Despite recent geo-political headwinds and slower global growth rates, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have remained remarkably resilient. With ambitious national agendas in place, transformation remains front and centre in the region, driven by expansion in the non-oil sectors and a robust demand in tourism, real estate, transportation, and manufacturing.
The profound effects of massive transformation programmes, as demonstrated by KSA Vision 2030, UAE Vision 2031, and Qatar Vision 2030, combined with accelerating technological and demographic change, have led to a shortage of skilled individuals. Leaders recognise that having well-equipped individuals, with the right skills, at the right time and in the right positions is essential for the region’s sustainable prosperity. Organisations also acknowledge that a skills shortage can pose multiple risks to achieving their strategic objectives, such as delivery delays on major transformation programmes, and compromised delivery quality resulting in subpar outcomes.
Currently, there’s a stark mismatch between skills people have and those required for driving transformation at all levels in the region. This may be due to tight project deadlines that limit opportunities for upskilling, the absence of customised training programmes for the region, challenges faced by educational institutions in adapting to rapid changes, hindering their ability to prepare new generations with necessary skills, and the lack of tools and mechanisms for organisations to measure and address the capability gap effectively.
In the last six years, PwC Middle East assessed over 10,000 employees across more than 20 public sector organisations in the GCC region, and the results revealed notable gaps and significant opportunities for intervention.
Capability assessment as a driver for upskilling
Capability assessment can be a powerful driver for upskilling within organisations. By effectively assessing the skills, competencies, and potential of employees, leaders can identify areas where upskilling is needed to enhance individual and collective performance, and ensure development is focused on the right areas.
It can help identify employees with high potential for growth and advancement within the organisation. By evaluating critical skills, employers can identify individuals who have the capacity to take on more challenging roles in the future. This insight can guide upskilling efforts by focusing on high-potential employees, preparing them for leadership and specialised roles.
Furthermore, capability assessment can provide valuable data to inform strategic workforce planning. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the current workforce, leaders can align upskilling efforts with the strategic goals of the organisation. This ensures that upskilling is not only driven by individual needs, but also supports the overall vision and objectives of the business.
Once capability assessment has identified the areas in which employees need upskilling, organisations can implement targeted upskilling programmes to develop the necessary skills and competencies.
Capability assessment can support a culture of continuous learning and development. By regularly assessing employee skills and competencies, employers communicate the value of ongoing learning and create an environment where employees are encouraged to pursue upskilling opportunities. This helps create a workforce that is adaptable and proactive in acquiring new skills, ultimately contributing to the overall agility, competitiveness, and success of the organisation.
Case Study:
Future-proofing KSA Leaders to achieve transformational objectives
In 2022, a KSA governmental entity launched a transformation initiative that aimed at revisiting its mandate, revamping its strategy, and operating model. Prior to implementing the new strategy and operating model, the leadership at this government entity wanted to forecast and identify skills required to undertake this change and provide its leaders with an equal opportunity to upskill themselves and increase their readiness for the transformation programme. A high-level leadership development approach was set to understand the current leadership capabilities, identify gaps and development areas, and develop targeted high-impact development journeys that would bridge the gaps efficiently and effectively.
Once the high-level approach was agreed upon, the PwC team went on a thorough research journey to detail the approach. Subsequently, this resulted in the creation of a niche assessment and upskilling model relieving the organisation from the cost and time burdens associated with individually assessing all its leaders (almost 5000 employees at that time). This innovative approach is what is called the “organisational-level assessment approach.”
The organisational-level assessment approach used statistical methods, ensuring that a study conducted on a random sample of 600 participants, with a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of 4%, could reliably represent the entire population.
This initiative started with the identification of the random sample size and composition, ensuring that the random sample includes participants of different managerial levels, backgrounds, and sectors. Subsequently, the most critical competencies for the transformation programme were identified. These were then used as a cornerstone for the capability assessment exercise in which the participants’ capabilities were assessed against. Furthermore, these were used to identify the upskilling journeys at a later stage of the initiative.
To conduct the assessments, a full-fledged capability assessment centre had to be established, layouts were designed and selected for the assessment centre. It was equipped with the technological enablers needed to make the capability assessment a success. Furthermore, a mix of capability assessment tools were selected, through a rigorous market study that analysed the advantages and disadvantages of the tools available in the market.
Once the assessment process started, each leader attended an assessment session. The assessment tools used included technical interviews, group case studies, and psychometric tests. Each tool assessed a set of critical competencies and multiple data points were gathered for each competency, enhancing the accuracy of collected data.
After conducting the capability assessment, results for the sample were analysed, and insights were driven around major capability gaps for the population as a whole, and at an organisational level. After the capability gaps were prioritised based on size and complexity, upskilling journeys were created for each managerial level to bridge the gaps and increase leaders’ readiness for the transformation programme, with the readiness estimated to increase from 60% to 90%.
Challenges when Leveraging Capability Assessments for Upskilling
As mentioned in this report, upskilling initiatives using capability assessment can reap great benefits when conducted correctly. However, when these initiatives fail to deliver according to plan, they can lead to a loss in time and money.
Join the movement
As the region transitions to a knowledge economy, organisations have a significant role in prioritising workplace upskilling. Despite efforts by educational and training institutions to bridge the gap, there is still a distance to cover. Employees are increasingly looking to their employers to provide essential training for future readiness.
At PwC Middle East, we have helped organisations across the region in making accurate talent management decisions by establishing assessment centres and evaluating more than 10,000 employees across the public sector. Through the transfer of knowledge to their respective teams, we have taken necessary measures to ensure the longevity and sustainability of these centres beyond our involvement. Our collaboration with PwC’s Academy Middle East has also helped develop and deliver targeted training programmes, providing end-to-end solutions.
Additionally, our EMEA initiative to set up the Centre for Transformative Leadership, which we launched in 2023, will help us draw on the knowledge from International experts to develop region-specific solutions. This initiative will facilitate knowledge exchange and collective effort to address the upskilling challenge, paving the way for improved leadership capabilities and enhanced organisational performance across the region.”
Eyhab Abdeen
Middle East People & Organisation Leader
Find out more about these challenges and how to overcome them in our report
