Skills-based frameworks are replacing traditional roles to improve hiring accuracy, agility, and workforce development. Success depends on strong skill taxonomies, ethical tech use, and a culture that values continuous learning.

Technological disruptions and shifting workforce expectations continue to expose the limitations of traditional, role-based talent frameworks. The shift is accelerating rapidly, and for good reason – 90% of companies leveraging skills-based hiring methods report reductions in mis-hires, with 94% reporting that skills are more predictive of on-the-job success than resumes, according to ADP. Companies that embrace skills-based frameworks are positioning themselves for a future where work is fluid and talent is mobile; one where static job titles are replaced with more adaptable indicators of competency, truly tapping into the agility, productivity, and sustainable growth needed to succeed in today’s market conditions.

Despite that, there’s still much work to be done for HR teams globally to push their organizations in a more innovative direction. Mindsets can often lag behind reality, as reported in a recent Connex Panel about skills-based frameworks. “The biggest challenge is moving mindsets from role- or job-based thinking to skills-based thinking,” explained Jade White, Head of Talent at Novartis Business Services. Sometimes that comes down to language: “They’ll call them competencies, or any number of things […] but as they describe it, you can start to map them.”

From Job Titles to Skill Taxonomies

To unify an organization’s understanding, support, and language for skills-based frameworks, HR leaders first must take steps towards formalizing skill taxonomies. The process can be less complex than the name might imply. As outlined by LinkedIn’s Talent Blog, it often starts with a thorough cataloging of skills necessary for each role, before progressing to identifying clusters of skills that are organically related to one another, and finally to shifting the view of these taxonomies to those of a fluid inventory of skill hierarchies.

The process is often more time-consuming than it is difficult, though that can be streamlined with the right resources. “Technology has helped democratize that [process and] conversation,” added White. For example, the proliferation of “talent marketplace” solutions can help organizations define their skills sandbox and use it to find, hire, and manage talent more efficiently – both existing and incoming. That said, having the right tools and frameworks is only half the battle.

Technology’s Role: Enabler, Not Panacea

While direct integration of talent marketplace tools with an employer’s HRIS and LMS is exceptionally valuable, it’s no substitute for genuine human judgment. This is doubly true as each of these resources continues to layer on AI-assisted features, none of which can ever be fully scrubbed of bias or hallucination. Human validation remains key to avoiding errors and ensuring genuine progress.

Furthermore, by centering managers, teams, and employees throughout all talent management processes, organizations reinforce the idea that these tools are being used ethically and with good intentions. Employees, and especially top performers, want to invest in their professional skillsets, learn, and stretch the limits of their practical experience, but those sentiments can be deeply undercut if they feel their capabilities and utility are coldly determined by some hidden algorithm. To succeed, HR leaders must take the efficiency gains of talent management technologies and reinvest their time in the “human” element of human resources.

Data integrity and governance also take on amplified and outsized importance in this new AI-driven talent paradigm. Without in-built flexibility when skills change and reliable data validation, skills-driven compensation, mobility, and succession lose their edge. As White candidly summarized, “Predictive workforce planning is only going to be as good as the data that you have.” Investing in a strong governance model addresses accuracy, validation frequency, and security compliance concerns, setting the stage for technology-enhanced workforce excellence.

Building a Skills-Driven Culture

As with any initiative, it’s the cultural adoption and socialization of the change that drives sustained impact. In the case of skills-based talent frameworks, however, there are some unique considerations to keep in mind.

Firstly, organizations need to alter the process of cultivating psychologically safe environments where employees can pursue growth without fear or judgment. The usual elements still apply – leaders setting the tone by modeling vulnerability, celebrating failure through lessons learned, and championing continuous development – but layered atop is reassurance that capabilities and learning trump credentials and legacy. Doing so requires truly unwavering candor and consistent communication from team leads, with clear answers for “why”: why are these skills necessary for this role and the org’s success, why are these actions the barometer for assessing performance, and why are these learning tasks the optimal way to refine them further?

Secondly, cross-functional networking becomes not just a tool for change socialization, but a vital component of skills development. As explained by Danford Kern, Chief People Officer for Civil Air Patrol and fellow panelist, “Create that process to get [HiPos] into leadership development opportunities, assign them a coach, and give them a mentor. […] Broaden their opportunities to [include] other places [in the organization,] to see some other perspectives. […] Then they’ve had an opportunity to do some upskilling and develop additional skills.” This kind of intentional exposure not only accelerates personal and organizational growth but also strengthens the organization's collective agility and talent pipeline.

From Vision to Practice

White and Kern were joined by two other panelists: David Hawthorne, Chief People Officer for Anchor Point Management, and Jason Staats, CEO for Sun Behavioral Health’s psychiatric treatment facility in Kentucky. All four men intimately understood and conveyed that one of the greatest challenges to achieving a practical, sustainable, and effective skills-based talent framework is actually starting the process. Thankfully, they each imparted valuable advice to audience members.

Kern gave some additional clarity on how these kinds of initiatives can be communicated effectively: “Remind them that it's really just a different taxonomy of things that have been done for a long time. […] We're putting a different spin on it, and technology is allowing us to do it better, but we’ve always hired people for their skills. […] All we're doing now is adding a higher level of granularity and sharing that information across the organization, so that those skills aren't just sitting unused.”

“Something we hit on earlier in the session was mindset,” Hawthorne remarked. “My piece of advice to folks would be taking that mindset and asking people to open up […] to the fact that you don't need to have gone to college and earned a degree. […] If someone possesses the skills, that's really what you're looking for.”

“You also don't have to be a Fortune 500 company to get involved in this,” concluded White. “The beauty of this particular acceleration of technology is that so much of it is free, and no one actually has the full blueprint for how to do this perfectly. There's a ton of stuff out there,” he emphasized, nodding toward LinkedIn and networking resources like Connex as a way to learn. “I heard once that HR is a contact sport,” he continued. “To get really great at it, you just have to get out there and jump in the ring and just keep participating.”

Connex membership is an excellent avenue to do just that – participate in conversations with your peers to uncover how they’re tackling today’s ever-evolving HR challenges. We provide a variety of resources to that end, including access to our exclusive online community, a library of industry content, and a host of virtual and live events. To learn more about becoming a member, complete the form below.