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Competency Models as Talent Management Best Practice
Bruce Griffiths M.S.
It is a widespread practice in day-to-day decision-making to generate an ideal template as a model for testing assumptions, or build a prototype to benchmark progress, or create a blueprint to define a preferred future state for guiding construction. This idea of first creating an ideal for comparison also applies to the many decisions made about people in organizations. In the world of human resources, there are hundreds of critical decisions made daily in hiring, placing, promoting, appraising and training. A competency model provides a needed ideal for all these judgments.
My personal journey in the competency model space began in the assessment center world. For decades, assessment centers have used work-related simulations to compare candidates for managerial roles to a set of variables (i.e., ideal model) revealed by research as relevant to job performance. Fresh from graduate school, I began my career on the HR staff of a Fortune 150 conglomerate. In my first year on the job, to test my readiness to lead in a corporate HR context, I was evaluated in a classic center. Many of the variables used in my assessment are still extremely relevant, e.g., my ability to multi-task (Organizing & Planning), my skill in communication (Written, Formal and Informal Communication), and my skill in rendering good judgments (Problem Solving & Decision Making).
I had not yet had much exposure to these concepts as a coherent model, but it was immediately obvious to me how useful this approach was! The company was informed in a coherent and credible way about my readiness to advance, and I was given exceptionally useful feedback about my strengths and possible opportunities. In retrospect it was the most valuable feedback I have received in my 40+ year career in the US Coast Guard and OSI. I immediately became a competency model enthusiast! And many decades later I still have not discovered a more practical, impactful, or useful way of defining human performance in an organizational context.
So why doesn't every organization employ a competency framework? As mentioned earlier, many smaller organizations without HR professionals simply have not been exposed to the idea, and larger organizations continuously fall prey to fads and distractions. HR professions and professionals are often not trained formally or informally in competency frameworks. And, of course, any change can be a heavy lift, even when it is the right thing to do.
We have been heartened by a recent recycling of "skillsets" in articles and conferences as important in hiring. Once again, the world has "discovered" what assessment centers and competency modelers have known for over 50 years. Namely, that in selection and performance management contexts, it is better to define competence in behavioral terms (i.e., observed skill proficiency) than education, experience or personality. This competency approach has the additional benefit of being more objective and fairer (DEI friendly).
Public Sector Polaris® Edition Released
As previewed in our introduction, we are extremely pleased to announce the release of the new WBCP Polaris® Public Sector Competency framework! In addition to the competency model, a competency development guide, and proficiency continuums for each competency are available. Content can be licensed.
This product is exclusively available through WBCP by contacting Wendi Brown at 866-929-WBCP or by email at wendi@wbcpinc.com
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