As you learn, you improve your existing skills, or you acquire new ones. We make the results of learning visible. Users have a skills overview page, in which they can add skills and evaluate them. Administrators can also assign skills to functions. This way, users will see these skills in their skill overview. This article will explain how it works and how this is done.
What skills are available in the academy?
We’ve already added a standard list of skills to your academy. These are skills relevant to many organizations, a mix of hard and soft skills. You can tailor this list to your organization by adding new skills, deactivating standard ones, or editing the name of a standard skill.
Editing a standard skill
Navigate to the 'Organise' menu and go to the 'Skills' tab.
Click the pencil icon next to the skill you want to edit.
You can make the following changes to a standard skill:
Skill title: This is the name of the skill as it appears in the user's skill overview.
Description: This description is shown when requesting feedback on a skill and appears on the skill's detail page for the user.
Active: If the skill is active, an admin can assign it to a learning activity or role. Users can also add active skills to their skill overview.
Restore standard settings: This will revert the skill to its original state from the default list. The name and description will be restored, and any translations will be removed.
Skill type: You cannot change whether a standard skill is classified as a hard or soft skill.
Languages: Edit the translations of the skill for the different languages that are active in your academy.
Adding a new skill
Navigate to the 'Organise' menu and go to the 'Skills' tab.
Click the plus icon to add a new skill.
You’ll need to provide the following information for the skill:
Skill title: This is the name of the skill as it appears in the user's skill overview.
Description: This description is shown when requesting feedback on a skill and appears on the skill's detail page for the user.
Active: If the skill is active, an admin can assign it to a learning activity or role. Users can also add active skills to their skill overview.
Skill type: Indicate whether the skill is a hard or soft skill.
Languages: Add translations for the skill, for the different languages active in your academy.
Adding skills to learning activities
Skills can be assigned to learning activities. This can be done at the bottom of the detail page of the learning activity. A maximum of five skills can be assigned to a learning activity. By adding skills to learning activities, users can see which skill can be developed by doing which learning activities, on the skill’s detail page. In addition, a skill is automatically added to a user's skill overview when they complete three learning activities related to that skill.
Assigning skills to a function
You can also assign skills to a function. Users with this function will automatically see these skills in their skill overview page. To achieve this, follow these steps:
In the menu, navigate via ‘Organizational Structure’ to the functions tab.
Select the pencil icon next to the function to which you want to assign skills.
On the function’s detail page, go to the ‘Skills’ tab.
Click ‘Add’ and select one or more skills from the list.
You can assign a maximum of 20 skills to a function.
Add the skills.
For each skill, you can add a target level.
Users will see this target level on the skill’s detail page.
Adding a target level is optional.
Save the changes to the function.
Skill overview user
Via the 'My Growth' menu, go to 'Skills'. Here you will find an overview of your skills.
Function-based skills
As mentioned earlier, skills can be assigned to a function. Skills assigned to your function will automatically appear in your skill overview. A function-based skill has the label ‘Function skill' on the skill tile. A function skill cannot be removed from your skill overview.
If you no longer hold a function, or a skill is removed from a function, that skill will remain in your skill overview. However, it will no longer be a function skill.
Adding a skill
At the top, focus skills are displayed. To change a skill into a focus skill, you must first add your skills. To achieve this, follow these steps:
Click 'Add' on the right side of the screen.
Find the desired skill in the list of skills in the menu that appears. You can select multiple skills at once.
Add the skill(s) by clicking the 'Add skills' button at the bottom of the screen.
The added skill(s) will then appear under 'All skills'. By clicking the trash can icon in the skill's box, you can remove this skill for yourself. If you choose to add this skill again, the history of that skill will also become visible again.
If you complete three learning activities assigned to the same skill as a user, that skill will automatically be added to your skill overview. This skill will be labeled 'New'. You can always remove or (re)add skills.
Adding a focus skill
You can add a maximum of 5 skills as focus skills. These can be skills that you want to further develop within a certain period. There are two ways to make a skill your focus skill:
Click on the box where the focus skill will be displayed on 'Add focus skill'. In the menu that follows, you can select and add your focus skill from the list of your skills.
Under 'All skills', you can click on the focus skill icon in the focus skill's box. The skill will then immediately be added to your focus skills.
Skill detail page
By clicking on a skill or focus skill, you enter the detail page of that skill. Here, you can perform and view various actions and information.
Focus skill. Add or remove the skill as a focus skill, by clicking on the focus skill icon.
Self-review. Via 'Review yourself' you can rate your own level on a skill. By dragging the arrow across the bar, you can rate yourself from 'Beginner' to 'Master'. Confirm your evaluation with the button at the bottom right.
Request review. Via 'Ask a review', you can ask a colleague for feedback on a skill. To do this, follow these steps:
Choose which skills you would like to receive feedback on. You can select up to 10 at a time.
In the next step, you select the person from whom you want to request feedback. You can select a recipient who has access to the academy. It is also possible to add an external recipient. An external recipient will receive an email with a link to the page where the feedback can be provided.
In the overview, you see which feedback you are about to request and from whom. If this is correct, you can send your feedback request.
Function skill. In the general information of the skill, you will see the ‘Function skill' label if it is a skill assigned to you based on your function. For a function-based skill, you will also see the target level set by your organization.
Development. View the development of your skill level in the graph. You can view your development by week, month, or an entire year. Here you can see your own evaluations, colleagues’ evaluations, and whether the skill was your focus skill.
Learning activities. Browse through learning activities with which you can develop the skill. Via the learning list icon, you can add the learning activity to your learning list to optionally follow it at a later time. By clicking on the learning activity, you can enroll for it and start the learning activity immediately.
Completed learning activities. Under 'Completed Learning Activities', completed learning activities assigned to the skill are shown. If you haven't completed any learning activities assigned to this skill, you can click through to the Library to search for learning activities with which you can develop this skill.
Review. Under ‘Reviews', you find the different evaluations from yourself and your colleagues on the skill in question. If you don't have any evaluations yet, you can start an self-evaluation from this place.
Skill levels
We use five levels for reviewing a skill and setting the target level.
Beginner: You are starting to explore the skill and building a foundation.
Advanced: You have mastered the basics and are working on further development.
Skilled: You are experimenting and critically refining your abilities.
Expert: You automatically apply smart improvements thanks to extensive knowledge.
Master: The skill is fully integrated into your daily actions.
Would you like to read more about the background? You can find that in this article.