4 questions for SME's to ensure you have the right skills in your team to plan for success

In small to medium businesses, as in any business, your people are your greatest asset. And as April marks, for many, the start of a new tax year, there’s no better time to reflect on your recruitment and training needs in order to ensure your company has the staff and skills required to achieve your goals for 2023/24.

In this month’s blog, we help you get ahead by highlighting the questions to ask yourself to make sure your workforce is aligned with your business objectives.

1. What skills does your company have today?

When you look at your monthly goals, targets, avenues for growth, what skills and experience do you need from your employees to make them happen? Do your plans match up with the skillsets available now? Perhaps you’ve identified a skills gap in one department that will make it difficult to bring a new project to life in the coming weeks. Training in that area would be an obvious solution, it’s worth finding out how much this will cost and how much time it will take. If you need to fill a skills gap today, think creatively. Look at employee skills in other departments and consider skill swaps or secondments to bridge the gap. Use the talent you already have in the company in a more flexible way to meet short-term needs. Alternatively, if those skills aren’t available in-house, consider bringing in skilled temporary staff – freelancers, contractors, agency staff – to take on the tasks your employees are unable to fulfil.

2. What people and skills will your company need in the future?

Training – identify those employees who are best placed to develop the new skill and take on new responsibility, and provide the necessary training to ensure they are going to be competent and confident in filling that role.

Hiring – if headcount is too low to create new roles and responsibilities for your current staff or if the skills you will require for longer term projects are not able to be developed in your current employees, consider recruiting that talent into the company.

Promoting – if one of your employees is showing great potential to be developed into a position that would benefit them and help the company reach its goals, consider offering those worthy candidates a promotion. It will likely do them and your company the world of good and show other staff that talent is rewarded.

3. When do you need to make changes?

Only you and can really answer this one, but it’s worth considering now so that you can ensure that you have a timeline to work to. How long will it take to put in place the changes you need to ensure you have the right headcount and skillsets to see your plans through? When is training available? How long does it take? How soon can you recruit and train up a new starter? How do the answers to the above line up with your goals for the year?

4. What help do you need to make your plans a reality?

If it’s training you need, it’s worth finding the best options for your industry, budget and location. Ask for recommendations or research online, there are lots of options out there, along with government grants to help stretch your budget.

Contact Key Appointments now for all your recruitment needs: call us on 0844 504 4666 or drop us a line at info@key-appointments.co.uk