Merita Consulting

Skills First

In the ever-evolving landscape of business, one truth remains constant: a company is only as strong as its workforce. This is where skills-first hiring and promoting come to the forefront, offering a means to fill positions and a catalyst for driving your company’s growth. When you strategically hire for skills, you open doors to enhanced innovation, heightened productivity, and an overall surge in business success.

Skill Definitions

Determining the skills for each role is a critical first step in building an adaptive workforce. These definitions are the foundation for your job descriptions, job postings, career pathways, and workforce development programs, all of which provide the platform for implementing a skills-first hiring and promotion program.



Skills Assessments

Skills assessments are crucial to the skills-based hiring process. They are the litmus test that helps employers determine if a candidate’s abilities align with the role’s requirements. Yet evaluating technical skills alone is not enough.

You must embrace a holistic approach to skills assessments to find the perfect fit for your team.


Berkeley and Stanford Lean LaunchPad Classes show Continuous Improvement

Posted on by Dwayne Nesmith

The Berkeley and Stanford Lean LaunchPad Classes continue to influence the thinking of Lean Management expert Steve Blank. Here are some of the new things Blank uncovered during the latest round of activities:

Have each team talk to 10 customers before the class starts was A/B tested and the teams talking to customers earlier showed better velocity. While this may not have been the only factor it appears to be a good idea and clearly expands on the idea that the teams need to begin working on their business before the classroom sessions get going.
Gizmodo
Make the application process integral to the coursework by requiring the teams to complete a business model canvas and competitive petal slide as a part of the application process.  All of this allows the teams to start sooner, complete more cycles and get further down the track during the program.

Have each team put the number of Mentor interactions on their weekly title slide allowed earlier intervention when these meetings were not occurring. This was in addition to the customer interactions for the week and cumulative customer interactions metrics.

Check out Steve’s blog post and go see all of the Final Presentations