Develop Long-Term Goals and Talent Strategy with CompTIA Skills Assessment and Development Playbook

MSPs aiming to stay competitive and grow revenue will want their portfolio of offerings to reflect what customers are demanding and where today's innovations are heading, according to Carolyn April, vice president of industry research at CompTIA. "That means having the right talent in place to deliver," said April.

To that point, internal training and professional development stand out as priorities for MSPs that want to stay competitive both in the market for talent and customers, according to CompTIA research. To help address those needs, the Skills Assessment and Development Playbook for MSPs from the CompTIA Industry Education team provides guidance on identifying skills you have in-house, collaborating on long-term goals and developing future training plans.

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The playbook for MSPs was developed from CompTIA research as well as advice from industry experts such as Eric Torres, vice president of channel and community engagement at Pax8 and Caitlyn Jopp, vice president of community and engagement at Channel Program. It is designed for a range of MSP audiences:

• Newer MSPs looking to grow their teams
• Small MSPs that may not have proper HR frameworks in place
• Medium-size MSPs seeking best practices on elevating their workforce management strategy

While the guide is primarily geared towards MSPs, its core principles can be leveraged by vendors, distributors and other firms in the channel.

The playbook is organized into three main sections:

1. Skills assessment. Assess the skills on your teams: Three options to get started, including an easy hurdle if you're crunched for time.
2. Make plans for general, individual and leadership training. You need to have two discussions going on: one for training direct reports and one for training managers and leadership.
3. Strategies to fill the gaps. Get people invested in their own growth, the company's growth and what the future looks like for everyone by making this a team project.

The playbook also addresses the challenges of the process, options to get the most out of your training budget and reasons training pays off. Use the playbook to start thinking about what type of skills assessment would benefit your business. Then go through the comprehensive task list at the end of the playbook to identify and assign your next steps.

There are a variety of free workforce planning resources available online, but none of them include templates and examples that are specific to MSPs. The playbook from CompTIA Industry Education is a turnkey resource that explains the process of creating a strategic workforce plan, includes a template that members can download and customize, and offers MSP specific examples and insights from respected industry peers.

CompTIA Community members can access the Skills Assessment and Development Playbook for MSPs.

MacKinzie Neal is a senior specialist, member education, on the CompTIA Industry Education team.