To determine performance excellence, you need a model that you can use. This is where competency frameworks can help you. In a guide for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s managers and staff, they define competency framework as “a model that broadly describes performance excellence within an organization”.
What is a competency framework?
Competency frameworks allow you to define the skills, behaviors, and attitudes that your employees need to perform their roles effectively.
In a post by Mindtools, they point out that a competency framework is “an effective method to assess, maintain, and monitor the knowledge, skills, and attributes of people in your organization. The framework allows you to measure current competency levels to make sure your staff members have the expertise needed to add value to the business.”
Why should you use a competency framework?
Now that you know what are competency frameworks, here are the benefits of using them!
Hire for the right reasons
Your employees are your greatest assets. You entrust your company’s future in their hands. That’s why hiring is critical. After all, your organization’s performance depends on the people in it.
Since competency frameworks allow you to define the skills, behaviors, and attitudes that your employees need, you can use it with your hiring. Knowing what you need from a talent to effectively perform makes selection easier. Depending on your model, you can find talents who match your culture, core values, and more.
Develop your employees
You’ve hired for the right reasons using your competency framework. But did you know that you could also use it to develop your employees?
In an ideal world, you’ll be able to find the perfect candidate for your company. One that has all the competencies needed to perform well. But, in reality, these talents are hard to find. However, the good news is that you can always develop your employees in order to help them fill the competency gaps. This is where a competency framework comes in.
You can target the training of your employees depending on the competencies that they need for their work. A good competency framework can help you develop them not just for hard or technical skills but also for leadership, values, attitude, and more. After all, soft skills are also essential.
Help you with succession planning
No employee stays with the company forever. As much as you want them to, turnovers are inevitable. Your leaders are no exception. That’s why you should also think about your succession planning. Through a competency framework, you can identify the skills, behaviors, attitudes, and other requirements your future leaders should have. And since competency frameworks can also help you with employee development, you could use it to upskill your workforce and promote internally.
Manage employee performance
Since competency frameworks allow you to determine what makes a role successful, you can judge better judge when and why an employee performs well in their role, when they outperform, and how to improve their performance. Having the competencies to be successful on the job and actually performing are different. You can use competency frameworks to help you better evaluate the performance of your employees.
Now that you know what are competency frameworks and the benefits of using it, it’s time to start using one. Having a competency framework can help your organization transition to a more competency-based system, which benefits not only you but also your employees.
Want to assess your talents according to your competency framework? People Dynamics Inc. presents the Profiles Competency Assessment (PCA)! You can customize the assessment by picking only the competencies that you want to assess. For more information about the PCA, you may email us at solutions@peopledynamics.ph, contact us through our website, or call us through the following numbers: (+632) 8 635 0016 / 8 637 8770.
