Potential wins abound for competency applications. That is all they are unless there is a measurement process in place to determine project success. If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. Measurement of competency-related outcomes can be problematic.
A great danger is that projects can move well into their delivery cycle before anyone begins examining the measurement of results. At this point, it is often too late. To determine the delta caused by a change such as competency modeling, there must first be a baseline for comparison. Therefore, measurement must start before project implementation, and it is often conducted concurrently with competency application development.
Measurement of competency applications is similar to the measurement approaches used with other HR applications, such as training. These range from simple satisfaction feedback to complex organizational performance measures. It all depends upon the resources an organization wants to put into the effort. Measurement approaches include the following:
- Project fulfillment. The simplest measurement approach is a review of the project plan. Possible evaluation questions include:
"Were all development activities completed?"
"Were they completed on time and within budget?"
"Were all promised deliverables provided?"
"Did they include the promised content?"
"Were organizational reports generated?"
"Were they used by the appropriate resource departments to make individual development planning decisions?"
In other words, regardless of effectiveness, did the development team do what it said it would do within the given parameters? This establishes what and how much was done. The remaining challenge is to determine how effective these efforts were.
- Anecdotal sampling. Interviews can be conducted with a cross-section of employees who were assessed, and with supervisors and managers who conducted counselling sessions. Their anecdotal feedback can be summarized and reported back to the development team and top management. This is the easiest measurement to conduct and has the least objective validity.
- Project team formal evaluation. The internal development team can review the project's success. This is a formal internal review or debriefing of the project to identify what went well, what should be stopped, and what should be included for the next iteration.
- Expert evaluation. Internal or external experts on competence can review the project and its outputs to determine its overall effectiveness. Judgments are typically based on benchmark experience with other organizations and how this project compares.
- Performance impact. At this stage, measurement becomes more objective. Performance improvements compared to baseline measurements are used to show the value of competency applications. For example, the performance impact of selecting employees by competency versus using traditional methods could include:
Higher average output per person
Reduction in departmental turnover
Lower errors per 100 lines of program code
Reduction in training costs
Higher acceptance rate for job offers
The measures listed above show the impact on performance of the competency-based HR application. However, they are still one level removed from business results.
- Improvement in business results. A competency application must support the ultimate business goals of profitability, competitiveness, market share growth, rising efficiency, faster time to market, and increasing customer satisfaction. Ideally, competency outcomes can be linked to these business results. For example, reduction in turnover lowers costs, which contributes to profitability. Lowering programming errors increases efficiency and speeds time to market. Higher average output increases efficiencies.
Measuring the results of competency-based HR applications is the only way to be able to prove success to top management. This requires measurement of current performance at the time the project is started, followed by a second measurement after the application is implemented and has had time to affect the workforce. By building measurements into the project from the start, the application can be designed to facilitate the collection of performance data.
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
Bring up the topic of measurement early in the development cycle. Get baseline performance numbers before making any changes so that there will be a "before" set of numbers from which to work. Make decisions as to the type of measurement data that will be collected. It may be one of the above, or it may include any combination of these elements