How to Conduct A Gap Analysis For Soft Skills In A Federal Workforce

Gap analysis is critical for all federal agencies and departments to identify skill gaps in their workforce. Identifying these gaps can help management in several areas, i.e., from project/program assignments to developing workforce resilience in an uncertain market. While identifying technical/hard skill gaps in a federal workforce is relatively easy, conducting gap analysis for soft skills can be a bit more challenging. But you can make them relatively easier by following certain steps.

Identify Desired Soft Skills

The first step is to identify the soft skills you need most in the particular workforce/workforce segment. While ideally, all federal workforces should have a desirable level of the most common soft skills, their nature of work may require higher levels of certain skills. For example, departments and agencies that directly interact with the public and stakeholders may need strong communication skills, while teams responsible for project management should possess strong time management and organizational skills. So identifying and, if possible, ranking the desired soft skills should be the first step.

Evaluate Current Skill Level (Individual and Team)

This is the main difference between gap analysis of hard and soft skills. Evaluating soft skills may require behavioral-based interview questions, observations from teammates/managers, or a combination of some other evaluation methods. However, the results may still not be accurate or easily quantifiable. Simulations and roleplaying exercises are good methods to evaluate skills, especially as a team or group, in controlled settings. But they, too, have their limitations. Limiting yourself to the desired soft skills may lead to better results, but most standard personality tests and other soft skill assessments are overarching in nature.

Analyze the Gap

Since quantifying both the desired level of the desired soft skills and current skill levels can be challenging, you may consider an outcome-oriented approach to analyze the gap. For example, if a federal workforce is slightly better at problem-solving, they might face fewer project delays. Similarly, if certain members of the workforce adopt better leadership skills, succession planning might become easier.

However, you don’t just have to analyze or identify deficiencies in the desired soft skills. You also have to consider their placement, concentration, and distribution within the workforce.

Research The Reasons Behind The Gap

Simply identifying the gap (even accurately assessing the scale of these gaps) may not be enough. Researching the reasons behind these gaps may help you generate more useful insights and an impactful action plan. The reasons may include a lack of soft skill training, low morale, lack of the right role model, no emphasis on soft skill development, lack of understanding of the importance of soft skills, etc.

Even though conducting a soft skill gap analysis may be more difficult, it's critical to ensure that a federal workforce is performing at an optimal level. Informal assessments over a long period of time, a strong culture of communication, and perceptive managers can make the process significantly easier, and these positive traits may also go a long way toward bridging the skill gap.