Overview
A cooperative’s greatest strength lies in the skills and dedication of its people. But many co-ops don’t have a clear, organized understanding of the talent within their teams. Creating a skills inventory helps identify current strengths, uncover capacity gaps, and match people to the roles and responsibilities where they can thrive. It also supports leadership development, knowledge transfer, and succession planning.
Core Tactics:
- Define relevant skill categories. Think broadly across technical, interpersonal, operational, and cooperative competencies.
Sample Skill Categories Table:
| Skill Category | Description |
| Technical Skills | Role-specific capabilities (e.g., finance, IT, operations) |
| Leadership Skills | Ability to lead teams, mentor, and facilitate meetings |
| Cooperative Knowledge | Understanding of cooperative values, governance, and history |
| Communication Skills | Internal and external communications, public speaking |
| Community Engagement | Outreach, partnerships, and volunteer coordination |
- Develop and Distribute a self-assessment survey. Let each staff member rank their proficiency and interest for each skill.
Sample Skills Inventory Self-Assessment Survey
Instructions for Staff: For each skill area listed below, please rate both your current level of proficiency and your interest in further developing or using this skill. Use a scale from 1 to 5: 1 = Very Low to 5 = Very High
Employee Name:
Technical Skills
| Skill Area | Description | Proficiency (1–5) | Interest (1–5) |
| Financial Management | Budgeting, reporting, forecasting, accounting systems | ||
| IT & Digital Tools | Spreadsheets, CRM, cloud tools, internal platforms | ||
| Technical Expertise | Industry-specific skills unique to your co-op’s sector |
Leadership Skills
| Skill Area | Description | Proficiency (1–5) | Interest (1–5) |
| Public Speaking | Presenting ideas clearly to groups | ||
| Facilitation | Leading meetings, guiding group discussions |
Cooperative Knowledge
| Skill Area | Description | Proficiency (1–5) | Interest (1–5) |
| Cooperative Governance | Understanding bylaws, structure, and democratic practices |
Communication Skills
| Skill Area | Description | Proficiency (1–5) | Interest (1–5) |
| Conflict Resolution | Handling disagreements, peer-to-peer mediation |
Community Engagement
| Skill Area | Description | Proficiency (1–5) | Interest (1–5) |
| Community Outreach | Building partnerships, representing the co-op externally | ||
| Equity & Inclusion | Creating inclusive, welcoming, and diverse work environments | ||
| Member Engagement | Communications and events that increase member participation |
Download Self-Assessment Survey (Google Sheet)
- Consolidate Answers into a Coop Wide Matrix. Create a skills based view of the skills available across your entire organization.
Sample Coop Wide Self-Assesment Matrix Table:
| Name | Skill | Proficiency (1–5) | Interest (1–5) | Notes |
| Lee Chan | Financial Reporting | 4 | 5 | Willing to mentor others |
| Jordan Malik | Public Speaking | 2 | 3 | Wants more training |
| Tara Rivera | Event Coordination | 5 | 5 | Can lead training workshop |
- Compile and visualize the data. Identify strengths, gaps, and patterns across departments or roles.
Skills Inventory Dashboard Snapshot:
| Skill Category | Avg. Proficiency | Number of High Interest (4–5) | Gap Flag (Y/N) |
| Technical Skills | 3.1 | 14 | N |
| Leadership Skills | 2.6 | 6 | Y |
| Cooperative Knowledge | 4.2 | 18 | N |
| Communication Skills | 3.9 | 7 | Y |
| Community Engagement | 4 | 19 | N |
Download Skills Inventory Dashboard (Google Sheet)
- Use results to guide development. Share results with managers and staff to support individual development plans, succession readiness, and cross-training.