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Competencies

Getting the most out of your competencies in the long run

By Sarah Beckett on April, 10 2017
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Sarah Beckett

For an organization to be successful in today’s highly competitive, global marketplace, it is imperative to have the right people, in the right place, at the right time.

And having a competency framework in place that reflects the abilities, skills, and knowledge needed by your employees to achieve success is an effective way to do this.

But, where organizations often stumble, is in thinking that implementing a competency-based approach is a one-and-done activity.  This mistaken belief is often the reason that seemingly successful competency initiatives may have diminishing returns in the long run.

Business conditions, organizational goals, and your workforce will evolve over time, and your competency framework needs regular maintenance to ensure everything is evolving in unison.

If you have implemented competencies and don’t have systems in place to measure effectiveness, now’s the time to consider implementing assessments for your CBM project. There are a number of ways to measure effectiveness, and may be as simple as gathering feedback from multiple sources – executives, employees at all levels and HR Business Partners, as to how they think the competencies are helping them achieve their objectives.

A CBM application needs to support business goals such as profitability, competitiveness, market share growth, efficiency, quick turnaround times, and increasing customer satisfaction among others.

It’s also important to look into the competencies themselves. Ask yourself if they’re effectively identifying the skills your employees need to face new business challenges or can be used easily to differentiate between high and average performers.

By reviewing your competency framework, you can identify the competencies that have the most direct impact on executing your business strategy.

The competencies you choose today won’t last forever, but this is far from discouraging. In fact, it’s a positive sign that your business is growing and changing!

A competency audit can help you identify the under-performing elements of your competency-based talent management tools and processes.Our competency consultants examine your organizational objectives, analyze your framework, and look at the ways your competencies are leveraged across the talent life cycle.

At the end of the process, we give you a set of recommendations as well as a road map for aligning your HR processes more closely with your organization’s strategic direction. We recommend performing a competency audit every few years to re-examine how your competency framework is meeting your business needs.

Just like any modern talent management strategy, your competency framework should be a living, breathing initiative that evolves over time to support success in whatever modern-day business reality you live.

Contact us today to make sure your competency framework is fulfilling its potential!