Everyone today is talking about competency based development. Let’s start from the beginning, i.e. the meaning of competency. We’ll look at competency as a trait or characteristic that allows an individual to successfully accomplish work or task assigned. These characteristics are the culmination of individual’s skills, knowledge and attributes. The traits or characteristics are known as competency only and only if they allow or result in superior performance.
The next question is often asked why use competency as the predictor of performance? Why not simply look at the individual’s performance? Well the answer is simple while in the short term which might mean in the current role the performance of the individual might be a good indicator but for future performance competency is not only a better option but more often than not the only option. The reason being; people perform tasks or jobs using their competency to achieve desired results. While work or jobs might change, competencies are of more enduring nature and immune to change in the job or work context. To summarize competencies are what individuals use to be successful and without it consistent performance is not possible.
Today professional development techniques have helped us to achieve the level of excellence we expect from ourselves and ought to have for extension in order to make a statewide, national, and global impact.
Professional Development:
A continuing and deliberate organization-sponsored process aimed at assisting, encouraging and enabling professionals as individuals to improve their performance and potential – developing their knowledge, skills, abilities and values.
For organizations to succeed in today’s competitive setting, employees at all levels need to develop and demonstrate a set of behavior showcasing their capabilities, characteristics, knowledge, talent as well as personal qualities for effective performance at work.
All professions are based on some key competencies. If any business neglects employee competency and its development, all growth and productivity of an employee, company and profits will be affected. The main reason for an organization to create a competency-based system that focuses on having the right people with right skills at the right time is that it helps in accomplishing professional targets.
Building a Professional Development Strategy
It is important to take a comprehensive look at how organization provides professional development opportunities and what can be done to enrich and expand them. These are the main steps:
1 : Identify your Professional Development Strategy Team
2 : Identify the scope of the professional development strategy
3 : Identify professional development approaches
4 : Identify professional development resources
5 : Communicate the importance and availability of learning opportunities
The assessment competency based model is structured around building assessments processes in all forms. It maps behaviors against competency-based profiles in various scenarios through the appropriate use of psychometrics and other techniques.
Currently the problem finding initiatives taking place in our organizations are more challenging and demands more efficient, more accountable and more effective employees, whereas this cannot be an one sided approach. Whatever tool we deploy in our human resource department should meet two objectives:
- Align HR with Business requirement
- Achieve employee’s growth in an organization.
One of the methodologies to diagnose and improve the demanded effectiveness, accountability and efficiency in our organization is the adoption of fact based business strategies in line with the competencies of organization and that of employees. It means the basis of this model is competencies which can be also be identified by looking at organization behavior. As a scope of this note we will be only concentrating on competency based approach to organizational diagnostics for its development and will be considering that this aims to improve overall effectiveness, accountability and efficiency of the organization to meet the business objectives.
Macro level OD diagnostics is a 3 level process:
- Organizational Diagnosis
- Prescribing and implementing an intervention
- Monitor progress and corrective actions.
Competency based organizational diagnosis
To achieve results from organization diagnosis competency diagnosis address two prime purposes.
1. To align requirement of future employee’s competencies required to meet organizations strategic goals.
2. To identify present organization problems because of existing competency gaps.
To achieve the first purpose competency mapping specialist applies competency analysis method for competency diagnosis. Competency analysis consists of identifying the type of skills or competencies that employees must possess for the organization to accomplish its goals. The other aspect of competency diagnosis is identifying present problems that effect employee and in turn organizational success because of existing competencies gaps. As an extension of this understands problems can also be mapped with the organizational diagnostic framework. Above representation are a clear linkage / correlation of organization problem with competency gaps or assessment map.
Benefits of competency based models:
- Reduction in staff turnover, recruitment costs, training costs, etc.
- Improvement in productivity, performance, training and development.
- Reliable and consistence performance data across cultures and geographic borders.
- Delivery of comprehensive training & development plans.
- Creation of training & development processes that identify and deliver the most effective sessions.
- Identify employee’s capabilities for an organization’s future needs.
- Analyzing capability gaps to create appropriate training programs.
Competence development is a continuous process in an individual’s professional life. It not only benefits the individual but also the organization. It is an investment a company makes to reap the benefits that a skilled and experienced professional will provide.
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