Skill levels are a great way to identify skill gaps that are impacting performance - both individually and company-wide - and to set clear expectations about required proficiencies to be successful in a role.
Skill levels are universally applied to all skills. This means that all skills for all users will have the same number of skill levels, with the same labels and descriptions.
Deleting skill levels once they've been set up will disassociate skills from users and content. This means you'll need to decide carefully if and how you want to implement them, or if you want to keep the default set up of 'Achieved' or 'Not achieved.' This article will provide guidance on deciding between these approaches and how to set them up.
In this video, I'll explain the default 'Achieved/Not achieved' settings and the steps to set up additional skill levels.
In this article we'll explore:
What is the best way for me to implement skill levels?
Default Skills Assessment
By default, all skills use a simple 'Achieved' or 'Not achieved' status. This makes it easy to track skills and spot gaps without adding extra complexity.
This approach works well for organisations with high staff turnover, seasonal hiring, smaller teams, or fast-paced environments with a lot of change.
You don’t need to do anything to use this model - each skill is automatically set to ‘Not achieved’ with the target of 'Achieved'. Users will see whether they have a skill or not on their Skills dashboard. They can update this through self-assessment, or it can be updated automatically using automatic skill boosting.
Skill levels
Skill levels let you show how developed a skill is and how close someone is to meeting a target.
They give more insight, but also add complexity. You’ll need to define each level clearly, create supporting content, and provide ways to track progress over time.
Once skill levels are set up, you can Automate skill progression using skill boosting and Learners can Self-assess Skill levels by requesting and approving changes.
How to set up skill levels
Things to note before setting up skill levels:
- You can have up to 7 skill levels in Learn, each with its own name and description
- A skill level description is universal to all skills and is not bespoke to each skill
- The default level is set as 'Achieved'. You can only edit this once one or more new levels have been added and saved.
- Navigate to Settings
- Select Skills
- Select Add another level.
- Give the level a label and description
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Select Add
- Continue adding up to 7 skill levels, then select Save to store your new levels. This will allow you to edit the default skill level 1
- Edit the default level label and description if required. Once complete, select Save again
Discover more about Skills
Need quick answers? Check out the FAQ articles - they're packed with common questions and quick answers:
If you're ready to dive deeper into Skills, visit The Academy and check out the Skills Readiness Journey ebook to learn how to make Skills work for your organisation. Also in The Academy:
- Scaling Skills: From quick wins to future-ready workforce
- Skills: Basics, buy-in, and getting started
- Skills: playbooks to get you started
Don't have your Academy account yet? Contact your Customer Experience Manager or the Support Team to sign up today.