The #1 Skills Mistake That Slows Big Companies Down

In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, we sit down with Ilja Bitterling, VP Skills Intelligence & Performance Management at Deutsche Telekom, to unpack how large organizations can finally make skills data usable, trusted, and decision ready.

Ilja explains why skills intelligence is not about inventories, but about creating a shared language that connects workforce decisions, performance outcomes, and future readiness. He breaks down how Deutsche Telekom moves from fragmented skill signals to clear, comparable insights leaders can actually act on.

Most importantly, he shares why performance management and skills cannot live apart anymore, and how organizations that connect them move faster, allocate talent better, and avoid betting the future on outdated role assumptions.

🎓 In this episode, Ilja discusses:

1. Why fragmented skill data slows workforce readiness
2. What it takes to make skills credible at enterprise scale
3. How shared skill language improves mobility and planning
4. Why skills intelligence must support decisions, not documentation
5. How Deutsche Telekom connects skills and performance, not just roles

🙏‍ Thank you to our series partner - atlas copilot

Meet the AI-native adaptive learning platform that builds the course, teaches the skill, and proves the impact, while work is happening, not weeks later → https://www.atlascopilot.com/

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