People Development

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No one likes to be called “soft” or a “softie.” But from where we’re standing, being “soft” is a formidable asset. Soft skills are among the hardest to learn or master but are some of the best skills to have. Of course, strong people skills can have a positive impact on our personal lives. But in today’s ever-changing — and sometimes volatile — world of work, these valuable interpersonal skills can also be a differentiator in our professional success. 

Modern businesses have moved past the ineffective micromanagement and rigid top-down structures of the past. Great leaders know that success is a team sport. More than ever, interpersonal relations are the lifeblood of organizations that don't want just to survive but thrive. Why? Because leaders and teams with strong communication, collaboration, and conflict management skills are better equipped to handle the challenges and opportunities ahead of them.

What exactly are soft skills?

Before we jump ahead, here’s a quick overview of what, exactly, we mean by soft skills. While hard skills are the technical abilities people have that make them qualified for certain jobs or professions, soft skills are the factors beyond that. They’re the traits that make someone a uniquely good fit for a team, or the right type of person to lead a group.

You can think of soft skills as one part emotional intelligence, one part communication and leadership styles, and one part our behaviors, habits, and how we show up in our day-to-day. In fact, soft skills can include a pretty broad range of qualities and abilities, like:

• Adaptability and resilience
• Leadership and influence
• Communication (verbal and non-verbal)
• Critical thinking and analytical skills
• Conflict management
• Problem solving and initiative
• Negotiation skills
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Active listening

While we’re not all naturally gifted in every one of these areas, we each have our own personal strengths. And just like hard skills, soft skills can be learned and developed. Keep reading to understand better how these abilities fit into the future of work and how you can build your soft skills!

Soft skills are the future of work

Artificial Intelligence and automation continue to disrupt the job market and how businesses get work done. And as the most repetitive tasks become automated, reskilling and upskilling will be inevitable for most workers. But this digital transformation is largely centered around hard skills. Things like data entry and product recommendations are real applications for machine learning, but a sense of humor or the ability to listen with empathy are harder to replicate. Humans will always beat machines at what makes them human in the first place.

As a result, soft skills will be among the most sought-after and futureproof skills in the workforce of tomorrow. Realistically, they’re already among the most important skills today. Employees and teams must be equipped to navigate constant change on a technological and interpersonal level.

Artificial Intelligence and automation continue to disrupt the job market and how businesses get work done. And as the most repetitive tasks become automated, reskilling and upskilling will be inevitable for most workers. But this digital transformation is largely centered around hard skills. Things like data entry and product recommendations are real applications for machine learning, but a sense of humor or the ability to listen with empathy are harder to replicate. Humans will always beat machines at what makes them human in the first place.

As a result, soft skills will be among the most sought-after and futureproof skills in the workforce of tomorrow. Realistically, they’re already among the most important skills today. Employees and teams must be equipped to navigate constant change on a technological and interpersonal level.

Soft skills dominate the top 10 professional skills of 2025 projected by the World Economic Forum. Included on the list are analytical thinking and innovation; active learning; creativity, originality, and initiative; critical thinking and analysis; leadership and social influence; emotional intelligence; and reasoning and problem-solving. Each and every one of these is a uniquely human — otherwise known as “soft” — skill.

The next generation expects their leaders to be soft (skilled)

While employees of all levels can benefit from developing their soft skills, leaders, in particular, must make it a priority. When you manage a team of people, you need to be able to connect with them on a human level, give feedback and delegate work with tact, and facilitate effective teamwork.

The world of work needs to evolve and adapt to shifting employee expectations and needs. And as new generations enter the workforce, they tend to send ripples of change through organizations. This is a good thing, because these changes impact not just the next generation’s employee experience, but everyone’s. Great Place To Work’s research finds that Gen Z wants these five things from their employers:

1. Diverse and inclusive workplace
2. Livable pay
3. Mentally healthy and safe place to work
4. Special meaning
5. Warm welcome

Pay might be determined by HR and company policy, the rest of these factors are influenced by every person at an organization. And often, it’s team leaders who set the tone in the day-to-day employee experience. Managers who are tuned into their soft skill set are the ones best suited to create an environment that welcomes all different types of people warmly, makes them feel comfortable to bring their full selves to work, and ensures they know their work matters.

How companies can assess, improve, and invest in soft skills

It’s clear that soft skills are a core differentiator that can take a workforce from good to great. The good news is that they are skills — and skills can be learned! Here’s how you can help improve soft skills at your organization:

1. Offer opportunities for assessment

Before we can improve our soft skills, we need to understand what our strengths are, and which skills we want to build. Soft skills assessments can be done independently or with the input of others. Give employees and managers a chance to self-evaluate their skill set, and/or do peer assessments. The benefit of external feedback is that it can illuminate areas we might not see or recognize in ourselves.

Skills assessments can be done through surveys, quizzes, or feedback forms. Whatever approach you take, make it consistent so it’s easier to derive insights from the results. This is also a great way to understand where certain teams shine, and where there may be skill gaps throughout your organization.

2. Implement soft skills training

One of the most straightforward ways to boost your workforce’s soft skills is to offer training and resources. This might look like bringing in experts to run workshops once a quarter or investing in virtual learning experiences for employees.

Soft skills training could be around subjects like:

• How to give and receive feedback
• Fostering inclusion on your team
• Active listening techniques
• Public speaking best practices
• Conflict intervention and de-escalation tactics

Make sure employees know that training is available and that they’re encouraged to participate. Give people dedicated time outside of their regular tasks for professional development, including soft skills training. You might also make some training a part of new employee onboarding and incentivize existing employees to complete training with bonuses or rewards.

Leading by example: Employers like Mid-Day Squares, a plant-based snack food company from Montreal, are paving the way for a more open, honest, and soft-skilled future of work. The founders share their unfiltered experience of managing a business, navigating conflict, and attending therapy regularly on their viral instagram account. Remember that developing soft skills at your organization doesn’t mean having it all figured out — it’s about committing to making a consistent effort to learn, grow, and evolve over time!

3. Integrate soft skills development into team activities

To make soft skill development feel more natural, you can incorporate it into activities teams would otherwise participate in. This can take place in the context of a team’s day-to-day work or as a dedicated team building activity.

Ways to build soft skills organically:

• Swap out a happy hour or mini-putt for working on puzzles or an escape room. Soft skills involved: problem-solving, teamwork, and critical thinking.
• Run brainstorming sessions regularly with your team to come up with and pitch ideas for new projects and initiatives. Soft skills involved: creativity, collaboration, and innovation.
• Host a monthly “show and tell,” where employees can take turns sharing about a personal interest or hobby. Soft skills involved: communication, active listening, and building personal connections.
• Have employees take turns planning, running, and presenting at meetings. Soft skills involved: planning and organization, initiative, leadership, and social influence.
• Use the first 5 minutes of a recurring meeting for a simple “tell me about your weekend” or a unique conversation prompt. Soft skills involved: building personal connections and active listening.

Get teams to review their KPIs once a quarter, share their findings, and plan how they’ll apply their learnings going forward. Soft skills involved: analytical thinking, developing hypotheses, and future planning.

Using skill mapping to unlock your teams’ superpowers

As organizations move forward in a world of work that’s changing at lightning speed, upskilling, reskilling, and cross-skilling are more important than ever. And this includes doubling down on soft skill development.

What if you could get a clear view of the varied soft skills represented in your workforce? What if you had a tool to help you identify rising stars and future leaders on your teams?

We envisioned and built Workleap Skills on the belief that "soft skills" are the superpowers of the workplace of tomorrow. That's why we designed a skills management platform to help businesses maximize the potential of their most precious resources: their humans. You can use Skills to:

• Custom-build teams with complementary skill sets for specific projects 
• Spot opportunities to cross-train and upskill employees
• Craft unique career paths and growth plans for your people

As we strive to help companies level up employee skill sets, we’d love to hear from you! Book a demo to chat with one of our product specialists about how Workleap Skills can help you tap into your team's skills instantly.

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Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is at the forefront of discussions in the workplace. And it should be — a diverse and inclusive workplace can improve employee morale, increase productivity, and reduce employee turnover, which as we know have a positive impact on a company’s bottomline. Case in point: a report by McKinsey & Company found that companies with more diverse leadership teams are 25% more likely to see above average profitability within their industry.

However, biases and office politics continue to play a significant role in career advancement and compensation, leading to unequal opportunities for employees based on factors such as gender, race or even existing relationships that could lead to favoritism or nepotism (fans of HBO hit series Succession will know what we mean).

What if the key to making the workplace more human is by minimizing human biases? While this may sound counter-intuitive, emerging AI-powered technology can mitigate these issues by removing subconscious prejudices from decision making. By using a data-driven approach, skill mapping tools like Workleap Skills help managers and decision makers remove guesswork and subjectivity from the equation when it comes to assessing their teams. This, in turn, helps provide more equal opportunities for all employees to be recognized and valued based on their competencies and career development aspirations — not personal biases.

3 common areas where organizations fail to see their blind spots —  and how to work around them to provide equal opportunities

The point of blindspots is that we are blind to them — and no organization, or individual part of an organization, is immune from having their own. In order to promote equal opportunities, and become an equal opportunity employer, these must be tackled. Recurrent blind spots employers experience are commonly be found within these contexts:

1. Distributed Workforce: As with the saying “you don’t know what you don’t know”, you also don’t know what you can’t see. With remote work and dispersed teams, it can be challenging to properly assess individual contributions and growth on the day-to-day. Skill mapping can help managers better evaluate team competencies and eliminate the risk of missing out on valuable contributions from more introverted or less vocal employees by giving equal weight to each member.

Skills are the great equalizer. They level the playing field on how we evaluate, develop and promote talent in a distributed workplace.

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Studies in 2022 show that remote work is exacerbating existing problems in the workplace:

95% experienced more race-related hostility in remote settings, and 23% of those aged 50 and above saw a surge in harassment and hostility.

36% of women and 42% of trans workers within tech industries reported an increase in gender-based harassment while working remotely during the pandemic

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2. Internal Talent Mobility: As organizations grow, visibility on new opportunities is crucial for employee development. Skill mapping helps level the playing field by organizing work around projects and outcomes, not roles and titles, providing greater visibility, opportunity and mobility for all employees. Adopting a skill-centric approach can help avoid creating asymmetrical systems that give unfair advantages to some.

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The importance of providing employees with opportunities for growth and development: According to a survey by LinkedIn, 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their careers.

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3. Access to Mentorship and Learning: Mentorship and learning opportunities have traditionally been impacted by office politics and access to key decision-makers. Skill mapping can match employees seeking skill development with the right mentor, regardless of natural affinities, geographic proximity or professional degrees of separation.

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Investing in winning leadership teams helps employees grow… and stay

As we’ve already highlighted, companies who commit to diverse leadership are more financially successful. And strong leadership is worth the investment: 86% of professionals are more likely to stay in their jobs if they have access to mentorship.

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10 key biases skill mapping helps curb

Artifical Intelligence (AI) software doesn’t see people, it sees data points. Turns out this is the key to actually seeing people for who they really are – free of preconceptions and biases. Skill mapping can help curb biases by removing subjectivity from the decision-making processes around hiring, retention, and compensation, focusing on skills and competencies rather than factors that could cause discrimination such as gender, physical abilities or other personal traits.

What types of biases can impact hiring, employee promotion, pay and organizational culture? Here are the most common ones:

• Gender: Gender bias refers to prejudice and discrimination against individuals based on their gender, often leading to unequal opportunities and pay gaps between men and women.

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To this day, the Gender Pay Gap can still be observed. On average, women still earn only 83 cents to the dollar compared to men.

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• Race or Ethnicity: Race bias refers to prejudice and discrimination against individuals based on their race or ethnic background, leading to unequal opportunities and disparities in career progression and compensation.

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Black workers still earn less than their white counterparts: Black workers are earning nearly 24% less per hour on average than white workers, even after controlling for education, experience, and other individual characteristics.

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• Disability: Disability bias refers to prejudice and discrimination against individuals with disabilities, whether they are visible or not.

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People with disabilities form a pool of workers worth tapping into: Employees with disabilities often bring unique skills and perspectives to the workplace, leading to increased productivity and improved overall performance.

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• Personality: Personality bias refers to prejudice and discrimination based on an individual's personality, particularly the extrovert-introvert dichotomy. 

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Types of personality bias phenomena include confirmation bias, stereotyping and the Halo Effect.

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• Age: In the workplace, there may be biases towards employees based on their age, whether they are perceived as too young or too old, which is also referred to as ageism.

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Age isn’t just a number, but it should be: 62% of workers aged 50 and over report to have personally seen or experienced age discrimination at work

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• Sexual Orientation: Bias towards employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identification can occur across all industries.

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LGBTQ workers face significant barriers to employment: 1/4 report being fired, denied a promotion, or experience some form of mistreatment in the workplace due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

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• Religion: This refers to bias towards employees based on their religious beliefs, practices or affiliations.

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By law, employers must make reasonable accommodations for employees’ religious practices. However, unconscious bias throughout the hiring and interviewing process can still happen and are hard to discern.

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• Existing relationship: While building a valuable network can sometimes be merit-based (especially when relating to sales skills), bias towards employees who have relations with decision makers can take the form of favoritism, nepotism or cronyism.

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Favoritism happens no matter how experienced you are: In a survey of 303 US executives, 56% admitted to having favorite candidates and 96% of them would hire or promote their favorites rather than consider their professional abilities.

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By focusing on data rather than personal biases, AI technology can help eliminate discrimination and promote fairness in hiring, retention and compensation — making you an equal opportunity champion!

Making hiring, retention, and compensation more skill-centric and equal

Skills are often evaluated based on an employee’s years of experience or education. However, experience does not always equate to mastery. After all, some people will need five years to master a skill while some, who may be fast learners, may only need two. Applying a skill-centric approach ensures hiring managers focus on competency mapping rather than arbitrary data points like years occupying a particular job and title.

79% of HR professionals agree that unconscious bias exists in both recruitment and succession planning decisions. By embracing skill mapping and making it a core part of HR processes, organizations can thus create more equitable work environments and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

As an employer, the key is to work towards equality of opportunity rather than equality of outcome.

Compensation sees the most inequality between gender! 60% of women admit to having never negotiated their salary and rather change jobs for a better pay — while men are more likely to ask for a raise. Using skillstech can help achieve fairer outcomes based on true performance rather than a person’s abilities to negotiate a salary.

This shift towards a data-driven, skill-centric approach can help close the gender pay gap, provide better visibility and mobility opportunities for employees, and help connect employees with the right mentorship and learning opportunities to help them grow and develop.

Jumping into the future of hiring

Equity in the workplace is achievable. Workleap's skill mapping technology works by creating a clear and comprehensive picture of an employee's skills and competencies. By doing this, personal bias is removed from the equation and ensures that employee promotions and compensations are based on merit and skill, rather than favoritism or political alliances.

Workleap Skills also helps create an equitable work environment by providing a clear and transparent process for employee promotion, which helps to break down the barriers that often prevent underrepresented groups from advancing in their careers. By painting a comprehensive picture of their skill set, employees can see exactly what they need to work on to reach the next level in their careers. This not only empowers employees to take control of their own careers, but also helps create a more diverse and inclusive workplace. 

In a climate where DEI in the workplace is non-negotiable, data-driven and biased-free tools are no longer unaffordable — and a must. By embracing tech solutions, companies are able to leap towards creating a more diverse, inclusive, equitable and successful future for their employees.

Ready to become an equal opportunity employer? Get in touch with our team to book a demo.

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What's in this article

• 3 reasons why modern businesses need to get smarter with hiring and retaining talent.
• 3 benefits of shifting from a role-based organization to a skills-based organization
• 3 modern companies leveraging skill mapping to leapfrog their competition
• How to get started with skill mapping at your organization

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably feeling the pressure of economic headwinds. After a historic bull run fueled by a cocktail of interest rates and government subsidies, the recession is most likely starting to hit the economy and your industry with full force. Yes, the world of work is shifting once again, creating new business imperatives for big corporations and SMBs alike. And one of the top imperatives for 2023 and beyond? Upskilling employees to prepare them for an uncertain future.

In this new economy where overhiring is being replaced by hiring freezes and layoffs, companies need to do more with less. Maximizing the output and talent of existing workers by developing their skills instead of hiring new employees will become the default strategy and, for those who master it, a competitive advantage for the future.

3 reasons why modern businesses need to get smarter with hiring and retaining talent.

Business realities and employee expectations have changed significantly in the past few years. Companies that want to thrive now and into the future must shift their approach to hiring and retaining talent, and adapt to this new reality. Here are 3 key reasons why organizations big and small need to adjust their hiring and retention strategies:

1. The labor shortage market

Employers face a complex labor market as we navigate a recession, mass layoffs, and a labor shortage all at once. As baby boomers retire, the population of working-age people is decreasing in most developed economies. Not only that, but millennials and Gen Zers are more likely to seek out part-time and gig work rather than full-time, permanent roles.

This all means that hiring top talent is as challenging as ever, making it that much more critical to hire the right people to begin with. And once you’ve hired them, you need to offer an exceptional employee experience — with growth, development, and learning opportunities — if you want to keep them around.

2. A tough fundraising market

Raising capital has become increasingly difficult for startups and scale-ups over the last year. VC funding dropped with each quarter that passed, and now many small to midsize businesses are feeling the pressure to perform.

But funders aren’t looking for a flashy pitch deck and hiring spree — they want to see a solid foundation, product-market fit, an extended runway, and a team that’s well-equipped to succeed. Now is a time to do more with less, rather than arbitrarily growing your headcount. As TechCrunch put it:

“In 2023, we will see two worlds emerge. The companies with the best talent, products and positioning will command capital at normalized market prices, and everyone else will experience a depressed market.”

3. The need for more generalists

Gone are the days of a hyper-growth hiring approach with long lists of open roles. Companies of all sizes today might not be able to afford to hire technical experts in niche functions, so it’s time to shift the focus from specialists (depth of skills) to generalists (breadth of skills) — also known as ‘T-Shaped’ employees.

For the early growth stage of a business, teams of generalists are well equipped to tackle complex problems and work collaboratively towards common goals. Even at larger organizations, people with dynamic skill sets are more adaptable to change, and more resilient in the face of adversity.

Today, the best recruitment and retainment strategies are all about investing in employee learning, development, and experience. It’s essential to both build the strengths of current employees, and hire culture-add candidates with dynamic and cross-functional skill sets.

3 benefits of shifting from a role-based organization to a skills-based organization

What does a focus on skills development and strengthening your existing workforce look like in practice? One of the best starting points is to map the skill sets on your team, to get a sense of where you stand, what your strengths are, and where you need to focus more attention. Here are 3 benefits to becoming a skills-oriented workplace:

1.  Building a more agile company  

When the focus is less on each person’s job title and description and more on the broad skill set they possess, it’s easier to improve your team’s velocity and efficiency. Skills mapping gives you a 360 view of your organization, helping you unlock the potential of every employee and team. As priorities, goals, and markets shift, your business will be adaptable enough to keep up — outpacing the bigger, slower competition.

2. Building a flatter organization and culture of ownership 

Alongside agility, a skills-based approach breaks down hierarchy and breeds autonomy as people cling less closely to titles. This helps flatten your org chart, encouraging employees to see one another as collaborators rather than authority figures. Instead of asking for permission from higher-ups, teams take ownership and accountability of their deliverables and objectives.

3. Accelerating your talents 

Finally, fostering a culture of learning and development at your organization encourages a spirit of intrapreneurship. When people feel empowered to upskill and reskill on the job, they’re more likely to see a real future with your company. Your team members will not only be more engaged at work — they’ll grow faster, in turn becoming more valuable as employees. Simply put, what’s good for your people is also good for your bottom line.

3 modern companies leveraging skill mapping to leapfrog their competition

Looking for inspiration from other organizations that have taken a skills-based approach? Here are 3 companies that doubled down on employee skills development:

1. Shopify

Next up, Shopify takes employee growth and skills development seriously. Cross-skilling is something they’ve long since encouraged, having had an internal movement team in place since before the pandemic. This team’s mandate is to help employees understand the internal opportunities available to them and make it easier for them to pursue those opportunities.

Shopify prides itself on encouraging employees to develop new skill sets and seek out learning opportunities within the organization. And, they’re dedicated to keeping their talent’s skill sets sharp, even implementing a re-training program for developers returning from extended leaves of absence.

2. Unilever

Employee upskilling and reskilling are a pillar of Unilever’s company culture. A global leader of consumer goods, Unilever is committed to keeping their employees engaged, performing, and up-to-date on the skills they need to thrive at work. Unilever’s skills mapping and development program begins with employees narrowing in on their purpose. In their own words:

Once employees have pinpointed what gives them a sense of meaning at work, they can develop a career path and outline the skills and strengths they need to develop. From there, they join the company’s bespoke learning hub with personalized learning materials. Employees can also pursue hands-on training and development through working on special projects with other teams.

3. Adobe

Mapping out career paths and offering on-the-job training and development is central to Adobe Systems’ employer brand. In particular, Adobe is committed to welcoming new graduates and employees early in their career, supporting them in envisioning their future. While many major players focus on recruiting more established talent, Adobe invests in the next generation to keep the business one step ahead of the competition.

To set new recruits up for success, Adobe uses their “Check-In” system, developed to replace annual performance reviews. This gives new employees a chance to reflect on their skills and consider where they might want to develop. Check-In is a space where employees can set and track goals, receive performance feedback, and explore opportunities for internal mobility and advancement at Adobe.

How to get started with skill mapping at your organization

Larger corporations like the examples above might have the time and money to develop large-scale upskilling programs. But that doesn’t mean small and medium-sized businesses can’t also build — and reap the benefits of — a skills-oriented company culture.

More than ever, companies must do more with less to survive and thrive in this new economy. And at Workleap Skills, we believe organizations of all sizes should be able to understand their employees’ skill sets, and maximize the value of their workforce. That’s why we’re empowering companies to map out employee skills, get to know their strengths, and spot opportunities for growth.

3 strategies to start skill mapping your workforce

1. Assess your team members: Have employees self-assess and peer-evaluate both their hard and soft skills. This gives them a clear view of their skill set beyond their job description, helping them see potential growth paths. And, it gives managers and leadership an overview of the skills represented in your teams.
2. Uncover your team’s strengths: With the data gathered from your assessment, you’ll start to notice where your employees and teams really shine. This is valuable information that you can use to best empower your workforce. You can use employee strengths to develop work methods, company values, and even business priorities.
3. Spot opportunities for growth: What’s missing in your skills map? Pinpointing the skills that are lacking in your organization helps you plan for the future. Which of the skills that are less represented would really add value to your business? Use that to guide your training efforts for existing employees and what you look for in new hires.

Reskilling and upskilling are no longer a nice-to-have in this changing economy. They are a must-have for organizations that want to grow their teams efficiently and retain their top talents. Profitability is the new ‘growth’, and maximizing resources is the new business imperative. Investing in your talents is not only a sound strategy in the short term to navigate tougher times, it's also the cornerstone to building a more resilient workforce that will become the most defensible competitive advantage of your business for years to come.

Curious to know more about the skills-oriented future of work we envision at Workleap Skills? Book a demo with one of our product specialists to chat more about skills mapping at your organization.

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What's in this article

• The challenges of M&A
• Using skill mapping to ensure a successful post-acquisition workforce integration
• How to use skill mapping for a successful post-acquisition workforce integration
• Workleap Skills helps remove the guesswork from M&A deals

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Mergers and acquisitions can be formidable chess moves that propel organizations forward. Think Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn or Facebook's acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. M&As can also all too often spell disaster, like NewsCorp’s spectacular fall with its MySpace sell or the very Googled Yahoo-Tumblr Failed Acquisition. 

On paper, the courtship between two organizations can look highly synergistic and very promising. But if the peanut butter and jelly doesn’t gel well, then you're toast. 

(Yes, the dad jokes are strong today.)

What makes or breaks beautiful M&A promises? People. It’s the employees, not the numbers, that make a business. In reality, M&A success is a function of the seamless integration of employees post-acquisition. Only then you can unlock true synergy (and make bankers deserve their bonuses).

According to a Harvard Business Review report highlighted in The Big Idea: The New M&A Playbook, between 70% and 90% of mergers and acquisitions fail to deliver their expected value. A major reason is the challenge of integrating two separate workforces into one harmonious team. Without a well-planned integration strategy, the post-acquisition transition can be a total disaster. 

Integration is the key to a successful transition and unlocking synergies. Thankfully, companies can ensure a perfect match of talents for a successful (and smooth) post-acquisition transition with skill mapping.

In this article, we'll explore how companies like yours can use skill mapping to ensure a smooth and successful post-merger workforce integration.

The challenges of M&A

Playing a great game of chess requires foresight, coordination and a solid understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each piece on both sides.. In the same way, M&A can be complex, and without the right strategy or planning, they can be even more time-consuming and expensive than you could’ve anticipated.

Culture fit: Merging companies with different cultures can feel like putting a square peg through a round hole. Conflicts or differences in values, work styles, and communication styles can lead to tension and hinder collaboration. It’s estimated that between 50—75% of mergers fail because of culture clashes alone.

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🤼 Culture clash scenario: Say Company A has a laid-back and casual culture that values open communication and collaboration. Their employees enjoy flexible and remote work options. Company B however is traditional with a culture that values structure and hierarchy. 

When these two companies merge, Company A's employees may feel stifled by Company B's rigid mentality, while Company B's employees may feel disorganized in Company A's more abstract structure. This can create an ‘us versus them’ internal culture HR leaders want to avoid.

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• Changing roles and responsibilities: The post-acquisition transition can be a tricky move. In many cases, employees' roles and responsibilities will change after an acquisition. This can lead to—you guessed it—confusion, frustration, and a decrease in productivity.

• Redundancies: In some cases, there may be overlap between the two companies' workforces. How do you deal with two CFOs? Ill-managed redundancies lead to layoffs—a difficult reality for employees, that can cause emotional distress and damage a company's reputation.
• Post-acquisition turnover: If employees are unhappy with their new roles or feel undervalued, they may leave the company. This can be costly and impact the company's ability to deliver value from the acquisition.

Using skill mapping to ensure a successful post-acquisition workforce integration

Skill mapping is a process of identifying and assessing the skills and competencies of the workforce—like tuning each instrument in an orchestra. 

What companies can look to achieve using skill mapping:

1. Identify skills gaps: Skill mapping helps companies recognize areas where they lack expertise or talent, and a skills-based approach can help you better leverage a "build-buy-partner" framework to identify where to invest both internally and externally. This helps keep recruitment efforts focused, ensuring the right people are on board. ​​
2. Evaluate target companies: During due diligence (which occurs during the evaluation phase of the acquiring & merging), skill mapping helps companies assess the target company's workforce and identify areas of complementarity. This can help them make more informed decisions about whether to proceed with the acquisition.
3. Integrate the acquired company's workforce: After the acquisition, skill mapping can be used to integrate the acquired company's workforce into the existing organization. This ensures that employees are deployed in roles that align with their skills and interests, reducing the risk of post-acquisition turnover.

How to use skill mapping for a successful post-acquisition workforce integration

Employees are the heartbeat of organizations. Their skills are therefore critical to an M&A deal. Beyond valuable IP, companies first and foremost acquire smaller companies for their know-how, culture, processes, and skills... in other words, their people! 

Skill mapping, the understanding of what the key strengths and gaps are across the acquiring and acquired companies, is a surefire way to plan your consolidated workforce and understand how to best integrate newly acquired teammates.

Remember to consider the following:

Before the acquisition:

• Map your organization's skills: The first step in using skill mapping is to map your organization's skills. This will help you identify areas where you may be lacking in expertise or talent.

• Identify skills gaps: Once you've mapped your organization's skills, you can identify areas where you have skills gaps. This can help you focus your recruitment efforts and ensure that you have the right people in place to achieve your goals.

• Evaluate your options: If you've identified skills gaps, you'll need to evaluate your options for filling them. You can use a Build-Buy-Partner framework to evaluate your options. If buying is the most strategic decision, a clear assessment of your skills and gaps will help you narrow down on targets that are complementary—not just in terms of IP but also in terms of people.

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👀 The importance of pre-acquisition analysis
If you're acquiring a company that specializes in a particular technology or product, you'll want to assess whether their workforce has the skills to integrate with your own technology stack or whether you'll need to hire additional personnel. Skill mapping can help you identify these gaps early on and develop a plan to address them — and help you foresee the cost of needed investment in technology and hiring short and long-term. These insights might help shed light on whether to move forward or not.

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During the acquisition:

• Use skill mapping to assess the target company's workforce: This is a crucial step that can save companies from unpleasant surprises during the integration process. Assessing the target company's workforce will allow you to identify the skills gaps and overlaps, which can help you better determine the post-acquisition structure of the organization.
• Evaluate cultural fit: Culture fit is critical to the success of any M&A deal. The target company's culture needs to be evaluated in detail to ensure that it aligns with the acquiring company's culture. Differences in corporate cultures can lead to conflicts and a lack of cohesion among the workforce, which can ultimately affect productivity and hinder the success of the deal.
• Establish clear communication channels: Communication is key during the acquisition process. You'll need to establish clear communication channels between the acquiring and target companies to keep everyone on the same page. It's essential to keep everyone informed of any changes and progress made in the integration process. Setting up regular meetings and communication channels can help ensure that all parties are informed and on the same page throughout the integration process.

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📣 From announcement, to milestone communication, to narrative building, an M&A communication strategy can be complex and its own headache. McKinsey outlines an easy blueprint for both internal and external communication strategy to accompany the M&A process here.

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After the acquisition:

• Facilitate and accelerate the integration process using skill mapping: After the acquisition, you'll need to integrate the target company's workforce into the acquiring company's culture and structure. This process can be challenging and time-consuming, but skill mapping can help accelerate the process. By assessing the acquired company's workforce and identifying their skills, you can more easily integrate them into your own organization and put their talents to work in a way that benefits both parties. This can help to reduce frustration among employees and increase the likelihood of retaining key talent.

• Establish a clear post-acquisition plan: It's important to establish a clear post-acquisition plan to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that the integration process runs smoothly. This plan should outline the post-acquisition structure of the organization, including roles and responsibilities, and should be communicated to all employees. Having a clear plan in place can help to reduce confusion and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals.

There are many success stories of M&As out there, and a skills-based approach can help companies reduce uncertainty and risk during the integration process. 

Let skill mapping be the roadmap to identifying skill gaps, evaluating cultural fit, and speeding up the integration process. — helping you achieve a smooth transition and boost your chances of success. 

Remember, M&A is a high-stakes game, and the stakes are only getting higher. In 2022 alone, the total value of M&A deals worldwide amounted to 3.8 trillion. But with the right approach and tools, companies can gain a significant advantage in the market and position themselves for success in the future.

Workleap Skills helps remove the guesswork from M&A deals 

Like a dance, M&As are about knowing what strengths to play off of your partner in order for both parties to come together in shared rhythm and harmony. But sometimes, there are beats and steps harder to master, and that's where Skills comes in. 

We help identify the skills gaps and cultural differences between acquiring and target companies. By mapping out the skills and evaluating cultural fit, you can ensure that everyone is dancing to the same tune. Sign up for a free trial!