In order to perform any task well, a person needs to have the required competencies. Each competency is a set of measurable skills and characteristics that enable a person to do a particular job successfully and efficiently. Competencies are also qualities which people can develop and modify throughout their career and life.
Even though scientists debate the true nature of the concept, it usually references things such as knowledge, hard and soft skills, abilities and behaviors. That is why we differentiate between competencies on their type and they can be technical, functional, behavioral or management competencies.
A particularly important type of competencies is known as core competencies, which are a particular set of competencies established by a company unique to a particular organization. This includes specific technologies, methodologies, processes, and strategies all of which are utilized in order to gain a competitive advantage in the market.
All of these qualities, if measured and compared can allow us to predict a person’s capabilities to perform a certain job, which is why they are extremely useful for the assessment of current or potential employees. Certain competency models can be applicable for all employees, while others are position-specific meaning they include skills specific to a particular role in an organization.
Building an Assessment Strategy Based on Competencies
If a company uses an approach based on competencies it will most certainly reflect itself through the assessment process and the strategy of the HR team. In this organizational context, HR professionals are considered to be strategic business partners which take their share of responsibility for the growth of the organization. If a company acknowledges competency-based assessment as a part of its business strategy, many different aspects of HR processes will require a certain amount of adaptation including recruitment, selection, and hiring, but also performance management and employee development.
Adapting to competency-based assessment also has a couple of preconditions in order to be deemed effective. For starters, it affects a large number of people and in order for it to work, everyone in the company needs to understand what it is and why it’s necessary, how will it affect their job and day-to-day activities, and how are both the company and the employees going to benefit from it. The strategy needs to be transparent and only when all included accept it as necessary and beneficial can the company proceed with the later phases of implementation.
When these basic conditions are satisfied, the next step would be to define a competency framework which is developed by identifying unique core and organization competencies. Once it is clear which behaviors are defined as a desirable standard for employee performance it’s important to communicate this framework to all of the members of the organization. That way they can adapt to the newly set requirements while being able to understand the feedback which will be based on these principles.
Types of Competency-Based Assessment
In making a competency-based assessment, HR professionals and executives rely on an array of methods, the most popular being:
- Performance and Psychometric Tests- tests designed to determine specific competencies as well as characteristics such as motivation and personality
- Competency-Based Interviews- interviews based on examining past behaviors and experiences in order to determine if a candidate has the right competencies for the job and to assess future performance
- Skill Gap Analysis- a procedure in which the appraiser evaluates the aspects of a person's competencies and determines which skills should be worked on and to what extent in order to improve performance
- Simulation Exercises- simulated recreations of a task or process through the use of techniques such as role play and case study analysis
- 360-Degree Feedback- a way of acquiring feedback in a competency-based approach which includes impressions of people working at different levels of the company.
- Self-Assessment- a method where a person uses their unique insight to introspectively determine which skills and behaviors need to be worked on and improved further
- Assessment Centers- an ambitious yet costly method combining different forms of assessment including advanced simulations, various exercises and extensive psychometric testing customarily used when making important decisions involving employees and candidates
The Benefits of Competency-Based Assessment
- It’s Efficient and Cost Effective
A competence based approach means that the focus is exclusively on both the skills required for increasing performance and on improving the skills the person actually needs at the same time adapted to their particular level of ability. This means that all training methods are aligned with both the goals of the company and the standards determined for improving company effectiveness all the while removing redundancy from the employee education and development process.
The employees are trained in areas that are closely connected to their daily activities meaning they’ll have more opportunities to apply newly acquired techniques. This allows for a greater transfer of learning which furthermore makes the whole training process more efficient.
- It Increases Productivity
The company’s productivity is being increased in multiple ways, the obvious one being that more competent employees are more likely to perform their tasks with success. Their rewards are based on their own ability, which is something they have more control over which makes their satisfaction greater. Lastly, employees have a clear insight into how their performance is benefiting the organization which increases their motivation and engagement.
- It Increases Flexibility While Reducing the Risks
A company using this approach has insight into the competency profiles of its employees which allows executives and management to organize teams of people who possess skills which are complementary. This makes the company more flexible and responsive when faced with unpredictable circumstances which are inevitable. The employees benefit as well because they’re more likely to acquire skills that go beyond their role which empowers them to horizontally advance in their career, not just vertically.
- It Is an Agile, Self-Correcting Framework
One of the essential characteristics of a competency-based framework is a network of processes focused on gaining constructive feedback and applying it accordingly. As competency profiles change with the data gained from assessments future processes are being simultaneously adapted accordingly. But the framework can also “self-correct” because channels have been established in order to collect constructive feedback about the framework itself.
