Key skills vital for specialist roles

Published:

AS ANY company grows, its needs and objectives will undoubtedly change.

For a variety of reasons, many developing organisations may not appoint new staff members with specialist qualifications.

This can often lead to existing employees taking on – or falling into – a particular role within the organisation almost by default.

One of the most common cases is when someone has been with a new company from its inception.

They develop along with the business and soon find that part of their responsibility is for an area such as human resources or health and safety.

In this situation, there is real potential for issues to arise, and the backlash from these can often reach far further than within the organisation itself.

If a person has been tasked with a human-resources role, for example, and any issues are not addressed or correct systems are not put in place to meet the correct legislation and guidelines, there is the likelihood that employee tribunals and disputes could arise.

Susan Garvie, managing director of Aberdeen-headquartered Evolve Training – which specialises in offering training to people who find themselves in just this situation – believes this is a growing area that employers should be paying particularly close attention to.

She said: “We are finding that, as companies grow or contract in size, especially during these uneasy times, employees may find that their role changes and they are moved into a supervisory position and given extra responsibilities.

“Through a lack of knowledge or understanding of the new position, they may well turn out to be an ineffective supervisor. Quite often, this is because they do not possess the key skills or confidence required to successfully carry out their role.

“When they find themselves in this position, the new supervisor will rarely ask for help as they feel they may lose face with their managers. If they continue to struggle with the role, they will, in many cases, become withdrawn and may even end up leaving the company.

“Situations like this can obviously have an adverse effect on the whole organisation as the staff will lack vision and guidance, with performance ultimately suffering.”