Competency Based Development
Everyone today is talking about competency based development. Here is my
attempt and version of what can be competency based development. Let’s
start from the beginning, i.e. the meaning of competency. There are
many definitions of competency doing rounds, for the article 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 that; 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 perform successfully and with out it consistent performance is not
possible.
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Now that we have attempted
to state the meaning of competency we take on our next important phrase
“employee development” is the pursuit of
any activity that leads to continuous learning, personal growth, and which
contributes to the achievement of both an individual’s and their
employer’s or organization’s objective(s) on the longer term. |
Keeping the above two definition in mind we
have tried to list down certain steps which might be used work towards
doing a pilot and then institutionalize competency based employee
development.
1. The Background
a. Identify a champion, target employees, and structural framework for an
employee development process.
b. Assess the need for a competency development process; get an estimate
for the organization’s competency needs.
c. Complete employee competency assessments and define estimates of target
employees’ competency acquisition needs.(A SWAT of the target group’s
competencies)
2. The
Plan and Implementation
a. Understand the target groups “personal aspirations”.
b. Develop a plan for implementation of the competency based employee
development services.
c. Brief all stake holders and obtain resource support to implement the
start-up process plan.
d. Create a steering committee (there should be representatives from all
stat holders).
e. Implement and evaluate the start-up process.
3. The follow up
a. Make case studies of the implementation and spread the learning’s
amongst the stake holders.
b. Institutionalize the learning and take the process to a larger group.
This is what I feel
organizations may try to build a sustainable competency based employee
development. The above section talks about Organizations’ role in the
process; in the following steps I’ll elaborate what should an employee do
to ensure a holistic success of not just the process but their own careers
also.
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1.
Understand The Requirement:
Most organizations have a central document which lists the competency
expectations from every role in the organization. Make sure that you visit
this page and understand the requirement correctly. Don’t hesitate to
clarify if you are in doubt, remember in the long run it will only be of
your help.
2. Stop Excusing Yourself From Trainings:
One often ignores the soft skills (business skills) trainings that you are
asked to attend. These trainings are organized for your benefit. Try to
maximize the learning from these sessions. They will stand you in good
stead.
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3.
Appraisals Mean much for Than Hikes and Promotions:
People often make the mistake of looking at appraisal only as a precursor
to hikes and promotions. One must rather concentrate on the discussion of
how one can better the performance. Which are the competencies that one’s
needs to work harder on.
I have tried pen my experiences both as an employee and a HR practitioner.
Hope these will shed some light to the otherwise elusive concept of
competencies.
Contributed By: Sajiri Chidgupkar, HR Enthusiast &
Freelance Consultant
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