Mind the (skills) gap!

According to a 2025 CIMA report, 79% of UK SMEs (100 – 249 employees) identified a skills gap in the past 12 months.

More than a third of respondents (36%), stated that it was in job performance skills that the gap presented. In other words, the human-centric skills needed to do a job effectively (e.g. communication, decision making, project management, and problem-solving).

When talking to clients and business leaders there seems to be a fatigue of, and resistance to, large-scale performance programmes, and more of desire for lower investment, personalised (but scalable) ways to sustainably address how to instill these critical human-centric skills.

In my coaching work, I see the impact of this skills gap all the time.

Productivity – Without working on how to effectively connect and communicate together, teams aren’t able to use innovative solution-orientated ways of collaborating and so teams deliver more slowly and less effectively.

Morale – The CIMA report states that team members believe a lack of skills training will hinder their career progression which increases the risk of frustration, stress, and a greater attrition of key staff and key talent.

Culture – Human-centric skills gaps directly shape organisational culture; without intervention I often see reactive, siloed workforces, dependent on individuals rather than the power of the team.

With many businesses facing hiring restrictions or freezes, growing your own people (before trying to hire into the gap), is one of the most important responsibilities of today’s leaders.

The Benefits of Team Coaching

My colleagues and I are seeing more companies recognise that investing in Team Coaching delivers a good return on investment – particularly by addressing team dynamics and strengthening critical human-centric skills. This work also has a significant halo effect; not only does the team benefit but all who interact with them do too. Not only that, most team members feed forward their insights, learnings and new skills to those they lead and manage.

At Mastering Mindsets, we are passionate about this work and how much the world needs it today. Working with boards, teams and leaders to nurture Healthy High Performance, allowing individuals to thrive, not strive, is not just our work, it is our purpose.

We would love to support you and your teams in this area so get in touch to find out how we could enable you to have the Healthy High Performance you want and need.