What are competencies some definitions

What are competencies – some definitions ……… • Competencies are the characteristics of an employee that lead to the demonstration of skills & abilities, which result in effective performance within an occupational area. • A cluster of related knowledge, skills and abilities that affects a major part of ones job, that correlates with the performance on the job, that can be measured against well –accepted standards and that can be improved via training and development. • An underlying characteristic of a person result in effective and / or superior performance on the job. In other words, competencies are characteristics that outstanding performers do more often in more situations with better results, than average performers

Why do we need it? v People will have to know their respective * Roles * Key competencies v Address employee needs * What am I on skills? * What are the gaps? How to improve on skills? * What is expected of my role? * What are possible future roles? v People have to know about competencies which help them deliver better to customers v Address organizational / business needs * High performance * Expectation management on career and promotions * Higher productivity with improved skills

Competency Behaviour Knowledge Skills Attitude Values & Motives

Competency Modeling Competency models consists of qualities required for superior performance with respect to: Role Functional Leadership Job specific requirements attributes Attributes The Organization's Culture & Value

Competency Based Management

Step 2 : Competency Profile What capabilities currently exist within the organization?

Competency Mapping Forced Ranking (Lower Level) Manager Assessment (Managers) 180 /360 – Degree Assessment (Employees, Managers, Peers Assessment centers Psychological Testing BEI

Step 3 : Competency Review What are the gaps between organizational needs and people capabilities?

The competency review process links current capabilities to the organizational needs Competency Model Review Competency Profile Development Plans Implementation

Step 3 : Development Plans Create Plans for shoring any identified gaps

Developing Competency Model

o Developing competency model depends on the nature of the organization & some basic consideration: o The practices for which they will be used o The financial & personnel resource available o Who needs to be included in the process of developing & endorsing the applications o. Who is going to be included in the implementation process

Select the optimal approach Generic model Adapted Generic Model Survey Driven Expert Panel Behavioral Event Interviews Most Rigorous Least Rigorous Considerations: * Practicality * Fairness * Speed * Validity

Data Collection tools Ø Behavioral Events Interview ØExpert Panels Ø Surveys ØExpert Systems Ø Job Analysis Ø Role Analysis Ø Direct Observation

Behavioral Events Interview § Advantages: §Empirical Identification of competencies § Precision about how competencies are expressed §Freedom from gender, cultural, bias §Generation of data for assessment, training etc.

Behavioral Events Interview § Disadvantages: §Time & Expense §Expertise requirements §Missed job tasks

Expert Panels v Advantages v. Quick and efficient collection of a great deal of valuable data v. Helps ensure better buy-in

Expert Panels v. Disadvantages v. Possible identification of folklore or motherhood items. v. Omission of critical competency factors which panelists are unaware of.

Surveys v Advantages v Quick and cheap collection of sufficient data for statistical analyses v A large number of employees can provide input v Help build consensus

Surveys v Disadvantages v Data are limited to items and concepts included in the survey v It cannot identify new competencies or nuances of competency v Can also be ineffecient

Expert Systems v Advantages v Access to data v Efficiency v Productivity

Expert Systems v Disadvantages v. Garbage in –garbage out v. May overlook specialized competition v Cost of system hardware and software

Job Analysis v Advantages v. Produces complete job descriptions v. Can validate or elaborate on data collected by other methods

Job Analysis v Disadvantages v Provides characteristics of job rather than those of the people who do the job well v Task lists too detailed to be practical and do not separate truly important tasks from the routine activities

Direct Observation v. Advantages v A good way to check competencies suggested by panel, survey, and BEI v. Disadvantages v. Expensive and inefficient

• Kinds of competencies that can be included in competency models: • Differentiating competencies - that most differentiate superior performers from mediocre performers. Includes results orientation, influence, and initiative • Threshold competencies- in which a minimum level of proficiency is required for job success, but a higher level of proficiency is not highly correlated with superior performance. • Transformation competencies- at which managers and employees are generally weak, which if improved will most likely to result in improved performance.

Alternate ways of choosing the Competencies in your job models • Traditional approaches involve studying superior performers, & identifying the traits, characteristics, and behaviours that differentiate then from average performers: - • First approach- follow superior and average performers as they go about their workday • Second approach- Perform interviews and organize focus groups of managers and superior performers

Competency models by position, function, level, or company • One universal set of competencies for all employees and positions. • Merits • It builds a common language & frame of reference for everyone • It makes it easier to compare employees to one another across position and job functions • It eases administration of selection & development practices • It helps align everyone towards a common culture & can support the culture change process.

Competency models by position v Difficulties: • Developing models for each position will take considerable time, efforts & expense if done well • The lack of competency commonality from position to position will make it more difficult to compare & contrast candidates currently in different positions. • Every time employees move from one position to another, they will have to learn new competencies & abandon those they have been focusing on improving.

Competency model by job function v Advantage • The number of competency models-generally in the range of 10 to 15 is manageable in terms of both creation & their maintenance • The same model applies to all the positions with in a job function • Easy to compare different employees in the same job function for the purpose of succession planning & Organizational development v. Disadvantage: • Managers have the same competency models as individual contributors within a job function.

The competency matrix – level & proficiency q Defines level of proficiency on competencies in terms of a set of behaviors expected for a grade level or rank at a particular position q The numbers in the rating system are replaced by job titles q. Helps employees understand the desired level of proficiency for each competency at each job level.