Kjenner du egentlig din kollega Lise?

Did you truly know your colleague Lise? In the digital age, artificial intelligence reshapes roles and responsibilities. Businesses must build new skills, but many struggle to find the people they need. Seeing the capabilities of staff in their current roles is crucial. We must also consider secondary competencies, skills and abilities that exist in people but may not be visible in their job titles or usual tasks.

Are we too quick to judge what others are capable of? He is the salesman. She is the analyst. He is skilled at talking. She is the creative one. The "typical salesman" is outgoing, social, and persuasive. Someone who "has it in the sleeve". But behind a skilled salesman, there may lie more than good communication skills: quick information processing, business understanding, curiosity, problem-solving, and the ability to build trust, ask good questions, handle opposition, and read people and situations.

One must be able to separate important information from noise, understand needs that are not always expressed, change direction along the way, and know when to argue – and when to be quiet. We see the result and give it a name: sales. However, much of the competence that creates the result can be valuable in entirely different roles.

What we see as one person's primary competence can hide secondary competencies that the business needs elsewhere. We do not just put people into boxes with negative stereotypes. The positives can be at least as strong. She is so analytical. He is so strategic. She is so commercial. When one trait defines a person's success, it's easy to overlook everything else that contributes.

We see the result, not all the judgments and abilities that created it. This is particularly important when businesses need to build new skills on a large scale. If we only profile people based on the job they already do, we risk looking externally for competence that is partly or entirely internal. Lise is organized, reliable, and thorough.

A bit cautious. She rarely takes center stage at meetings. Everyone knows Lise. She has worked there for ten years. Even when she delivers another thorough analysis, it fits into the picture. When she doesn't speak up at a large meeting, it also fits into the picture. A new role emerges. It requires initiative, influence, and the ability to handle uncertainty.

No one thinks of Lise. But do they know Lise, or do they know only the story they have created about Lise? When we first form an image of a person, we are more likely to notice information that confirms what we already believe. This is called confirmation bias. The person seen as analytical gets more analytical tasks. The person seen as good with people gets more relational tasks.

Someone who is not seen as a leader may never get the opportunities where leadership qualities could be visible. Ten years with Lise give us much insight into her. It can also make the surroundings less curious. An external candidate is unknown. Therefore, we ask and dig. Lise? We know her, after all. Many businesses systematically profile skills and competencies.

This provides a far richer picture than job titles and CVs alone. However, not all competencies are easily registered. Experienced nurses may sense something is wrong before measurements prove it. Experienced leaders may notice a conflict about to develop before anyone has said anything out loud. Good data can make the picture more precise.

But people must still interpret it. And if we ask only for what we already expect to find, even good systems can recreate the same old story. Lise has worked with us for ten years. We know her strengths. We know what she is good at. We know which tasks she fits. Or perhaps we only know the part of her story that she has been allowed to present during her time with us.

We know that we have too few hands to meet the competence needs in the future, so the ability to uncover a person's personal profile could be a competitive advantage. This requires us to remain curious, even about the people we think we know best.