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After many years of developing, implementing and teaching clients about competencies in both the private and public sector I decided to publish a monthly newsletter to help others gain a better understanding on the effective use of competencies in organizations to improve personal and organizational performance. This newsletter will benefit any managers, HR specialists, project leader or employees involved in competency development for learning, career development, performance management, succession planning. Each newsletter will have an Editor’s comment, a feature article, tips and techniques, questions and answers and upcoming program information. We also welcome comments, experience and any contributions from our readers that could benefit others in this area.
I HOPE YOU ENJOY OUR NEWSLETTERS AND LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU.
EDITOR
CHRISTINE LAMOTHE
February 01, 2010
Competency-based projects typically start with assessing and developing incumbent employees. It is an effort that fits comfortably within the learning and development function. Questions that typically lead to a competency research and development effort include:
"Are we using our learning dollars most effectively?"
"How do we know that learning and development is delivering on its promises?"
"Are we learning the right things?"
"Are we developing the right people?"
The result is that ...
– Read More
January 01, 2010
It is essential that management's expectations concerning competency-based HR applications be realistic. Many operations-oriented managers, inexperienced with these efforts, assume that competency modeling and assessment are activities with classic start and finish dates. Instead, competency is more of a successive approximation application, exhibiting a substantial learning curve with the possibility of a relatively mature state reached only with stable processes.
Experience shows that it ...
– Read More
December 01, 2009
The first guideline is that the team should include all the potential stakeholders. This means that groups such as HR, organizational development, strategic planning, training, information technology, legal, management development, clients, suppliers, and the targeted workgroups may need to be represented.
There are also a number of additional skills that should be represented, some of which currently many not be available in the organization. (The first application of competency concepts ...
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November 01, 2009
Quality concepts teach that every process must have an "owner." A process owner is defined as someone who has responsibility for the overall success of the process, and who is also responsible for its continuous improvement. Process owners can improve processes on their own, or they can request to form a process improvement team if the task is complex enough and the potential benefit great enough.
Competency applications are certainly complex enough to justify a team development approach. ...
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October 01, 2009
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, ...
– Read More
September 01, 2009
The process of identifying and describing competencies requires input from many parties: job holders, their managers, subject-matter experts, and specialists in HR and HRD.
The following 10 guidelines can help you identify and describe the competencies that are important to employees in your organization.
1. Focus on generic competencies. If you keep your competencies broad and generic (for example, oral communications) rather than specific and situational (counselling a problem ...
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August 01, 2009
The keys to success in implementing Competency Based Management initiatives have been the development of a compelling business case for the approach, a common understanding of buy-in, senior-level commitment, the involvement of key stakeholders, especially employees and the unions, and extensive communication through all phases of competency work.
Frequently used approaches to competency identification include the use of focus groups of managers and employees as well as individual interviews ...
– Read More
July 01, 2009
Competency-based HR applications deliver a number of beneficial outcomes for front line employees. These need to be understood and communicated. Possible outcomes for individuals include:
Understanding position requirements. Competency applications require a thorough grasp of the processes and skills/knowledge required to meet position performance standards. Employees don't have to wonder what they need to know and what they should be doing on the job.
Can get needed training. ...
– Read More
June 01, 2009
HIRING EFFECTIVENESS
Competency-based efforts can have a positive effect on hiring and turnover. Improved recruiting and selection processes deliver employees who are more qualified for their new jobs. This has the potential to decrease turnover, a measure that can be tracked before and after the application is deployed.
BETTER INTERNAL PLACEMENT
Similarly, positions can be filled more effectively with properly qualified internal candidates. Employees who are ready to move up can be ...
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May 01, 2009
Over the last 15 years, thousands of private and public sector organizations have joined the quest for Competencies and Competency Development. They usually invest a year or so developing competency profiles – identifying clusters of knowledge, along with attributes and skills needed to perform various jobs.
The Competencies identified then become the basis for effective decisions about hiring, learning and development, performance management and other human resources issues.
In today’s ...
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