kinds of leadership behavior best suited to their business strategy.

General Management— Knowledge of and experience with day-to-day general management activities such as business-case development, operational planning, financial planning, budget management, personnel management and ROI calculation, etc.

Knowledge Management

— Is familiar with tools for evaluating, capturing, organizing and disseminating critical organizational knowledge.— Develops a top-down strategic understanding of the relationship between organizational competency gaps and individual competency gaps.

The training for today's CLOs has to enable them to deal with many critical issues:

— developing career models and programs— identifying cultural gaps in the workforce and filling them — modernizing the L&D infrastructure to build platforms and architectures for informal learning— attracting, developing, and managing the critical workforce.

Recommended CoursesLEARNING FOR CLOs

« Today's CLO must be a true "chief talent officer" — well aware of the global talent, skills, and employee engagement issues which drive competitiveness and performance.*

* Today's Chief Learning Officer: Tamar Elkeles - A CLO of the Decade, Bersin by Deloitte / http://www.bersin.com/blog/post/2010/11/Todays-Chief-Learning-Officer--Tamar-Elkeles---A-CLO-of-the-Decade.aspx

CHIEF SALES OFFICER (CSO)A CSO is one of the top managers in the organization, it is a person responsible for the field of marketing and sales.

CSO’s task is the responsibility for marketing, customer relationship management, sales of products or services, for employees’ development and for aligning the objectives of the organization with customers’ needs. CSO’s main responsibility is sales of goods and services, planning of sales of goods and services.

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Vision

— Interprets and communicates global sales strategies so that they are easily understood by single business units.— Involves the team in sales strategy development so that they own rather than simply understand the vision.

Concise, Inspiring Communication

— Performs coaching style of management.— Concise and persuasive presentation skills.

CHIEF SALES OFFICER (CSO)

Committed People Developer— Believes in “results through people” – sees sales learning as an intrinsic part of the sales culture.— Encourages and supports learner driven development.— Prioritises and sustains an intensive coaching schedule

Teambuilder— Fosters a cooperative team style: creates common team purpose, vision, goals and activities.— Facilitates meetings: develops agendas, listens and describes issues and concerns; helps the team to consensus.

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Sales Planner— Transforms vision into action.— Sets team objectives and maintains consistent team focus on core priorities

Organizer— Exercises strong influence in the recruitment and selection process to ensure the right individuals for the role and the team.

Flexible Sales Person

— Possesses persuasive selling skills.— Win-Win Negotiator – is able to “think on their feet”, recognize and calculate the cost/ benefit of various options during the negotiations.— Effective user of internal and external IT systems.

Performance Manager — Sustains focus and clarity by prioritising performance measures; uses “less is more” measurement approach.

Chuck Reaves, a sales leadership expert, advices:

Take the same sales training and refresher courses as your salespeople do. Stay on top of your game as a sales officer by keeping your sales skills sharp. You will understand the principles and techniques your salespeople are using and you will be supporting the concept of continuous sales improvement.

Recommended CoursesLEARNING FOR CSOs

«

* What Is a Chief Sales Officer? / http://www.salessuites.com/White_Papers/CSO_White_Papers/CSO.pdf

Part 2Medium and First Level Management

SALES REPRESENTATIVE

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Account Management

— Develops account plan: makes sales opportunity analysis, develops sales strategy and tactics— Connects and navigates through making key contacts, managing CRM database, presenting and following up.

Sales through Communication

— Listens effectively , defines customer type �and askes right (open/close-ended, mirror, probing, etc.) questions, provides continuous feedback.— Delivers effective sales presentations, writes sales letters and business proposals.�— Adds value to the proposal providing customer with consulting, education and training.— Conducts telephone sales and cold calls, can break through the secretary and reach the DM.— Feels comfortable talking about money— Negotiates for agreement: balances emotions with reason, strive for a “Win-Win" outcome, focuses on closing the deal; recovers quickly from rejection.

SALES REPRESENTATIVE

Sales Planning

— Can read financial and business plans – understands current situation, corporate strategies and objectives.

— Constantly researches the competition, identifies best practices.

Time & Territory Management

— Uses scheduling technology (e.g. MS Outlook), prioritizes activities according to importance and urgency.— Knows his/her peak performance times (as well as the client’s peak times) and schedules work accordingly.

25

Business Acumen

— Understands general business management (financial, marketing, HR, IT, etc.)— Follows ethical codes of conduct and maintains confidentiality.— Understands and negotiates contracts, knows the applicable legislation.

Product Knowledge

— Knows the essential selling features of product /services and translates all essential features into customer benefits.

— Knows the competitors' products and services (obtains brochures, etc.).

Sales & Technology

— Knows how to effectively use office software (word, spreadsheets, web browsers, databases, CRM, presentation software, etc.) and hardware.

— Leverages the Internet as a valuable resource – can make client/ industry/ competitor research.

Recommended CoursesLEARNING FOR SALES REPSThe first 90 days of a sales rep’s tenure is the highest-risk period. One almost cost-free way to help them through this phase is to assign them online courses with detailed instructions, templates and scripts.

Don’t be afraid to use some ready-made courses as the basics of sales are quite similar (even if you believe your sales process is unique).

20% of Sales Representatives in the US are actively disengaged.

The Truth About Turnover / Gallup / http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/316/truth-about-turnover.aspx

FINANCIAL MANAGER (ACCOUNTANT)

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Professionalism and Ethics

— Applies knowledge, sensitivity and judgement acts in accordance with fundamental principles of ethical behavior.— Ensures the implementation of appropriate corporate ethical frameworks and laws and regulation relating to business.

Governance, Risk and Control

— Ensures effective and appropriate governance.— Evaluates, monitors and implements appropriate risk identification procedures by developing effective internal audit and control systems.

Stakeholder Relationship Management

— Manages stakeholder expectations and needs by aligning the organization to their requirements, engaging stakeholders effectively and communicating relevant information.

FINANCIAL MANAGER (ACCOUNTANT)

Financial management

— Implements effective investment and financing decisions in areas such as investment appraisal, business re-organizations, tax and risk management, treasury and working capital management.

Audit and assurance

— Provides high quality audits by evaluating information systems and internal controls, gathering evidence and performing procedures.

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Strategy and innovation

— Assesses and evaluates strategic position and identifies imaginative options to improve performance and position.

— Implements innovative and cost effective solutions leading to effective change management and business process improvement.

Corporate reporting

— Prepares high-quality reports to support stakeholder understanding and decision making.

Sustainable management accounting

— Assesses, evaluates and implements management accounting and performance management systems for planning, measuring, controlling and monitoring business performance.

Taxation

— Complies with tax regulation and systems, communicating with relevant authorities to establish and ethically manage tax liabilities using appropriate tax computation and planning techniques.

Recommended CoursesLEARNING FOR ACCOUNTANTS5 Tips to Enhance Accounting Training

1. Brush Up on Computer SkillsAccountants use computer software to do everything from processing records to analyzing budgets.

2. Get Practical Experience as Well as TheoryTake online business simulations to apply your knowledge in practice without the fear of failure.

3. Stand Out by Focusing in One AreaAccounting is divided into several major areas. Choose one area to become the best in.

4. Step Outside the Field of AccountingIt is incredibly useful to take courses to improve general business knowledge or soft skills.

5. Learn a Second/Third LanguageIn this increasingly global age, knowing a second language will open innumerable doors.

HR MANAGER

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Negotiation Skills

— Has communication and relationship skills that help negotiate win-win situations for the company and the employees they hire.— Listens to the needs and even unspoken desires of employees and help the company exceed those requirements without stretching itself too thin.— Knows creative ways to accommodate each party’s needs.

Job Knowledge

— Has considerable knowledge of about employment law, tax laws, payroll, finance, statistics, specific information systems. Also needs extensive knowledge about equal employment opportunity regulations and wage/hour regulations.— Knows the basics of personnel motivation, retention, assessment, training, development, etc.

Influence and Change Management

— Must be able to motivate employees and show them how to excel at their jobs, embrace change and make ethical decisions. — Can influence employees to stay on course even during difficult transitions in a company, such as new management or major layoffs.

HR MANAGER

Knowledge of Business and Organization— Must have knowledge of the organization and its strategies to able to contribute strategically. — Has understanding of the financial, technological, and other facets of the industry and the organization.

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Qualified Recruitment

— Manages the process of narrowing down potential applicants to the prospects that can best fill all open and future job opportunities. — Knows different ways to find candidates: from college campuses, other companies or people who hold certain interests and skill sets.

Effective Training

— Can create the training programs that help employees fulfill their daily job functions, advance to other positions within the company or respond well to company changes and industry shifts. — Must have the ability to foresee the training needs of their company and develop materials that a wide range of employees will respond well to.

Problem Solving and Conflict Management

— Manages to be aware of violations, harassment or hardships that employees undergo.— Finds and eliminates problems that cause unfavorable working conditions for employees within the company’s constraints.

Recommended CoursesLEARNING FOR HR MANAGERS

« HR professionals who demonstrate new methods and techniques that add efficiency and quality, reduce costs or otherwise address a business priority will earn the respect and right to be a business partner with their peer C-suite executives.*

*http://career-advice.monster.com/career-development/education-training/hr-certifications-degrees/article.aspx

Nancy HeetSPHR, president and CEO of

Workforce Management Strategies LLC

PROJECT MANAGER

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Planning/ Controlling

— Is able to determine appropriate measures for themselves and for others to achieve the project goals.— Prioritizes and coordinates these measures.— Controls processes and activities in a result-oriented manner.— Ensures project progress.

End-customer orientation

— Possesses experience and keen instinct for the customer’s respective field of activity or sector of industry and the hierarchical levels.— Is able to “sell“ the project results in the organization.

Flexibility and Stress Tolerance

— Is able to work effectively to tight deadlines and stick to budgets regardless of possible setbacks.— Is constantly dealing with new people and environments and must adjust accordingly.

PROJECT MANAGER

Ability to delegate

— Is able to make the best use of the project team and to give the project manager the capacity to focus on the big picture. — Avoids being involved in too much communication and becoming a bottleneck for decision making.

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Analytical skills

— Is able to focus on the essentials, capable for abstraction, sound judgment and experience.— Analyzes project-related processes and explores opportunities to make improvements.

Leadership and Managing People

— Is able to motivate a team to work together towards a common goal and to achieve co-operation within the team.— Provides professional support for each team member.

Risk Management

— Defines risks early in order to talk to other project team members and determine how to manage these risks.— Recognizes the project’s risk factors, and identifies the specific risks that may result from each of these risk factors.— Develops a risk-management strategy and communicates it to the entire team.

Recommended CoursesLEARNING FOR PROJECT MANAGERSBesides some obligatory project management certificates and standards, the specialists in the field need to guarantee a set of “general business” and soft skills: from giving presentations and running meetings to building financial models and managing conflicts.

Budget

Risk Management

Critical Path

Poor Presentation Skills

Inability to Deal with Conflict

Poor Communication

MARKETING MANAGER

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Vision

— Able to develop an articulate a clear vision around their marketing goals and to see opportunity and potential that others may not see.— Must be able to articulate that vision to others and generate enthusiasm and commitment among people who will be part of the process of ultimately achieving marketing success.

Creativity

— Exhibits creativity which is not limited only to creative expression through words and images, but also in terms of identifying and selecting target markets, creating products and services, pricing offerings appropriately to generate sales and making sure that the availability and access to those products and services is assured.

Strategic Thinking

— Is able to see the big picture and implement a plan that will incorporate a range of tactics and activities designed to impact a target audience segment toward some desired action.

— Considers all of the different elements of marketing in combination, rather than focusing on the individual tools – creating a news release or a website.

MARKETING MANAGER

Project Management

— Manages simple or complex, short- or long-term projects increasingly happening in quick response to social media opportunities and customer behavior.

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Results Focus

— Designs every marketing initiative in order to include specific means of monitoring and measuring outcomes and results.— Is aware of emerging marketing analytics tools.

Critical Thinking

— Is able to analyze situations or statements and determine their validity.— Critical thinking breeds creative thinking, which in turn solves problems.

Technical Skills

— Must be tech savvy, as advancing technologies influence how marketing is accomplished.— Uses analytics tools for measuring marketing activities as well as user-friendly apps and relationship-building tools in order to increase customer engagement.

Recommended CoursesLEARNING FOR MARKETING MANAGERS

The Three T’s of Marketing Manager T&D

Technology. Today’s marketers need to stay on top of trends and technology; they need to know how social media, search, video, conversions and analytics work in the marketing mix.

Time Management. Keeping up with social media and online customers’ needs require careful time management and thoughtful schedule.

Training. Marketing managers often face the need to provide their colleagues with different kind of training: — how to speak with the press; — what messages to communicate through the social media and corporate blog; — what are the main features of a new product, etc.

PROCUREMENT MANAGER

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Strategic Industry Management

— Establishes long range business plans which can anticipate the global market. This is particularly important for commodity procurement.

Financial Acumen

— Is able to apply a broad understanding of financial management principals and other quantitative information to ensure decisions are fiscally responsible and based on your procurement budget.

Negotiation Skills

— Is able to persuade, influence and explore positions and alternatives to reach outcomes that will gain acceptance of all parties and will also meet your organisation’s strategic procurement objectives.

PROCUREMENT MANAGER

Analytical Skills

— Can visualise, articulate, and solve both complex and uncomplicated problems and concepts and make decisions that make sense based on all available information. Particularly important in the selection of vendors.

Aptitude for Technology

— Can apply and improve extensive or in-depth specialised knowledge, skills, and judgment by assessing and translating information technology into responsive and effective procurement solutions.

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Category Management

— Arranges or categorises company’s spend according to specific goods or services (direct & indirect); and keeps in mind quality, service, risk and cost.

Project Management

— Drives the procurement process by designing, implementing and managing projects to a successful conclusion. Establishes accountability, timelines and goals.

Relationship Management

— Is able to leverage interpersonal skills to establish rapport and develop relationships with all key stakeholders: suppliers, customers & colleagues.

Results Focused

— Has the ability and drive for achieving and surpassing targets against an internal or external standards of excellence. Shows a passion for improving the delivery of services with a commitment to continuous improvement.

Recommended CoursesLEARNING FOR PROCUREMENT MANAGERSUnderstanding suppliers’ motivations has never been more critical. Where both parties want long-term futures in contracts and partnerships and the products and services to be negotiated are long and complex, the needs and challenges faced by the other party merit due consideration and appreciation.

Around $2 billion could have been earned collectively by Ford, General Motors, FCA US and Nissan if their relationships with their suppliers had improved to the extent that Honda’s and Toyota’s did in 2014.*

* Strong relationships with suppliers 'crucial' for success / D.Noble / http://www.supplymanagement.com/blog/2015/08/strong-relationships-with-suppliers-crucial-for-success

$2B

T&D MANAGER

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General Job Knowledge

— The duties range from advising C-level executives on employee development trends to supervising training specialists and providing them with guidance on how to build facilitation skills. Makes assessments to determine employees strengths and weaknesses as well as areas where training could be most beneficial.

— Understands the qualities of multimedia, simulations, role play, case studies, virtual classrooms, traditional classrooms and blended instruction, as well as understands what each one does best. This all should be coupled with an understanding of learner, content and management competency systems.

Learning Methods and Concepts — Is familiar with key concepts of instructional design, methods, tools and techniques for evaluating the effectiveness of learning on both the individual and the organization. These include a general knowledge about levels of evaluation, ROI, scorecards and dashboards.

T&D MANAGER

Leadership Skills

— Usually supervises specialists either new to the field or focuses on just one or two areas of employee training. Demonstrates the leadership skills in implementing in-house training for other supervisors and managers.

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Human Resources Knowledge

— Must have a basic understanding of human resources strategy, principles and functions. Knows how training and development supports the workplace, how training fits into the performance management system and the impact training has on performance measurements.

Industry Knowledge

— Industry knowledge consists of understanding adult learning theory and techniques, employee development trends, technology-based training methods and best practices for encouraging employee participation in the development process.

Functional Expertise

— Is able to to facilitate focus group discussions, conduct classroom learning sessions, seminars and workshops. Public speaking capabilities — sometimes referred to as platform skills — are an essential component of a training and development manager’s skills. Also T&D manager must be able to develop these very skills in employees reporting to them.

Recommended CoursesLEARNING FOR T&D MANAGERSeLearning has revolutionized the corporate business training sphere. Corporations now report that eLearning is the most (or the second most) valuable training method that they use. Companies save at least 50% when they replace traditional instructor-led training with online courses.

Therefore today’s T&D managers need to constantly brush up on their eLearning skills. They need to know as much as they can about:

— Gamification— Story-based scenarios— Conversational dialogues— Multimedia tools— Course authoring programs— Quizzes and tests

SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR

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Greater knowledge of the business side of IT

— Is aware of how the latest technology can and will affect the company’s IT side. — Knows how people in the company and other businesses are utilizing networks and applications.

Information Systems Knowledge

— Maintains and applies up-to-date knowledge of discrete and integrated information systems elements (hardware, software, and network). — Must have a strong grasp of computer security. This includes not merely deploying software patches, but also preventing break-ins and other security problems with preventive measures.

Problem Solving

— Anticipates, identifies, and defines problems. — Seeks root causes. — Develops and implements practical and timely solutions.— Is able to solve arising users’ problems, frequently under various sorts of constraints and stress.

SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR

Collaboration

— Collaborates with other members of formal and informal groups in the pursuit of common missions, vision, values, and mutual goals.

— Involves others in making decisions that affect them.

— Draws on the strengths of colleagues and gives credit to others' contributions and achievements. 46

Communication for Results

— Clearly and effectively transmits technical and business concepts, ideas, feelings, opinions, and conclusions orally and in writing. — Listens attentively and for comprehension. — Reinforces words through empathetic body language and tone.

Accountability

— Clearly defines mutual expectations of self and others.— Takes appropriate actions to ensure obligations are met.— Revises standards in response to change.

Time Management

— Effectively completes his/her tasks, while being constantly disturbed with calls of his/her end users.— Creates a realistic schedule of responsibilities, because the work of other team members depends on his\her performance.— Sets priorities and tracks completed tasks.

Recommended CoursesLEARNING FOR SYSADMINS

Every sysadmin has a great set of skills, but most of them still have some room for improvement. Usually, lack of soft skills hold them back from further professional, career and personal growth:

— Deal making and meeting skills— Great communication skills— Ergonomic sensitivity— Great team player— Teaching, mentoring, and knowledge sharing

ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER

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Adaptability

— Demonstrates flexibility in the face of change.— Projects a positive demeanor regardless of changes in working conditions.— Shows the ability to manage multiple conflicting priorities without loss of composure.

Proactivity

— Demonstrates the ability to foresee problems and prevent them by taking action.— Utilizes analytical skills and a broad understanding of the business to effectively interpret and anticipate needs.

Organization

— Time Management: Determines the appropriate allocation of time.— Space Management: Effectively manages the workspace (i.e. keeps a clean and organized office, appropriately handles all paperwork, maintains control over the physical environment, etc.).— Task Management: Balances conflicting priorities in order to manage workflow, ensure the completion of essential projects, and meet critical deadlines.

ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER

Team Player

— Works as a competent member of the team, willingly providing back-up support for co-workers when appropriate and actively supporting group goals.

Computer/Technical Skills

— Displays proficiency using standard office equipment such as a computer, fax, photocopier, scanner, etc.— Demonstrates advanced proficiency by quickly adapting to new technology and easily acquiring new technical skills.

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Business Understanding

— Demonstrates an awareness of fundamental business principles as well as an understanding of the overall industry in which the business operates.

Judgment

— Exhibits sound judgment and the ability to make reasonable decisions in the absence of direction.— Swiftly refers problems/issues to the appropriate person(s) when necessary— Works effectively without constant and direct supervision or guidance.

Communication Skills

— Actively listens and asks clarification questions.— Speaks with confidence using clear, concise sentences and is easily understood.— Produces well thought-out, professional correspondence free of grammatical and spelling errors.— Communicates effectively over the phone.

Client Service

— Interacts professionally with clients and associates at all times.— Promptly responds to requests with accuracy and a courteous demeanor.

Recommended CoursesLEARNING FOR ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGERSWhat is the main criteria of effective training for administrative managers?Mainly it can be measured as a number of abilities:

— Communicate more effectively and with confidence when carrying out their work.

— Handle work more effectively and responsibly.

— Deal with others effectively minimising situations involving conflict and stress.

— Adopt a professional manner when using the telephone.

— Improve computer proficiency to enhance their productivity.

BUSINESS ANALYST

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Business Process Re-Engineering

— Considered the “big-picture thinking” of business analysis, business process re-engineering (BPR) is a rapidly growing part of business analysis. In this phase a business analysts seeks out and identifies problems and opportunities. BPR uses a variety of modeling techniques in order to look at the bigger picture while still thinking tactically.

IT Fluency

— Should have substantial IT knowledge to understand which resources are appropriate to help define and validate requirements and specifications within a given project and product scope.

Eliciting Requirements

— Spends time gathering requirements as it’s the most effective way to help organizations understand the challenge at hand before trying to propose the solution. Requirements can be conditions, functionality, products or services for internal or external use. — Creates the Business Requirements Document — an exhaustive written study of all facets of regulatory, business, user, functional or non-functional requirements.

BUSINESS ANALYST

Testing

— Knows how to create test scripts, test plans and test scenarios based on the as-is state as well as the to-be models.

— Can test the functionality of the physical product. This ensures that the desired state has been reached based upon user acceptance.

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Structured Analysis

— Masters the art of modeling. Manages to support and enhance text-based requirements, helps identify and validate requirements, organizes information into coherent ideas.

— Knows the most common types of business analysis models (business models, process models, data models and workflow models).

Object-Oriented Analysis

— Is able to create an abstract representation of a system’s process and data requirements based on decomposing the system into units. Object-oriented analysis is a helpful tool to depict the hierarchy of business functions, processes and sub-processes.

— Has a clear understanding of both the process and data modeling techniques, including functional decomposition.

End-User Support

— Should be aware that end-user support after the product is delivered is a vital part of the process. Adjusts the product to arising needs and proposes solutions. — Supports the end users with expert consulting and analytics; complements the training team’s efforts with knowledge of the business requirements.

Recommended CoursesLEARNING FOR BUSINESS ANALYSTS

of analysts had a master’s degree in 2010.

Such popularity of MBA among BAs is hardly a surprise as a Business Analyst should understand the very nature and logic of business. Usually, MBA first-year courses include strategic management, economics, data analysis, financial accounting and marketing management. During the second year, the student takes electives relevant to his field.

Now BAs can also obtain necessary skills through eLearning, taking one of online analogues of traditional MBA programs.

28%

* The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Report / http://www.bls.gov/spotlight/

NEW COMPETENCE MAPPING TOOLMost organizations use competences as the main reference points when recruiting, onboarding, training and promoting personnel in many organizations.

Employees’ competences assessment and individual learning path development usually require a lot of time and money. But now companies of any size can easily apply and manage competence-based approach.

Eduson Competences Map is designed to quickly assess the employees’ competences and automatically recommends an appropriate course set.

Apply Competences Map to boost your talent management activities. Assign tests, watch the results, create individual learning paths just in few clicks.

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