A robust approach to employee skill and knowledge development

Purpose – To explain and demonstrate an interactive approach to skill development and knowledge attainment that may serve varied purposes for employee learning and development. Design/methodology/approach – The paper explains in detail and demonstrates the process of skill charting. Skill charting is an interactive, constructivist approach to learning. The process, as a training design, is contrasted with a more traditional training design to demonstrate how performance was improved. Findings – Team leaders trained with skill charting performed more effectively, in general, with regard to several performance behaviors than did a comparable group of team leaders trained with other methods. The findings support the efficacy of skill charting as a process. Practical implications – The skill charting process as presented in this paper adds to the tool‐box of the professional trainer, the human resources specialist, and managers. The process, as a sequence of events, offers a template for a variety of employee development activities. The process can be used for training purposes, for exploration of new skills, for some change initiative, and for other purposes. The approach involves employees directly in performance improvement as well as increasing the likelihood that changes in work practices will achieve greater employee acceptance. Originality/value – The skills‐charting process offers a practical tool and multi‐faceted resource. While related to quality improvement tools such as the Affinity Diagram and the Relationship Diagram, the process offers a wide range of training and development possibilities that spring from graphical and representational origins. The grounding of the approach in transformative and constructivist learning concepts establishes strong motivational prompts for participants.