In most labs, the issue is not a lack of work. Rather, it’s a lack of clarity about how best to deploy the right people with the right skills to do it. With finite capacity and shifting stakeholder demands, lab managers must make deliberate decisions about which skills are developed and when to apply them. That makes skill visibility and management a core operational priority. To support those decisions, lab managers can turn to a skills proficiency matrix. The matrix shows which lab staff members can contribute to the most important lab activities based on their proficiency levels. Developing a useful proficiency matrix can provide additional capacity and flexibility for the lab.
Hidden risks
Labs often develop bad habits in how they segment and assign work. One or two people develop significant expertise in a specific lab activity, and then they receive all the work related to it. The lab becomes overly reliant on their contributions, while those individuals begin to develop a narrow work identity tied to those specific techniques. The result is a series of risks that can be avoided, including bottlenecks, limited capacity, delays, and operational fragility. The staff risk burnout, overuse, a lack of career growth, and an inability to truly detach from the work. Developing a proficiency matrix helps lab managers recognize these situations and make decisions to spread out the knowledge and workload to match the lab’s needs.
Benefits of a skills proficiency matrix
Developing effective skill proficiency matrices produces benefits for the lab and the staff. From the lab’s perspective, developing a larger pool of contributors to important lab activities increases capacity for peak needs, improves scheduling flexibility, reduces single points of failure, and enables the lab to be more agile in the face of unexpected workload changes. An effective proficiency matrix helps lab managers make better decisions faster. As priorities and needs change, lab leaders already know what options exist and have more ways to get important and urgent work completed.
The lab manager can also realize strategic benefits for the lab, including aligning capabilities with future needs, developing data to guide training and development activities, and informing succession planning. In this way, the proficiency matrix is both a source of data to support decision-making and a place to ask important questions about the lab's growth and development.
The lab staff also benefits from an effective proficiency matrix. They can see transparent career growth pathways, advocate for training and development that the lab needs and that interests them, and experience a more balanced distribution of work.
Building a skills proficiency matrix
Define the scope
As with most new activities in the lab, it is useful to start small, learn, adapt, and then scale up. Pick a single team or function and identify the most critical activities in their sphere of responsibility. These may be tasks, methods, instruments, workflows, assays, or a range of other things. A proficiency matrix is only useful if it contributes to priority decisions. Don’t fill it with loads of low-priority or rarely done activities.
Proficiency levels
Most proficiency matrices are built using four levels, although you should do what your lab requires. A common approach is to use these four levels:
- 1. Basic or no knowledge
- 2. Operator – can do the task, but may need help analyzing the results
- 3. Practitioner – can effectively deliver the work and communicate about the results
- 4. Subject matter expert (SME) – can develop new methods and innovate in this space
Keep the definitions simple and consistent across the lab.
Populate the matrix
Assign lab staff the appropriate proficiency level for each of the critical skills. Use a combination of self-assessment and manager assignment. Iterate to resolve any disagreements. It is important for staff to self-assess because they may have skills that haven’t yet been used in the lab.
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Validate and calibrate
Managers need to verify the proficiencies so that they can confidently assign work based on the matrix. It is great to have evidence to support the matrix, like certifications, training records, and proficiency testing. Align the approach to ratings across all lab leadership. This is not a beauty contest. It needs to be practical and reflect reality. It is vital that egos, inflation, and inconsistency be kept out of the matrix.
Using the proficiency matrix
Improving lab operations
When the lab's demands change, lab leaders can use the matrix to distribute work more evenly and fairly to meet stakeholders' requirements. This operational agility allows for faster and better decisions, especially under unusual circumstances like high-task workload, unexpected absences, or key staff leaving the lab. The matrix contains all the people who can contribute to the work.
Developing staff
The matrix is a visual tool that identifies gaps and risks. Look for critical activities that have only one or two names, or skills with no expert coverage. These indicate priorities for additional training. Most of this training and development can be done internally through cross-training. It also provides a guide for career development conversations with staff. These could include a mixture of skill growth, increasing the proficiency of an existing skill, or the development of a needed new skill. Ongoing training and development lead to greater employee engagement and higher retention.
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Cross-training
Pair learners with teachers. Some practitioners and all SMEs can be counted on as trainers of that critical skill. Provide sufficient time for training to occur and include goals for both the learner and the trainer in their annual SMART objectives. Shadowing and on-the-job training are effective approaches to cross-training. Have a plan for learners to regularly use the new skills. Training just to train is a waste of everyone’s time.
Tips for success
The best approach to a proficiency matrix is to focus on critical skills. Don’t dilute it with low-priority activities. Find the right balance between specialization and redundancy. The lab needs flexibility, but not everyone needs to know everything. The lab may also need some very specialized experts who are not distracted by adjacent skills. Make the matrix a living tool. Update it with new critical needs and staff changes. A good practice is to update it twice a year, corresponding to interim and annual reviews. Celebrate new training that elevates skills or builds new ones. Be transparent. Share the matrix with the team, so everyone knows what is critical and who to turn to in a crisis.
Developing a useful skills proficiency matrix can be a great help to lab managers needing to make critical priority and delivery decisions. Having readily available reference on how to deal with unexpected situations to get the right people doing the needed work quickly enables the lab to delight their stakeholders.
