Using competency models for talent development can play a key role in strengthening employee performance. By incorporating them into your continuous performance management efforts, you’ll help employees meet or surpass expectations.
In this article, we’ll delve into what competency models are, exploring their core elements. Then, we’ll discuss their key benefits, how to strategically create them, and how to use technology to support your efforts.
Table of Contents
- Understanding Competency Models
- The Link Between Competency Models and High Performance
- Examples of Competency Models
- Steps to Build an Effective Competency Model
- The Role of Technology in Competency Management
Understanding Competency Models
Competency models are frameworks that articulate how you expect people to perform in specific roles. Essentially, they define what success looks like in these positions. By specifying the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) needed in a role, they also help you identify whether an employee is equipped to excel in the role.
A good competency model is concise and clear. By clarifying expectations, it enhances talent development throughout an organization. Moreover, it aligns employees’ efforts and development with a company’s strategic direction, as Donta Harper says in Building Competencies for Organizational Success.
Key Components of Competency Models
A competency model specifies key performance indicators (KPIs) for a role, which can involve several types of skills:
- Human skills – These interpersonal qualities and capacities provide a foundation for success. They typically centre on collaboration and communication.
- Functional abilities – These technical proficiencies allow employees to effectively handle crucial tasks. They involve field-specific knowledge that can be built and refined through training and experience. Advanced knowledge of particular programs, analytical abilities, and strategic thinking skills are several examples.
- Leadership competencies – A strong leadership skill set can allow employees to manage projects and coach others. Not all roles require leadership abilities, but they can prepare employees for next-level responsibilities. Emotional intelligence and the ability to inspire others to follow a vision are examples of such skills.
A competency model should include a succinct list of the most crucial skills and KPIs that demonstrate success. Focus on measurable outcomes as you design these criteria. Competency models should align with business goals, directing employees’ efforts toward those overarching objectives.
The Link Between Competency Models and High Performance
Competency models offer multiple key benefits:
- Improving productivity and outcomes
- Aiding managers in effectively coaching employees
- Enhancing engagement
- Strengthening performance assessment
- Empowering smart succession planning
- Assisting in recruitment
By empowering employees to take ownership of their success, competency models boost engagement. Productivity will also increase as you clarify expectations for each role and guide employees in meeting them. By the same token, managers will share more relevant feedback and performance appraisals as they refer to the competency model. Likewise, employees’ personal development efforts will support career growth, making work more rewarding. In turn, outcomes will improve for individuals, teams, and the organization as a whole.
Competency models can assist with the hiring process by clarifying the skills needed for a role, too. Similarly, they can prepare you for succession planning. As you consider who might be a good fit for an advanced position, you can refer to clear criteria for success in the role.
HR should work with managers to create competency models for each role. Then, managers can discuss them with employees and utilize them regularly in coaching conversations. HR, in turn, can maintain a database of competency models for roles across the company.
Examples of Competency Models
Let’s review several examples of competency models for different positions, to better convey what they entail.
Accountant
Overview: Guides organizational budgeting and handles financial monitoring and reporting, ensuring smooth operations and compliance with regulations.
Functional Skills
- Conduct strategic planning and risk assessment to inform allocation of funds.
- Guide organizational budgeting that meets the needs of each function.
- Monitor expenditures and emerging needs, and work to adapt the budget accordingly.
- Measure and report on compliance with relevant guidelines and regulations.
Interpersonal Skills
- Collaborate with leadership to evaluate strategic risks and opportunities.
- Communicate with department directors about budgetary needs.
- Convey compliance-related requirements to departmental leaders and executives, ensuring understanding.
Chief Marketing Officer
Overview: Leads planning and execution of all marketing initiatives, implementing strategies that further organizational goals.
Functional Skills
- Set strategic marketing priorities that align with the company’s vision.
- Engage in data-driven decision-making to further marketing priorities.
- Conduct market analysis, identifying opportunities and threats.
Leadership Skills
- Guide the development of advertising campaigns tailored to the target customer’s needs.
- Inspire and motivate the marketing team to compellingly share their brand’s story.
- Effectively negotiate with all stakeholders (e.g., partners, agencies, influencers) to establish agreements that further goals.
Executive Assistant
Overview: Manages the daily administrative duties involved in senior executives’ work, enabling these leaders to focus on strategic priorities.
Functional Skills
- Effectively use X and Y software to manage tasks and set schedules.
- Complete technical work with a high level of accuracy and in a timely manner.
- Reliably coordinate schedules, ensuring seamless integration of appointments and duties.
Interpersonal Skills
- Engage in effective problem-solving to mitigate unexpected challenges.
- Collaborate effectively with staff to prepare materials for meetings.
- Check in regularly with leaders about needs, such as travel arrangements and appointment setting.
Communications Coordinator
Overview: Designs, implements, and monitors the company’s communications strategy, cultivating a strong brand image.
Functional Skills
- Design and launch social media campaigns that enhance brand awareness.
- Create compelling multimedia content for a range of channels, such as Instagram and TikTok.
- Measure the success of campaigns to evaluate which tactics best influence the target audience.
Interpersonal Skills
- Collaborate with senior leadership to shape the company’s messaging strategy.
- Guide individual contributors in production of crucial multimedia assets, managing direct reports or contractors.
- Coach contributors in best practices for utilizing various platforms.
As these examples show, every role requires a blend of human and functional skills.
Steps to Build an Effective Competency Model
Now, let’s walk through the main steps in designing a competency model.
1. Identify key competencies.
First, HR should map out the competencies for specific job roles. They can discuss these core competencies with managers, who have an in-depth understanding of what it takes to succeed in a position.
“To identify job-specific competencies, think about what is required to complete the duties of the job, including hard and soft skills, knowledge in the field, and behavioral attributes and work style,” writes the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
You can look at the job description as a starting point, but don’t stop there. Keep in mind that requirements may have changed since the description was written.
Then, organize these competencies into groups, like interpersonal skills, functional abilities, and leadership skills.
2. Articulate what success looks like.
Create a brief narrative illustrating what success in a given position looks like in practice. This will help employees and managers gain a better grasp of how to excel in the role. Your narrative can take the form of a bullet-point list, with a sentence or phrase that describes each competency. Keep your statements simple and straightforward, so the framework will be easily digestible.
As you draft your list, write out all key points that come to mind. Then, refine it by merging similar competencies and eliminating less relevant ones. For instance, you can delete smaller tasks in favor of focusing on higher-level priorities. This will also help your list remain relevant over time, as tasks may change far more frequently than overarching responsibilities.
3. Involve stakeholders and gather feedback.
Discuss the competency models with employees before finalizing them. Ask if you’ve missed any key aspects of the role. Employees may have additional input about the skills needed to perform their job well. If organizational changes have caused work demands to shift, they can share these insights, for instance.
4. Embrace adaptive competency models.
In today’s agile business world, competency models shouldn’t be static, as Deloitte asserts. Rather, they should be flexible, adapting to emerging needs and opportunities. As conditions change, revisit the skills needed and your description of what success looks like for a given role.
To do this, periodically conduct a skills gap analysis for each position. Consult with managers about emerging skill needs, and utilize performance management software to reassess the skills required for the role.
5. Engage in continuous training to update competencies.
As new skill needs emerge, help employees update their professional development goals and design a plan for achieving them. Then, connect them with training opportunities that help them upskill or reskill. These could focus on technical abilities or leadership skills, for instance.
Next, let’s explore how technology can support your efforts.
The Role of Technology in Competency Management
Technological solutions can help you measure success and ensure continuous improvement. Let’s look at several examples of useful tools.
Goal-Tracking Software
You can use performance management software to track and assess competencies and achievements. In particular, goal-tracking software can aid in the evaluation of competencies. After you input goals into the platform, you can observe how effectively employees move toward them—and the skills they are using to do so. By measuring their accomplishments, it will illuminate whether employees are achieving the desired results.
Analytics Tools
You can also use analytics tools to shine light on patterns of development and achievement. Analytics can help reveal correlations between performance changes and initiatives you’ve implemented, for instance.
360 Feedback Solutions
360 feedback software garners insights about an employee’s competencies from multiple perspectives. You can tailor questions about each employee to the competency model you’ve created for their role. By asking for input from direct reports, peers, and managers, you’ll gain a stronger understanding of whether the employee possesses the competencies needed for the role. Then, you can guide the employee in aligning their skill set more fully with the competency model.
As you craft thoughtful competency models, employees will have greater clarity on where to focus their efforts in their daily work. They’ll learn to more efficiently achieve objectives and support team-level goals. Plus, they’ll feel more confident and driven as they build and leverage skills that benefit the organization. As a result, morale will increase throughout the company, supporting achievement of your overarching vision and goals.
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