Types of Competencies, Benefits and Limitations of implementing Competencies

Types of Competencies

Behavioral competencies: Individual performance competencies are more specific than organizational competencies and capabilities. As such, it is important that they be defined in a measurable behavioral context in order to validate applicability and the degree of expertise (e.g. development of talent)

• Coaching skill
• Feedback skill
• Group process skill
• Negotiation skill
• Presentation skill
• Questioning skill
• Relationship building skill
• Writing skill.

Core competencies: Capabilities and/or technical expertise unique to an organization, i.e. core competencies differentiate an organization from its competition (e.g. the technologies, methodologies, strategies or processes of the organization that create competitive advantage in the marketplace). An organizational core competency is an organization’s strategic strength.

Functional competencies: Functional competencies are job-specific competencies that drive proven high-performance, quality results for a given position. They are often technical or operational in nature (e.g., “backing up a database” is a functional competency).

Management competencies: Management competencies identify the specific attributes and capabilities that illustrate an individual’s management potential. Unlike leadership characteristics, management characteristics can be learned and developed with the proper training and resources. Competencies in this category should demonstrate pertinent behaviors for management to be effective.

Organizational competencies: The mission, vision, values, culture and core competencies of the organization that sets the tone and/or context in which the work of the organization is carried out (e.g. customer-driven, risk taking and cutting edge). How we treat the patient is part of the patient’s treatment.

Technical competencies: Depending on the position, both technical and performance capabilities should be weighed carefully as employment decisions are made. For example, organizations that tend to hire or promote solely on the basis of technical skills, i.e. to the exclusion of other competencies, may experience an increase in performance-related issues (e.g. systems software designs versus relationship management skills)

1. Competency identification skill
2. Computer competencies
3. Career development theories and techniques understanding
4. Electronic system skill
5. Facilities selection skill
6. Objective’s preparation skill
7. Performance observation skill
8. Training and development theories and techniques skill
9. Research skill.

Business Competencies:

Business competencies include knowledge and skills essentially required for decision-making and to run a business.

Some business competencies are:

• Business understanding skill
• Cost benefit analysis skill
• Delegation skill
• Organization behaviour understanding
• Organization understanding
• Project management skill
• Marketing skill
• Concept selling skill
• Documents and records management skill.

Benefits of competencies

Competency models can help organizations align their initiatives to their overall business strategy. By aligning competencies to business strategies, organizations can better recruit and select employees for their organizations. Competencies have become a precise way for employers to distinguish superior from average or below average performance. The reason for this is because competencies extend beyond measuring baseline characteristics and or skills used to define and assess job performance. In addition to recruitment and selection, a well sound Competency Model will help with performance management, succession planning and career development.

Career paths: Development of stepping stones necessary for promotion and long-term career-growth

• Clarifies the skills, knowledge, and characteristics required for the job or role in question and for the follow-on jobs.
• Identifies necessary levels of proficiency for follow-on jobs.
• Allows for the identification of clear, valid, legally defensible and achievable benchmarks for employees to progress upward.
• Takes the guesswork out of career progression discussions.

Identifying skill gaps: Knowing whether employees are capable of performing their role in achieving corporate strategy

• Enables people to perform competency assessments in order to identify skill gaps at an individual and aggregate level.
• When self-assessments are included, drives intrinsic motivation for individuals to close their own gaps.
• Identifies re-skilling and upskilling opportunities for individuals, or consideration of other job roles.
• Ensures organizations can rapidly act, support their people, and remain competitive.

Performance Management: Provides regular measurement of targeted behaviors and performance outcomes linked to job competency profile critical factors.

• Provides a shared understanding of what will be monitored, measured, and rewarded.
• Focuses and facilitates the performance appraisal discussion appropriately on performance and development.
• Provides focus for gaining information about a person’s behavior on the job.
• Facilitates effectiveness goal-setting around required development efforts and performance outcomes.

Selection: The use of behavioral interviewing and testing where appropriate, to screen job candidates based on whether they possess the key necessary job competency profile:

• Provides a complete picture of the job requirements.
• Increases the likelihood of selecting and interviewing only individuals who are likely to succeed on the job.
• Minimizes the investment (both time and money) in people who may not meet the company’s expectations.
• Enables a more systematic and valid interview and selection process.
• Helps distinguish between competencies that are trainable after hiring and those are more difficult to develop.

Succession planning: Careful, methodical preparation focused on retaining and growing the competency portfolios critical for the organization to survive and prosper

• Provides a method to assess candidates’ readiness for the role
• Focuses training and development plans to address missing competencies or gaps in competency proficiency levels.
• Allows an organization to measures its “bench strength” the number of high-potential performers and what they need to acquire to step up to the next level.
• Provides a competency framework for the transfer of critical knowledge, skills, and experience. prior to succession and for preparing candidates for this transfer via training, coaching and mentoring.
• Informs curriculum development for leadership development programs, a necessary component for management succession planning.

Training and development: Development of individual learning plans for individual or groups of employees based on the measurable “gaps” between job competencies or competency proficiency levels required for their jobs and the competency portfolio processed by the incumbent.

• Focuses training and development plans to address missing competencies or raise level of proficiency.
• Enables people to focus on the skills, knowledge and characteristics that have the most impact on job effectiveness.
• Ensures that training and development opportunities are aligned with organizational needs.
• Makes the most effective use of training and development time and dollars.
• Provides a competency framework for ongoing coaching and feedback, both development and remedial.

Limitations of implementing Competencies

1. Competency Framework: Can we come out with common competency framework applicable for the organization from different industries/similar industries? No, we can’t have a similar competency framework even if it is similar industry because it differs from organization to organization based on its people, culture, structure, systems and processes, technology, etc. To determine competency framework, its’ essential the HR looks into the vision of the organization, organizations’ future plan, existing employee capability and industry practices and standards.
2. Identification of competency: The major challenge here is understanding what is competency and how to identify the list of competency. Competency is defined as the knowledge, skills and attitudes that lead to superior performance. Remember competency is not just knowledge, or combination of knowledge and skills or skills and attitude or knowledge and attitude, but it’s the combination of K+S+A. The challenge arises when it is seen either as K/S/A and not as K+S+A.

The next challenge is to list out the competency. It’s a known fact that competency is assessed based on past experience and listed based on the required competency in the future. While we list out the competency, it is essential that we consider the vision of the organization, current roles, expected knowledge, skills to achieve the future goals and how much essential these competencies are to achieve the goals.

3. Developing competency dictionary: Dictionary is the heart of competency based management. If this goes wrong, your assessments, your interpretation and development intervention will take you in a very wrong direction. When you write the dictionary you must look into the following points:

The definition of the competency: This must be broad and comprehensive enough to divide various aspects of the definition into 4 or 5 proficiency levels. Most important it must be relevant to the organizational context.

Behavioural Indicators: When we write the behavioural indicators we have to see the indicators reflects the KSA. In a four point scale we have to see that first two levels indicates the individual need for support and guidance (learning, execution with support) whereas when it comes to third level its’ about ensuring the value adds & results and in the fourth level, more from strategic best practices or from organizational growth perspective

Some of the aspects that needs to be considered in writing a good competency dictionary are:

• Behavioural indicators are not the JD
• Behavioural indicators are written in sequence
• It indicates the individual, team and organizational perspective
• Language used must be simple and inevitably understood in the same way by all the assessors
• Able to demonstrate the behavior so that measurement can be done

4. Assessment development centre: Major challenge comes in probing and getting into details that will aid in correct rating. The rating must not be surprising to the participants and they must not say that they have instances of demonstrated behavior but have either missed or have not been asked. It is important that we give at-least two opportunities to the participant to demonstrate the behavior. Also ensure that your questions are such that it helps the participant to provide relevant information.
5. Reports: Report writing must be given importance as it can mould an individual behavior in the right direction. It is a tedious process wherein lots of observed facts are analyzed and then arrive at a conclusion. It is often seen that this part of the job is outsourced by giving limited information to whosoever is working on the report. Report is not about the language, it’s not about making the other person feel good or bad on reading the report but it’s about how you place the evidences captured in the right way and how the participants can relate to his development area without a second thought on it.  Reports are the first step for the participant to move towards the development.  Report gives an insight to the participant on what are the competencies that he/she needs to focus on and take up right interventions.  Reports must be essentially be written by the person who has assessed the participant.
6. IDP: This is an area which is not much explored and highly unorganized approach is adopted. Most of them feel that after feedback the action plans suggested for improvements become only paper records and no actions are taken either by the participant or by the organization.  This happens when the developmental avenues are forced upon on the participant and when the activity is not reviewed periodically.  Based on my experience I feel that organization first must find out what are the various avenues that will aid in developing the competency in the individual.  Once the avenues are listed against the competency, the assessor must facilitate and the participant must take the ownership in the chosen technique for development.  And most important it must be reviewed periodically.  If there are no reviews then most of the participants will be involved in their daily work and not take any initiative for improving.