- Skills transformation isn’t linear — start small, stay people-focused, and build momentum step-by-step.
- The 5 Cs framework turns chaos into clarity with a practical, people-centered roadmap.
- Success depends on mindset, governance, and data — not just technology.
I know, becoming a skills based organization sounds like a big, fancy, overwhelming thing. I’ve had more, “Where do we even start?” conversations than I can count, and I get it. It can feel intimidating, confusing, and full of buzzwords.
Here’s the good news: it doesn’t have to be a brain-melter if you approach it with a game plan that’s smart and focused on people.
This is where the 5 Cs come in. Whether you’re just dipping your toe into the skills-first waters or already halfway through the deep end, these five stages — chaos, catalog, connect, context, and curate — will help you navigate the wild, wonderful, and sometimes messy world of workforce transformation.
Before we dive into the steps, there are a few key things to think about first.
Explore how talent intelligence connects employee capabilities to real business outcomes.
Lay groundwork before you build
Skills transformation isn’t only about technology. It’s about people, systems, and, most importantly, mindset.
Want to know if you’re ready? Here’s a quick checklist to set you up for success:
- Executive sponsorship: Find one or two influential leaders who’ll champion the work, knock down barriers, and secure resources.
- Project governance: Set up regular check-ins, accountability guardrails, and risk management to keep the whole thing on track.
- Team empowerment: Give your team decision-making power so they can actually move instead of waiting for endless approvals.
- Transformative thinking: Think bigger than tweaks. This is the time for bold, not just becoming incrementally better.
- Data readiness: If your data is a mess, your skills journey will be too. Clean it up as much as you can and make it ready for integration.
- Change management: Build a people-centered plan so adoption sticks. You’re not just changing systems; you’re changing how people work and how they think about work.
- Engage early and often: The folks who’ll live with this transformation day-to-day? They should help shape it. Involve them early and often.
Related content: Thinking about a skills-based approach for your organization? Here are four readiness signals to watch for.
Now let’s talk about the 5 Cs
This journey isn’t linear — it’s iterative. Messy. And sometimes magical!
Here’s how to break it down:
1. Chaos
This is where most of us start. Your job titles are all over the place. No one agrees on what a “skill” even is. Your tech stack looks like a junk drawer.
Sound familiar? That’s OK. Chaos is normal. The goal here is to assess:
- What skills do we have?
- What gaps are we facing?
- What tools and data sources already exist?
- How ready is our workforce for change?
This phase is about uncovering the messy truth and aligning on what “skills” actually means at your organization.
2. Catalog
Time to bring order to the madness. This is where you create or adopt a skills taxonomy (a fancy word for “list”), map those skills to roles, and define what “proficient” looks like.
Don’t do this in a vacuum. Get managers and teams involved. Their input and validation is critical for things like:
- Listing your key skills.
- Mapping those skills to jobs.
- Adding proficiency levels.
- Building a central skills library.
Keep it simple. You can always expand later.
3. Connect
Now we connect the dots. Once you’ve got a solid skills foundation, you can start ingesting all that juicy data into a platform like ours and bring it to life. This is the “aha” moment!
In this step, you will:
- Create employee skill profiles.
- Map skills to open jobs or projects.
- Pilot it with one function or team.
- Use the results to refine.
You’re not just organizing info anymore — you’re activating it. This is where employees start seeing real opportunities appear on their dashboards. That’s powerful!
4. Context
This is where things get strategic. Tie skills to business outcomes. Link talent goals to business goals. Use external market data to forecast needs. Then bring it all back to the individual by embedding regular “skills chats” into 1:1s and performance convos.
To provide context, think about doing the following:
- Align skills with org priorities.
- Co-create career paths.
- Embed into everyday conversations.
- Roll out org-wide with intent.
No one wants another flavor-of-the-month initiative. Make this practical and grounded in real business needs.
5. Curate
The work is never done — and that’s the point.
Now, it’s about maintaining momentum. Keep refining based on what’s working — and what’s not. Use insights to close skill gaps, prepare your workforce for change, and continuously align with the market.
- Forecast needs and trends.
- Prioritize emerging/in-demand skills.
- Build it into business planning.
- Adjust and adapt with data.
The organizations that win are the ones that keep moving.
Remember: the future isn’t coming — it’s already here. Waiting for “perfect” means getting left behind.
So, where do you start?
Start somewhere. Start messy. Start small. But start.
Skills transformation isn’t a “one and done,” and it can’t be a side hustle. It’s a nonlinear journey that takes courage, clarity, and a whole lot of collaboration.
The path to a skills-based organization doesn’t happen overnight, and it sure doesn’t happen without a few bumps and detours along the way. Every small step — each tangled mapping session, each redefined role, each honest skills conversation — builds clarity, capacity, and confidence.
Don’t wait for a perfect plan. Momentum builds as you move.
With a strong foundation, the right partners, the courage to challenge the status quo, and continual steps, your organization can shift from job-focused chaos to people-powered clarity — one smart step at a time.
Rebecca Warren is a Director with our Talent-centered Transformation Team. Before joining Eightfold, she held multiple talent leadership roles with large CPG, agri-biz, restaurant and retail organizations.