British Council goes global with online employee skills assessment system

The marketing and communications skills of British Council employees in 109 countries are to be improved through their implementation of a new web-based system that analyses their capabilities and manages skills.

Capability Matrix from learning development specialists MyKnowledgeMap (MKM) is a customisable online capability and skills management system that allows users to create, manage and deliver custom skills gap assessments for their organisations.

A pilot of the system has been in use since last year in British Council offices in North and Central Europe to identify gaps in employees’ marketing and communication skills and help them perform to the best of their ability.

The pilot was designed to test the implementation of the system in locations where users of different nationalities would need to use the tool unsupported and without guidance once launched to employees globally.

Sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations with the remit of building mutually beneficial relationships between people in the UK and other countries.
The organisation employs people of many different nationalities all over the world. For this reason, the implementation of a capability management system needed to be easy-to-use and easy-to-understand.

For the British Council, Capability Matrix has been pre-loaded with competencies based on the professional marketing standards of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) as well as Council-devised competencies for communication skills.

The system has been praised for its clear, straightforward design and global usability.

"As our workforce is geographically dispersed across 220 offices, we needed a system that could help us to see what capacity we had at each level and where it could be deployed," says Sumathi Jayaraman, corporate marketing strategy manager for the British Council.

"People have been really impressed with the system. The concept is fantastic."

Its successful execution at pilot stage has now prompted the imminent implementation of the Capability Matrix throughout the British Council worldwide.

Further information on Capability Matrix at www.myknowledgemap.com
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Notes for Editors:

About Capability Matrix

Capability Matrix is a customisable online capability and skills management system. Its flexibility allows users to create, manage and deliver custom skills gap assessments for their organisations. Core benefits include the means of:
• creating capability and training needs assessments based on nationally recognised competency maps (National Occupational Standards);
• creating customisable assessments and targets;
• establishing capability targets set by job-role or team;
• enabling delivery of assessments and producing individual capability reports;
• producing in-depth organisational reports identifying what capabilities are available and where they are concentrated;
• identifying where training should be targeted;
• scoping in on team or job functions for detailed views of capabilities and training needs.

About MyKnowledgeMap

Founded in 2000, MyKnowledgeMap (often known as MKM) is a dynamic company delivering web-based knowledge systems designed by individuals, for the individual. Operating in the corporate, public and education sectors, MKM's range of products and services includes:
• Academies: MKM is the UK's leading supplier of infrastructure systems for national skill academies, including those in the UK for food & drink manufacturing, sport & active leisure, care, and retail. MKM's e-academy infrastructure helps learners and people with a stake in a particular skill to progress from entry to degree level. Working with the UK's national Sector Skills Councils (MKM's clients include Skillsmart Retail, Improve and SkillsActive. MKM has pioneered online academies that can help people with everything from day-to-day productivity to discovering and achieving relevant qualifications. MKM also offers e-academies tailored to the needs of organisations in the private and local government sectors.
• Skills diagnostics: MKM's Skills Diagnostic suite allows clients to build their own system of skills diagnosis and training regimens. Its sophisticated software tools are designed to meet clients' specific needs, and to facilitate, not impose, the required solutions.
• Learning: MKM's e-learning solutions, including e-learning content, delivery systems and teaching aids, are used by a worldwide and growing range of organisations from Lloyds TSB to the RSPB; from manufacturing to retailing; from the police to local authorities; from the University of York to colleges in Delhi, Bahrain and Nairobi. MKM produces inventive and versatile applications that are can be shaped and contextualised by their users to meet the rapidly-changing needs of contemporary work and training, either for use within an e-Academy environment or as stand-alone products.
More information at www.myknowledgemap.com

Further Information from:
Rob Arntsen / Tom Holland, MyKnowledgeMap 00 44 (0) 1904 659465
Peter Muir / Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR 00 44 (0) 1727 860405/ (0) 1296 715228