
The lecture starts with real work: you take one team you know, list the five skills its work really needs, write what each skill looks like at four levels, rate the people you have and count the gap.
This course is built from six disciplines: workforce planning, competency modelling, job profiles, talent management, learning and development, and succession planning.
The map of the course
A simple dictionary for reading lectures from other fields as your own team
Three questions to ask after every lecture
A short self-diagnostic that shows which sections to watch first
Download the Skills Map Plan and fill in one line after each lecture.
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (1)
Headcount as one of the largest cost items in the organisation
Employee types, staff segmentation and the concept of FTE
GAP analysis as a way to identify mismatches
Understanding the external labour market
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (2)
Models and methods explained (1)
Analysis of turnover and retirements
Extrapolation, interpolation and career transition analysis
Delphi and nominal group methodology
Collecting information on staffing requirements
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (8)
Models and methods explained (9)
Position design and job analysis
Employee workload analysis
Staff segmentation and calculating staff value
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (5)
Models and methods explained (3)
Combining functions and eliminating duplication
Process automation and business process optimisation
Project work, matrix structure and internal part-time
Outsourcing, remote work and cheaper locations
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (7)
Services and apps shown in this lecture (7)
Models and methods explained (8)
Implementing a performance management system
Competence management as an efficiency lever
Training and development to improve output
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (9)
Models and methods explained (6)
The 7B model of headcount management
Cost-benefit analysis across the employee lifecycle
Employer brand and managing the company value proposition
Effective total rewards
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (16)
Models and methods explained (2)
What competences actually are
The difference between soft skills and hard skills
Observable behaviour as the unit of measurement
Myths about competences and the history of the field
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (5)
Models and methods explained (3)
Linking people processes to organisational strategy
The competence pyramid model
Where competences are applied
The most popular and the managerial competences
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (7)
Services and apps shown in this lecture (1)
Models and methods explained (11)
Sources of competence information
The job description as a source
The role of corporate competencies
Linking competences to company culture
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (5)
Models and methods explained (7)
Conducting interviews to identify competencies
The critical incident analysis method
Function and position analysis
Developing a competency profile for a position
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (11)
Models and methods explained (2)
Assessing the readiness of the organisation
Defining the objectives of the project
Value for employees, not just for management
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (7)
Models and methods explained (2)
Assessment tools and the rating scale
Assessment centres
Validity of the tools you choose
360-degree evaluation
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (12)
Services and apps shown in this lecture (1)
Models and methods explained (14)
Examples of different competence libraries
What they are good for and where they mislead
How to adapt a ready-made library to your organisation
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (1)
Models and methods explained (7)
Competency-based recruitment
Employee development and assessment
Remuneration and promotions
Succession planning built on competences
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (16)
Models and methods explained (15)
What a job profile is and what sections it contains
Why the company needs it
What job analysis means
Who should actually write the profile
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (1)
Ready to use on the slides (4)
Models and methods explained (2)
Interviewing people who hold the position
Interviewing the manager
Employee questionnaires for collecting information
Observation and the profile's place in process management
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (6)
Models and methods explained (1)
What competences mean at the level of a single role
Why they matter for the job profile
How to research them
How to describe them so others can assess against them
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (9)
Models and methods explained (2)
Overview of existing competence libraries
Ready-made job descriptions
How to use ready-made material without copying blindly
Tools in this lecture
Files to download (4)
Ready to use on the slides (1)
Models and methods explained (8)
Developing a candidate scorecard
Building a career ladder from the profile
Creating an employee development plan
Deriving goals and indicators for the role
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (13)
Services and apps shown in this lecture (2)
Models and methods explained (12)
What talent is and how to measure it
The A-players concept
Strategic talent planning
Employer value proposition and onboarding talent
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (4)
Models and methods explained (7)
The language of competencies in talent management
The assessment centre as a selection tool
Selection techniques and their validity
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (7)
Models and methods explained (15)
The job profile as the basis of development
Coaching, mentoring and training talent
The manager's role in developing people
Leadership development for high potentials
Tools in this lecture
Ready to use on the slides (9)
Models and methods explained (8)
This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.
Your org chart shows job titles. Your actual capability is a completely different map, and almost nobody has drawn it. Here are 450 tools to draw it and use it: 253 ready-to-use question lists, scorecards, procedures and templates, 174 models and methods, 17 services shown on screen and 6 working files.
Open a lecture, take the template, and map the skills of one team.
What is going wrong right now
Hiring, pay and development are built around job titles, so the same title hides very different skills. Gaps are discovered when a project fails, internal talent stays invisible, and succession plans list names without knowing who could actually do the job.
What changes after this course
You know which skills exist and which are missing. Competences and job profiles connect hiring, development, rewards and succession, learning closes real gaps, and workforce plans are built on capability, not on headcount.
What is inside: 450 tools, counted lecture by lecture
You do not have to take this number on trust. Open any lecture and read its description: every tool inside is listed there by name.
Where the tools are
Workforce planning (3 sections, 91 tools). FTE, segmentation, norming, headcount optimisation and full-cycle management.
Competences (3 sections, 118 tools). What they are, the model, describing them, libraries and linking skills to roles.
Job profiles (2 sections, 63 tools). Building profiles and turning them into decisions.
Talent strategy (3 sections, 124 tools). Attracting, selecting, rewarding, measuring, growing and retaining talent.
Closing the skills gap (4 sections, 94 tools). Learning foundations, delivery, transfer, results and learning strategy.
Succession (3 sections, 35 tools). Key roles, risks, assessing successors and bench strength.
Who is teaching
I am Mike, the #1 HR instructor on Udemy, with 1,800,000+ course enrollments from 170,000 students, and the author of about 200 books on Amazon. I built the people system at Preply as it became a unicorn and worked at Wargaming, iDeals and Alfa-Bank across 20 years in HR. I hold PHRi, SHRM-CP and HCI sHRBP certifications and represent HRCI in Eastern Europe.
At Wargaming we used the Radford system to place all our people by level, not only developers but every profession. We translated it, rewrote it for our company and adapted the levels to our game, World of Tanks: for example, what a middle-level artist had to be able to draw. That made skills, not titles, the basis for levels.
How to use the course
Start with workforce planning and competences, then build job profiles and use them for talent and succession decisions. Section and lecture titles show how many tools are inside, and each lecture description lists them by name.
What is included
Where to start
Pick one team and list the skills it really needs, then open the competences section. Enrol now and start your first lesson today.