As the home-building industry continues to evolve, the demands placed on technical and construction teams are increasing.
Yet within any construction team, levels of knowledge, experience and technical competence can vary significantly from one individual to another.
Without a clear way to assess these differences, skills gaps can go unnoticed, potentially leading to inefficiencies, avoidable rework and increased costs.
This is where NHBC's Knowledge Explorer comes in.
The right tool for the job
Knowledge Explorer is an easily accessible online knowledge and skills assessment package created specifically for the home-building sector.
It contains a bank of 60 questions that individuals can access and answer over two hours to assess their knowledge across different areas of competency.
Whether you need to assess the competence of an individual, a technical team or your entire workforce, its customised assessments provide valuable insights into both immediate and long-term skill gaps, covering topics including the NHBC Standards and Building Regulations.
Through a user-friendly learning management system, you can track progress through your dashboard at individual, regional or organisational levels, helping you create a focused and effective training strategy.
Clare Hindley, Training Manager at NHBC, has seen numerous builders and developers benefit from using the tool.
Clare said: “Building new homes of any type on a site of any size is a complex process involving large teams made up of individuals with different skill sets and varying levels of experience.
"That’s precisely why Knowledge Explorer can be an invaluable tool to support managers and aid the development of individual members of staff in the house-building industry.
"It makes it easier to keep track of where your skills are most and least developed – and then take action where you need to with confidence and certainty."
How it works.
Knowledge Explorer can help you identify and address both short and long-term skills gaps across your organisation.
The tool's comprehensive view of areas of concern or recurring instances of lacking knowledge means you're able to streamline training processes and optimise your training budget.
And by ensuring your technical and construction teams have the relevant knowledge and skills they need, you can improve compliance with NHBC Standards and reduce the number of issues identified by NHBC inspectors during key build stages – commonly known as Reportable Items, or RIs.
It's brilliant for your leaders, too. Managers can shape their support and resources to each team member, enhancing performance and supporting business growth.
Targeting your training budget effectively
Training needs for technical staff can vary widely.
It can be easy for areas to be missed or for individuals to repeat training that they do not need, potentially costing organisations both time and money.
This is why Knowledge Explorer’s training recommendations are tailored to individuals, focusing on those areas that will have the biggest impact for both new and existing staff.
At a time when technical staff involved in the house-building industry increasingly need to be able to demonstrate their competency in multiple areas, it has never been more important to be able to accurately identify learning and development needs.
Four simple steps
Getting started with Knowledge Explorer is easy:
- Book your sessions - Contact our training team to schedule how many people you would like to be assessed and when this can take place.
- Receive your assessment - Participants will receive an email to complete their online assessment. Once started, they have up to two hours to complete the questions.
- Review the results - Your company’s account managers have access to a dashboard to view results including individual and organisation-wide reports.
- Get your report - We will analyse the results to give you tailored recommendations highlighting areas for training and development.
