Every successful team needs the right mix of skills to achieve its goals. But how do you map out your team’s skills in a clear, actionable way? This is where a skills matrix comes in. A skills matrix is a simple yet powerful management tool that provides a visual overview of the skills and competencies of your team members. Rather than relying on memory or informal conversations, a skills matrix gives you hard data at a glance; showing who can do what, where the skills gaps are, and how to unlock hidden talent within your organisation, team or project. The ability to quickly identify competencies and address skills gaps can make the difference between a nimble, innovative team and one that struggles to keep up .

This comprehensive guide will explain what a skills matrix is, why it matters for every team/project, and how to create one from scratch. You’ll learn about the benefits of using a skills matrix (also called a competency matrix or capability matrix), see a step-by-step process with examples, discover best practices, and get answers to frequently asked questions. By the end, you’ll know how to use a skills matrix to drive employee development, prevent single points of failure, and align your team’s capabilities with business goals.

📥 Download our free Skills Matrix Excel/Google Sheets Template to follow along and create your own matrix as you read through this guide! (It’s a ready-made template to help you get started quickly.)

Let’s dive in and transform how you understand and develop your team’s skills.

1. What Is a Skills Matrix?

A skills matrix is a visual tool that maps out the required skills for a team or project against each team member’s current skills and proficiency levels. It’s essentially a grid (often created in Excel, Google Sheets or other spreadsheet software) that lists team members on one axis and skills or competencies on the other. In the cells where each person and skill intersect, you record that individual’s proficiency (and sometimes interests, or target capability score) in the skill. The result is a clear snapshot of who has which skills, how competent they are in each, and where the skill gaps or development needs lie.

A skills matrix is also commonly referred to as a competency matrix or capability matrix . All these terms mean more or less the same thing: a structured framework to catalogue and assess skills in a team. Typically, the matrix is presented as a table. For example, your rows might be the names of employees (or specific roles), and the columns are the key skills, abilities, or knowledge areas required for the team’s work. Within the table, you enter a rating or symbol to show each person’s proficiency in each skill. This could be a numerical score (e.g. 1-5), a letter grade, a colour code (like a traffic light system), or even simple indicators like “✓” for competent and “✗” for not yet competent – whatever makes sense for your needs, the key lies in just getting started!

Alternative formats: Some teams use variations like a competence matrix (focusing on competencies, which often include behaviours and knowledge, not just technical skills) or a training matrix (tracking who has completed required training). These are all closely related concepts. The core idea is to provide a structured overview of capabilities. A completed skills matrix (or competency matrix) visualises:

• Skills required – the critical skills or competencies needed for a project, role, or team success.
• Skills available – which team members currently possess each skill and, ideally at what proficiency level.
• Skills missing or weak – areas where no one (or too few people) have a required skill, indicating a gap or a potential single point of failure.

Use cases: Skills matrices are used in many contexts. Common use cases include:

• Project planning: Ensure you have the necessary skills on a project team before work begins. If a required skill is missing, you can fill the gap via training, hiring, or reallocating resources.
• Resource management: Quickly identify who can step in if someone is absent or leaves, avoiding dependency on one individual for critical tasks.
• Performance and development: Identify areas for employee growth by spotting which skills each person could improve. This feeds into personalised training plans, PIPS and career development discussions.
• Succession planning: Highlight which employees could potentially fill more senior roles or take on additional responsibilities, based on their skill sets.
• Skills gap analysis: The matrix makes it easier to conduct a skills gap analysis by comparing current competencies to what’s needed, informing your hiring and employee development strategies.

Why a formal matrix vs. informal approach? Many teams rely on managers’ mental notes or informal chats to gauge who is good at what. A skills matrix has clear advantages over this informal approach. First, it creates a single source of truth that everyone can see and agree on, rather than fragmented opinions. Second, it can reveal hidden skills that might not be obvious, perhaps an employee has experience or certifications that aren’t used in their current role, but could be valuable to the team if known. Third, it reduces the risk of bias or forgetfulness; the matrix is an objective record that can be regularly updated. Finally, it makes onboarding new managers or team members easier as they can review the matrix to quickly understand the team’s capabilities, rather than having to learn through trial and error.

In short, a skills matrix provides a clear, data-driven picture of your team’s capabilities. It’s a foundation for better decision-making in assignments, hiring, training, and overall capability mapping within your organisation.

Here is a very basic example of a skills matrix, using the free upleashed skills matrix that you can download by clicking here.

2. Why Every Team Should Use a Skills Matrix

Every team, whether it’s a small startup crew or a large departmental group can benefit from using a skills matrix. Here are several strategic and operational reasons why using a skills matrix pays off:

• Identifying skills gaps before they hurt performance: A skills matrix makes gaps glaringly obvious. For instance, if your sales team’s matrix shows no one is proficient in a new CRM software that the business is adopting, you’ve identified a skills gap that needs addressing ASAP (through training or hiring). By proactively spotting such gaps, you prevent project delays and performance issues. Research shows that organisations often struggle to anticipate future skills needs; a skills matrix is a practical tool to bridge that gap by regularly highlighting what’s missing.
• Spotting hidden talent and under-utilised skills: It’s not uncommon to discover that someone on your team has skills that management wasn’t aware of. Perhaps an engineer on your team is also fluent in a foreign language, or a marketing specialist has coding skills from a previous job. By capturing all team member’s competencies in a matrix, you uncover hidden talents. This can lead to better task assignments (e.g. letting that engineer interface with a foreign client, or having the marketer help on web development tasks) and more employee engagement, since people love to use their talents fully at work.
• Avoiding single points of failure: Relying on only one person for a critical skill is risky. What if that person goes on holiday, falls ill, or leaves the company? A skills matrix highlights where only one team member (or no one at all) has a given capability. For example, if only Alice knows how to run a certain data report, she becomes a single point of failure. By seeing this on the matrix, you can plan to cross-train other team members in that area or document processes, so the knowledge is shared. In the long run, this improves your team’s resilience and ensures continuity even when someone is unavailable.
• Better project staffing and resource allocation: When kicking off new projects or tasks, a skills matrix is like a menu of your team’s capabilities. It helps answer questions like “Who should we assign to this task?” or “Do we have enough skills in-house to take on this project?”. Managers can quickly identify the best candidates for a job based on actual data. For example, if a new project requires proficiency in Python programming and knowledge of machine learning, you can scan the matrix and find all team members who meet those criteria at the required level. This ensures the right people are in the right roles, leading to better quality work and faster completion times.
• Linking skills to business outcomes: A skills matrix isn’t just an HR exercise, it has real implications for business performance. By using the matrix, you can correlate the presence or absence of certain skills with outcomes. For instance, if teams that excel in certain skills consistently meet their targets, that insight can influence your hiring and training focus. It also helps in building a skills-based organisation, where roles are more flexibly defined by skills and outcomes rather than rigid job titles . In the long run, aligning your team’s skill set with strategic business goals drives better results and innovation.
• Facilitating internal mobility and succession planning: With a clear map of who knows what, you can more easily identify candidates for internal promotions or role changes. Perhaps there’s an employee who is not fully utilised in their current role but has the skills to contribute more elsewhere. A skills matrix provides the bird’s-eye view to enable internal transfers or promotions. This supports career growth and retention, employees see that their diverse skills can open up new opportunities within the company, not just elsewhere. It’s often more efficient to fill a role with an internal candidate (who is a known cultural fit) than to hire externally, and the matrix can point you to those internal candidates.
• Focused training and development: Instead of generic training programs, a skills matrix allows you to target learning & development efforts where they’re needed most . If the matrix shows that multiple team members are lacking a particular competency that’s becoming important, you can organise a workshop or course to elevate that skill across the team. On the flip side, if one team member has a very high proficiency in a skill that others lack, that person could be encouraged to mentor or train colleagues. This ensures training budgets and time are invested wisely, addressing real needs that will have an immediate impact on performance.
• Data-driven performance reviews and goal setting: When review time comes, the skills matrix can inform more objective and constructive conversations. It provides concrete evidence of growth (“Last year you were at skill level 2 in Excel, and now you’re at level 4 – great improvement!”) and areas for improvement (“To move into the senior role, you’ll need to develop Skill X from basic to intermediate, which we have noted in the matrix.”). It takes some subjectivity out of evaluations and helps tie personal development goals to the team’s needs. Moreover, it sends a message that skills development is a priority, which can motivate employees to take charge of their learning.

In summary, every team should use a skills matrix because it brings clarity, objectivity, and strategic insight to talent management. Whether it’s spotting a problem before it becomes critical, or uncovering an opportunity that was hidden in plain sight, a skills matrix equips managers and team members alike with actionable knowledge. It’s a simple practice that yields significant benefits in workforce planning, team agility, and business continuity.

(Tip: If you haven’t already, download our free skills matrix template to see these benefits in action with your own team’s data. Sometimes the value becomes crystal clear once you start filling it in with real information.)

3. How to Create a Skills Matrix (Step-by-Step)

Ready to create your own skills matrix? Follow these step-by-step instructions. We’ll break down the process into clear steps, so you can build a comprehensive skills matrix for your team. You can do this with basic tools like Excel or Google Sheets using our template, or adapt the steps to any skills matrix software. Let’s get started!

Step 1: Define Your Purpose and Scope

Before diving into listing skills and names, clarify why you’re creating the skills matrix and what group it will cover. Are you mapping skills for a specific team (e.g. the Marketing team, or a Project X task force) or for an entire department or organisation? Is the goal to plan a project, to identify training needs, or perhaps to restructure roles? Defining the scope ensures your matrix remains focused and manageable. For example, you might decide “This matrix will cover the five members of the customer support team and the key customer service skills we need to deliver excellent support.” Having a well-defined scope helps you determine which skills to include (and just as importantly, which to exclude as irrelevant). Remember, a common mistake is considering too many or irrelevant skills, so home in on what’s necessary for your purpose.

Practical Tip: Give your skills matrix a clear title that reflects its scope, such as “Customer Support Team – Skills Matrix 2025” or “Project Phoenix Skills Matrix”. This helps everyone understand what the matrix is about at a glance.

Step 2: List All Roles or Team Members

Next, decide whose skills you are evaluating, these will populate one axis of your matrix (usually the rows). If your matrix is for a specific team, you can list each team member by name. For a larger group or department, you might list job titles or roles instead of individual names, especially if it’s too granular to assess everyone individually. In Excel, fill in the first column with this list of names or positions.

For example, if we’re making a matrix for a small engineering team, our first column might list: Alice, Bob, Charlie, Diana (each on a separate row). It’s usually best to include everyone in the relevant team so you have a complete view. If the matrix covers an entire department with multiple teams, consider grouping by team or using separate matrix tabs per team for clarity. The key is to ensure that every person/role you want to evaluate appears somewhere on the matrix.

Practical Tip: If using Excel or a similar tool, freeze the first column (and top row) so that as your matrix grows, you always see the headers (names and skills) while scrolling.

Step 3: Identify the Key Skills and Competencies

Now, determine the skills, competencies, or capabilities you want to track, these will be the other axis of the matrix (usually the columns along the top). Think about what skills are critical for success in the scope you defined. This list might include technical skills (e.g. “Java Programming”, “SEO Marketing”, “Data Analysis”), soft skills (e.g. “Public Speaking”, “Negotiation”), product knowledge, languages, or even certifications and qualifications.

Aim for a balanced list that covers the essential areas without getting too trivial. Ask yourself: “If this skill were missing, would it significantly impact performance or outcomes?” If yes, it’s likely a key skill to include. Stakeholder input can be valuable here, for example, involve team leads or subject matter experts to ensure you’re capturing all relevant skills and that everyone agrees on definitions. Clear definition is crucial: make sure each skill on your list is well-defined and understood, so that when people are rated, everyone has the same interpretation (avoiding confusion on skill definitions ).

Once you have the list, add these skills as the header row in your spreadsheet (each skill as a column title). For instance, our engineering team’s matrix columns might be: Java, Python, Project Management, QA Testing, Cloud Infrastructure if those are the five key skill areas we care about.

Practical Tip: It’s often useful to group skills by category if you have many. For instance, you might group technical skills separate from soft skills, or use color coding for different types of skills. This isn’t mandatory, but it can make a large matrix easier to read.

Step 4: Choose a Rating Scale or System

How will you indicate each person’s proficiency in each skill? Choosing the right rating scale is important for clarity. There are a few common methods:

• Numeric scales: e.g. 1 to 5, where 1 = basic knowledge and 5 = expert. Or 0 to 4, etc. Numeric scales give a nuanced view and can be averaged or summed.
• Descriptive levels: e.g. Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert. This is easier for people to self-assess but less quantifiable.
• Colours or symbols: e.g. a traffic light system (Red = no ability, Yellow = some knowledge, Green = proficient), or checkmarks.
• Binary: e.g. Yes/No – this is simple (either they have the skill or not), but it loses detail on proficiency level.

For most uses, a three- to five-level scale is recommended to capture variation without over-complicating. A popular choice is a five-point scale such as: 0 = no experience, 1 = basic, 2 = working knowledge, 3 = proficient, 4 = expert . You could also add a separate indicator for formal qualifications or certifications if relevant (e.g. mark with a star or note if someone is certified in that skill).

It’s also beneficial to decide if you will track interest in addition to proficiency. Some matrices include a second dimension (as seen in the example in Section 4) to note if an individual wants to develop or use a skill. For example, an employee might only be “Intermediate (2)” at a skill but highly interested in improving it – meaning they could be a good candidate for training. If you choose to track interest, you might use a simple scale like 1 = interested, 0 = not interested , or low/medium/high interest.

Practical Tip: Document what each level means in a legend on the matrix. For instance, create a little key that says “Level 1 = basic ability (can perform simple tasks with help), Level 2 = can work independently on routine tasks,” and so on. This ensures consistency when people are rating skills, especially if multiple managers or the employees themselves will be assigning scores.

Step 5: Assess Each Team Member’s Skill Proficiency

With the framework set, now comes the data gathering: populate the matrix with each person’s skill ratings. There are a few ways to assess proficiency:

• Self-assessment: Have team members rate their own skills based on the defined scale. This can be done via a questionnaire or form. It encourages reflection, though be mindful of biases, some people underrate themselves, others overrate .
• Manager assessment: The team leader or manager can fill out the matrix based on their knowledge of each person. This can provide consistency but might miss hidden skills or seem top-down.
• 360-degree input: Get input from peers or other colleagues who have worked with the person on each skill (for example, peer review of technical skills). This well-rounded feedback can offset individual biases.
• Tests or evidence: In some cases, you might use practical tests, certifications, or past performance data as evidence of skill level (e.g. coding test results, sales numbers as evidence of sales skill, etc.).

Often, a combination is best: perhaps start with self-assessment, then have a manager review and adjust ratings in a calibration meeting. The key is to strive for an accurate, honest reflection of each person’s abilities. Encourage a culture of openness, this is not about judging anyone, but about finding opportunities to grow and support the team. If someone has lower scores, it’s not a criticism; it’s a chance to improve or get help.

Fill in the spreadsheet cell by cell. For example, if Alice is an expert in Java, you might put a “4” under the Java column for Alice. If Bob has only basic knowledge of Java, maybe a “1” in that cell. Do this for every person-skill intersection. If you decided to include “Interest” levels or other dimensions, you might fill those in either in separate sub-cells or an adjacent matrix. (One approach is to use two columns per skill: one for proficiency and one for interest. For instance, columns “Java (Level)” and “Java (Interest)”). This will double the columns, but our free template already accommodates that by having separate sections.

Excel guidance: As you fill in the matrix, consider using conditional formatting to make it visually intuitive. For instance, you can set up rules so that high scores turn the cell green and low scores turn red. This way, when you’re done, you can literally see the skill gaps and strengths via colours – green areas show strong skill coverage, red areas show weaknesses. In Excel, this can be done by selecting the cells and adding conditional formatting (color scales or icon sets can work well with numeric ratings).

Step 6: Analyse the Completed Skills Matrix

Once all the data is in, step back and look at the matrix as a whole. This is where the magic happens, the insights. Scan each skill column from top to bottom:

• Are there skills where most people are low? That’s a team-wide gap. For example, if “Cloud Infrastructure” has low scores for everyone, your team has a collective weakness there, a prime target for training or hiring.
• Are there skills where one person is high and everyone else is low or blank? That person is a potential single point of failure for that skill (or a subject matter expert, depending on perspective). Make note to diversify that skill.
• Do you see any unused talents? Perhaps one person has high proficiency in a skill that isn’t currently required in their role (maybe they got a “5” in a foreign language, but your team doesn’t leverage languages, could be an opportunity somewhere in the business to use that).
• Overall team strength: Identify which areas your team is strong in. These are capabilities you can confidently leverage or even advertise as a strength of your team.
• Coverage per person: Also look at each individual’s row – this gives a profile of that person. You might find someone who is strong across the board (a generalist) or someone who is very deep in one area but lacking in others (a specialist). Neither is bad – teams often need both – but it’s useful to know.

At this stage, it can help to involve the team in a review. Present the matrix (maybe anonymise if needed, but sharing openly within the team often builds trust if done in a positive way) and discuss what stands out. The visual nature of a skills matrix allows everyone to quickly grasp where things stand . It can be quite motivating – people often start suggesting solutions, like “I didn’t know you knew about X; maybe you could teach me?” or “It looks like none of us are good at Y; perhaps we should get training in that.” This collaborative analysis turns the matrix from a static chart into a springboard for action.

Step 7: Act on the Insights – Fill Gaps and Leverage Strengths

A skills matrix is only as good as what you do with it. Now that you’ve identified gaps and strengths, it’s time to create an action plan. Some actions to consider:

• Training and development: For skills gaps that are important, plan how to develop those skills in your current team. This could include formal training programs, online courses, mentoring, or rotational assignments to get experience. For example, if your analysis shows a gap in “Project Management” skills, maybe send a couple of team members on a project management workshop or have them shadow an experienced project manager in another team.
• Hiring or contracting: If a critical skill is missing entirely and training existing staff isn’t feasible or timely, it might be time to hire a new team member with that skill or bring in a contractor/consultant. The matrix basically writes part of the job description for you, you know exactly what skill is needed at a high level. Link to hiring: many organisations find that knowing their internal skills gaps helps them recruit much more effectively .
• Reassigning roles or tasks: Sometimes you might shuffle responsibilities based on skills. If someone is under-utilised in one skill area and another team member is overloaded, redistribute tasks. For instance, if your matrix shows John and Jane both have high Excel skills but John is the only one doing data reporting (and is swamped), you can have Jane take on some of those reports.
• Mentoring and knowledge sharing: Leverage your internal experts. For each skill, see who has the highest proficiency. Can that person host a short knowledge-sharing session or be the “go-to” for others trying to learn that skill? This not only helps upskill the team but also gives recognition to those experts. It also mitigates the single point of failure issue by spreading knowledge.
• Career development plans: Use the matrix in one-on-one career discussions. For example, if an employee aspires to a certain role, show them which skills they need to build to get there (and how the team/organisation will help). Conversely, if someone has strong skills that are not used in their current role, perhaps chart a path for them to transition into a role where they can use those skills, increasing their engagement and value to the company.

Document these actions and follow up on them. The matrix can be a living document – after some months, update the ratings if, say, someone went from a 2 to a 3 after training. In the next step, we’ll talk about maintaining it.

Step 8: Keep the Skills Matrix Updated

A skills matrix is not a one-and-done exercise. To retain its value, it should be a living document that is updated regularly. Skills and people’s proficiencies evolve over time – team members learn new skills, projects introduce new required competencies, and sometimes skills become obsolete. Make it a habit to review and update the matrix at key intervals. This could be quarterly, bi-annually, or aligned with performance review cycles. Also update it whenever there’s a significant change: e.g., a new person joins the team (add them to the matrix), someone leaves (mark them or remove them), or the team takes on a new function which requires adding a new skill column.

Integrate the matrix into your team’s workflow:

• During team meetings, you might occasionally put the matrix on the agenda, especially after completing a big project, to discuss what new skills were learned.
• In performance one-on-ones, use the matrix to guide part of the conversation around skill development.
• When planning the next quarter’s goals, glance at the matrix to see if any skill development goals make sense to include.

By keeping it updated, you ensure that at any given time, you have an accurate dashboard of your team’s capabilities. This ongoing attention also signals to the team that skills development is a priority and that their progress is being tracked and valued. Over time, maintaining a skills matrix can become second nature, just another part of managing the team, like updating a project status report. And the payoff is that you’ll always be ready with data when making decisions about training, hiring, or project assignments.

Excel Tip: Store the matrix in a shared location (like a team SharePoint or Google Drive) so that it’s accessible. Some teams even allow each member to update their own skills (self-service updates) in the shared file, with managerial oversight. If you prefer more control, you might restrict editing and gather inputs via forms when updating.

Following these steps, you’ll have created a robust skills matrix for your team. In the next section, we’ll walk through a concrete example of a skills matrix to see how it works in practice.