Building a Skills-Based Organization: Insights from Internal Initiatives

Josh Tarr is the Director of Skills-Based Organizations (SBOs) at Workday. He and his team are fully committed to the concept of skills-driven organizations for Workday's internal workforce. In this interview, we explore Josh's vision for SBOs and the steps he has taken to achieve it.

We cover many topics, from the hype cycle around SBOs to Workday’s skills transformation journey, practical milestones the team has already achieved, and the importance of skills use cases.

My key takeaway quotes:

• “We view this work as entrepreneurial work. (...) It’s like starting up a new business.”

• “We got started with data.”

• “Together (with TechWolf), we did in 3 months what other companies do in 18”

• “The value chain of skills is easy, the work is definitely not easy.”

See here for additional reads to this conversation:

• My reflection blog after the interview
• HR Brew's article on Workday's Skills Use Case