This is a technique I learned from Cat Swetel, and has been awesome to use. You can use this in more cases than the one I'm describing, but using this technique to form teams and manage risk is what this is all about in this article.

Set up

Alright, you're going to build a matrix or spreadsheet that has your staff listed vertically and skills listed horizontally.

What you want to do is list EVERY skill the team will need to succeed on the project. If you aren't entirely sure, you can do this as a part of a workshop using the Facilitation Guide. This is one of those lists that benefits from thoroughness. You can expect to have dozens of skills listed.

I will also recommend you split into different categories like Technical, Soft/Leadership, Product, etc. If you aren't sure of the categories yet, you'll likely see them emerge.

As you build out the list ask the question, "What other skills might we need?" and, "What are things that have gone poorly or were frustrating that we need more skill in?" and, "What are we forgetting, overlooking, or making an assumption about?"

You should now have dozens of skills and your staff listed in a lovely spreadsheet.

Forecast

Now, this is a step you can do alone, but I'd recommend doing it with the group. Go along each set of skills and decide what level you need if you want to succeed.

The scale goes:

0. No idea, never heard of it

1. Some knowledge of it, need help

2. Competent

3. Skilled and can teach others

You do not need 3s in everything.

I recommend keeping the demand for a three to only the most critical skills required. There won't be many of these.

Pay close attention to the skills that were overlooked, ignored, or were causes of failure. These are skills that tend to be chronically undervalued even though they may have high-impact.

I'm looking at you, meeting facilitation, scoping, and slicing.

Assess

Have everyone record where they rank for every skill identified. Even if you think you need a 0, have them assess.

When you do the assessment, be sure to frame this as what it is. You are trying to make sure the team is set up correctly. You aren't trying to find what folks are bad at.

When you're done you'll have a reasonable picture of what your team can really do as opposed to what they need to be able to do.

Respond

With this you'll be able to very quickly see if you have what it takes to accomplish whatever is in front of you. You'll have a sense of how much additional time and investment in which specific skills are needed as well.

Sometimes this is good news, but in my experience there is always a massive surprise.

You won't be able to predict the complete impact of a skill gap, but you'll be informed as to why the productivity you hoped for doesn't exist, and you can begin to proactively manage it.

Example Chart