Developing Competency Frameworks

Common Framework Elements

What is a competency?

A competency is the behaviour, skills and knowledge required to carry out a task successfully.

The following analogy is useful in understanding the difference between behaviour, skills and knowledge and the depth of competency.

Let us examine occupations which require driving a motor vehicle.

Firstly, a courier driver. We need the courier driver to have the following behaviour, skills and knowledge:

1. Behaviour: Courteous, punctual, clean and smart looking, not too much of a boy racer in the traffic as we don't want to accumulate fines or be party to insurance claims for traffic accidents.
2. Skills: Must be able to drive a car, evidenced by a licence, read a street directory and must know how to use our hand held computer to access orders, make payments etc.
3. Knowledge: Must know the road rules, again evidenced by a licence, must know our delivery and credit terms, our returns policy and the location of the delivery dock of our best customers.

Now let us determine the requirements for another driver, a specific driver, name, Michael Schumacher. Herr Schumacher needs to have the following skills behaviour and knowledge:

1. Behaviour: Ice cool nerves, steely determination, confidence to the point of arrogance.
2. Skills: A much higher level of skill in driving a car than our courier driver, a licence will not suffice as evidence, must be able to change gears with hands and have reflexes measureable in milliseconds.
3. Knowledge: Must know the racing line of every Grand Prix race track, must know the relationship between, track, tyre and suspension set up and should now that it is potentially not good for his sponsors to try to run others off the track in the last race of the season in an attempt to ensure victory for the season.

These two examples demonstrtae that two competencies required for two different tasks can be described in terms of behavior skills and knowledge.

What competencies are not

Competencies are not:

• Tasks
• Qualifications
• Job Descriptions
• Outcomes
• Processes

Competency frameworks often get to be too complicated and too large to understand and administer because they merely list tasks or qualifications or try to replace the role of a job description. Job descriptions are important in describing what the competencies required to execute a job, the external evidence required for the competency and the relevant organisational issues that pertain to the job. A Competency Development Framework uses Job descriptions for that purpose

Competency Levels of Ability

A level of ability is a defined range of capability within a competency. Together, the levels of ability define a capability hierarchy, where higher levels build upon the elements of the lower levels. Dependent on the level of complexity and number of layers in the organization the levels of ability may range form three to five levels. The following describes the capability hierarchy by level for five levels:

1. Basic Understanding

   Performs own work with daily supervision by others

   • Possesses fundamental knowledge and can apply this with coaching and supervision
   • Impact limited to own work
   • Structures own work, generally determined by others
2. Working Knowledge

   Plans and performs own work independently or by interacting with others, generally receiving little direction

   • Possesses fundamental knowledge and can apply with minimal coaching and supervision
   • Plans and organises own work
   • Ensures quality of own work, normally getting it right
   • Performs and drives own work forward
3. Can Do

   Works independently and helps to plan and guide the work of others

   • Possesses the behaviour, skills and knowledge and can apply without any coaching or supervision
   • Resolves problems of others
   • Proficient, takes responsibility, flexible
4. Exceptional

   Guides and integrates work of others and teams

   • Helps plan and drive forward the work of others/team by being proactive
   • Can look at the wider picture and is able to resolve significant business and people issues
   • Possesses specialised knowledge; applies knowledge without supervision
5. Role Model

   Leads the direction of the work for teams without organisation

   • Develops new strategies, new initiatives and new approach to work
   • Uses external contacts and influences to drive change process within the organisation
   • Recognised internally as a role model and is sought by others for expertise
   • Influences others at a high level and is able to build co-operative relations across the business
   • Predicts effect of action/decision on teams, it's effect on personnel and takes action based upon defined performance goals

Proof Points

Proof points describe, at each level of ability, the evidence required to prove that an individual has the ascribed level of competency. Download an example of proof points for Working in and Building Teams to further understand about proof points.

Evaluating Competencies

The competency of an individual may be evaluated against the proof points in a number of ways.

Job accompaniment

A trained coach, who may be an individual's supervisor, accompanies the individual on a days work this works well for jobs which require people to move out of the office and interact with other people; for example sales jobs. It works less well with office jobs.

On-line testing

Scenario based on-line testing can evaluate skills as well as knowledge. A combination of text, pictures, audio and video to use to create a scenario with a following question such as, "What would you do next?" will highlight soft and hard skills. For example, changing the tone and pace of voice from friendly to angry in customer oriented scenarios should change the response. Check out Change Factory eValuate^TM as an example of on-line evaluation

Interview panels

Causing the individual concerned to be interviewed by a panel of peers, superiors and or customers will generally elicit information about the behaviour skills and knowledge an individual has. It is probably the most reliable means of evaluating competency but is also the most expensive.

Achievement log

The possession of a competency is readily demonstrated by achievement. Asking individuals to record their achievements as a supplement to a panel or on-line test is a good way of ensuring that the behaviour skills and knowledge possessed was executed.

©2008 Change Factory

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