Development Profiling
Using the Scaled Comparison

The following format is used to compare various characteristics of the person (or position) being studied:

Question: Which skill is more important in the performance of the Web Development Programmer's job?
ORACLE database design & administration  BEA Weblogic application server

The Ideal Development Profile

An individual's skill profile is of no use unless there is a standard or "ideal" against which to compare it.  Because everyone in the organization and most external consultants have their own opinions of what an ideal worker is, the first step is to obtain a consensus of kind of talent that will be needed in the job the person occupies.

The skill statements can be observable behaviors, skills and abilities, or personal characteristics.  There is no standard or generic list of statements.  These criteria are developed by the organization, reflecting its values, terminology and project objectives.  The illustrations that follow show how a questionnaire might appear, and how the same list of statements is used to determine an Ideal Profile and an Actual Profile for a particular person.

Question: Which skill is more important in the performance of the Web Development Programmer's job?

The Actual Profile

For each individual, an instrument like the following is completed by 5 to 10 persons who have worked with or otherwise observed that person's on-the-job behavior.  This will provide the data for the Actual Profile.  Depending on the needs and values of the organization, the evaluators may be selected by the person being evaluated, or chosen by the organization.  They may peers and superiors, or include subordinates if an all-around view of the person is needed.

Question: In which skill does Greg Stubblefield demonstrate greater skill and ability?

The Gap Analysis - Poor Match

This is a view of the Gap Analysis report that compares a person's Actual Performance Profile with the Ideal Performance Profile for the job.  The purpose of this is to identify the person's performance strengths and weaknesses.  Ideally, a person's actual strengths (the position of the letter "A") should match the importance of the skills and characteristics (the length of the black bar) that are the most important to the job.  Large gaps between Actual and Ideal Performance at the top of the list are issues of highest priority for feedback and development.  In the first example shown, the match between Actual and Ideal is not as good as in the second example.


Example of Ideal/Actual Profile - Poor Match

The Gap Analysis - Good Match

This example Gap Analysis shows a person whose skills very closely match the optimal skill requirements for the job.


Example of Ideal/Actual Profile - Good Match

How do I get more information?



posted: 21:25 - 06.07.08    |    © 2005-2006 Training Gap    |    XHTML 1.0,  CSS2