Guidelines to Developing A Competence Model

Competency\nProfiling is a method of breaking the job into its constituent\nparts and identify specified skills, knowledge, personalities and behaviours\nneeded to perform the same successfully. Competency profiling determines the\nextent to which the various competencies related to a job are possessed by an\nemployee. A competency Model is\na  set of competencies and includes\nassociated behaviours that link directly to overall strategic priorities and\nthe work that needs to be done to achieve them, as well as to levels of\nproficiency for each behaviour. According to Roe (2002), competencies\nare a set of personality traits,\nknowledge, skills, abilities and behaviours that an employee applies in\nperforming his/her work and are the key employee-related levers for achieving results that are relevant to the\norganisation’s business strategies.

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Why is it important for you\nto have a Competency Framework?

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• It gives you guidance\non how to assess, plan, and manage the development of your employees.
• It provides a means to\ntranslate your organisations’ vision and goals into expected employee\nbehaviour.
• It Identifies  areas for employee development that are\ndirectly linked to desired outcomes and organisational objectives
• It provides a platform\nfor an objective dialogue between managers and their subordinates about\nperformance, development and career-related issues.
• It provides an\nassessment process that allows you to identify the strengths and development\nneeds of your employees within the competency framework

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What\nare the objectives of Competency Profiling?

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• To align your\ncompetency framework to the vision, mission, values, and strategy of your\norganisation
• To create the  job families in your organisation
• To identify  organisational, functional and job-specific competencies
• To define proficiency\nlevels for each competency cluster
• To classify the\ncompetencies into clusters and sub-clusters
• To measure the gap in the required and existing\n level of competencies and recommend solutions to develop them. 
• To develop personal\ncompetency development paths for your employees
• To map your competency\nframework to your human resources processes and systems
• To validate  the competency framework for your\norganisation

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What\nare the Key Deliverables of Competency Profiling?

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• Synchronization  of your vision, mission, values, and strategy\nwith your competency model
• Creation of job\nfamilies
• Identification of\norganisational, functional and job-specific competencies
• Definition of\nproficiency levels for different competency clusters
• Classification of\ncompetencies into clusters and sub-clusters
• Assessment of\ncompetencies among your staff
• Calculation of\ncompetency gaps among your staff
• Development of personal\ncompetency development paths
• Mapping of your\ncompetency model to your human resources systems and processes
• Validation of your\nCompetency Framework

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Tentative\nPhases for Developing and Validating your Competency Framework

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Step 1: Organisational Context Review

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This stage involves the review and assessment  of all the factors that influence the employee\nbehaviors the model is trying to improve and these include among other things:

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• Organisational culture
• Organisational structure
• Organisational processes and systems
• Customers
• Employee relations

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Step 2: Definition of your  Business Goals and  Objectives

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This step involves the review of your vision, mission, values, strategy,\nand  identification of your\norganisation’s  goals and breaking them\ninto your competencies.

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Stage 3: Creation of Job Families

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A job\nfamily is a collection of related jobs that\nrequire employees having similar knowledge, skills and abilities at different\nlevels. Thus, a job family has jobs at progressing levels defining a career\npath for an individual, with an incremental requirement of similar knowledge,\nskills and abilities. All jobs in a given job profile require\na similar educational background, experience, competences, and market value.\nThis phase involves the identification and classification of jobs into families\nbased on the following criteria:

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•  similar knowledge, skills, and abilities
• have a continuum of\nknowledge, skills, and abilities that represent a career path from the lowest\nto the highest level job
• possess associated and\nrelated key behaviors
• have similar market\ncompetitive pay characteristics and conditions

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The\nclassification of jobs into families allows your organisation among other\nthings to:

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• determine whether it\nhas the capabilities needed to achieve maximum impact and to locate where those\ncapabilities are found
• set job requirements at\nthe corporate level for similar jobs
• view potential matches\nand bridges for in-house mobility
• provide corporate\nlearning opportunities
• design structured\ncareer development  programmes

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Stage 4: Identification of    Competencies

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This\nstage involves theidentification\nand specification of competencies at organisational, business unit, team and\njob level. The competencies will be further decomposed into core\ncompetencies, job family competencies, technical competencies, and leadership\ncompetencies and behavioural indicators.

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Organisation specific -competencies reflect the core\nvalues of the organization and are usually specified by the founders. People\nare the face of the organization. They are expected to exhibit a set of\ncompetencies and behaviors that reflect organizational character to certain\nstandards that are non-negotiable and these include  among others ethical conduct and integrity. Core Competencies are those competencies that\ncontribute the most towards achieving strategic results. Technical/Functional Competencies are job-specific competencies\nneeded to perform a particular position.\nThey\nare determined by responsibilities and the accountability levels of that role. Leadership Competencies are related to managing an\norganisation or department and leading people. Behavioural Indicators describe the actions required to demonstrate\na particular competency.

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 The following methods will be used for\ngathering the data.

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• Strategic Job Analysis
• Key Expert  Interviews
• Focus Group discussions

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Stage 5: Classification of Competencies

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Having identified the\nvarious competencies, they need to be categorised into competency\ntype, sub- competency cluster, competency definitions,\ncompetency level and appropriate behavioural indicators which are categorised\nin a logical structure

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Step 6: Define levels  of  Proficiency on Competencies

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The\nlevels of competency mastery will be defined to reflect the progression of the level\nof expertise. Each competency level will be associated with a  specific set of indicators to describe the\nbehavior and skills required at that particular level. The level of mastery\nexpected for a given competency increase as the responsibility and scope of the\nposition dictate.  Both core and\nfunctional competencies are therefore further differentiated by levels to\naccount for these differences in scope, breadth and depth of responsibilities.\nHowever, it is important to note that competencies are cumulative i.e. the\nbasic behavioral indicators at lower levels also apply to all subsequent\nlevels. Below is an illustration\nof how we are going to differentiate the different competence proficiency\nlevels for each functional area.

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Step 7:  Assessment of Competencies

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The\npurpose of the assessment is to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses to\ndetermine how further development could improve competence and results. At this stage, all the affected employees\nwill be assessed against performance competencies and personal competencies.\nThis   will be done by administering\nscientifically validated instruments to the employees that are outlined below:

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• Psychometric Tests 
• Assessment Centres
• 360-degree feedback
• Personality Tests

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Step 8:  Establishment and Calculation of Competency Gaps

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Competency Gap is the difference between the current competency level\nof your employees and the required competency level. This will be calculated\nusing a mathematical formula.

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Step 9: Development of Personal Competency Development Paths

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 This stage involves the development\nof personal competency development plans to bridge the competency gaps\ndetermined at step 8. The plans will prescribe activities that seek to bridge\nthe competency gaps that will have been identified in stage 4.

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Step 10: Validation of the Competency Model

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Having identified the\ndistinguishing characteristics of superior performers, the model should be\nvalidated.

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• Concurrent cross-validation: This involves collecting\ndata from a second criterion sample of superstars and average performers.\nScores from this group can then be used to see if the competency model based on\nthe first study predicts the superior and average performers in the second sample\n
  • Development of tests: Tests can be designed to\nmeasure the competencies described in the model and used to test people in a\nsecond criterion sample of superior and average performers
  • Predictive validity: Given that the primary\nobjective of a competency model is to predict performance, the most powerful\nway of validating the model is to train people in using the competencies and\nsee if these people actually perform better in the future

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Stage 10: Mapping the Competency Model  to Human Resources Processes and Systems

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Competency Mapping is the process of identifying critical\ncompetencies and incorporating them in all people management processes like\ntraining, performance management, succession planning, recruitment and\nselection. Competency\nmapping is integral to competency management.

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Stage 11: Develop a Competency Monitoring and Evaluation Plan

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It is\nthe process by which individual competencies are assessed periodically with\nrespect to required skills, their competency gaps and changes are monitored,\nand suitable actions are taken to address them.

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Why Competency Tracking is\nNecessary?

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• Competency\ntracking validates—or reveals the shortcomings in a company’s workforce\ntraining and development efforts.
  • Competency\ntracking can help in predicting productivity. A competency management system\ncan assist in matching employee competencies to role requirements and predict\nproductivity by using information about the number of years of experience of an\nemployee.
  • It\nhelps to keep up with advances in technology, enabling the development of a\nwider range of capabilities.

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Newturn\nWikirefu is the Talent Acquisition Manager at Industrial Psychology Consultants\n(Pvt) Ltd a management and human resources consulting firm.

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Phone +263 4\n481946-48/481950/2900276/2900966 or cell number +0784 597343 or email:\nnewturn@ipcconsultants.com or visit our website at www.ipcconsultants.com