Being professionally competent – what does that even mean?

What does professional competence mean?

In our everyday or professional lives, we often perceive the people we interact with as competent or incompetent. Whether it’s the consultant in the electronics store, the service employee in the call center, or the colleague who makes you wonder how she can make such an incompetent impression despite having the same qualifications as you. The fact that people, despite having formally the same qualifications, still manage their professional tasks very differently in terms of quality is related to their professional competence.

Occupational action competence encompasses all of a person’s abilities, skills and knowledge that are demonstrated in the successful mastering of work requirements. (cf. Kauffeld, 2006). This means that only those who can successfully complete their work are also competent. To be competent, for example, it is not enough for a primary school teacher to know how multiplication works; if he or she fails to convey the content in a way that is understandable and appropriate for the target group, he or she will be regarded as incompetent.

Does knowing something mean being competent?

There are different situations in which people deal with information in order to acquire it and convert it into knowledge. Apprenticeships, further education or studies describe such situations, which are provable by certificates and diplomas. However, people can also acquire knowledge relevant to their professional competence in everyday or practically professional situations. The application reference described here can be defined as a distinction between a qualification and a competence. But when does knowledge become a competence? Answer: Through ability, will and successful action.

Let’s take a look at the following example:

Tom and his colleague are having a conversation. His colleague just seems much more confident in her interactions with customers. When he asked her what her secret was, she replied curtly, “Talking right? That’s what my mother taught me.” Tom decides to participate in training to improve his communication skills. Among other things, he learns techniques that will help him to explain important topics to his conversation partners in a more understandable and simple way. In order for him to be able to apply these techniques in his professional environment, the appropriate framework conditions must also be in place. Does he work in an environment where he can apply these techniques? Since Tom works in a service hotline, he can use these techniques with any of his customers without any problems. “The new techniques are a bit complicated, though, and it kind of worked without them before,” he thinks to himself. So he is not sure if he really wants to apply the knowledge he has acquired before. After a brief consideration, he does it anyway and, understandably, successfully advises the woman regarding her broken W-LAN router. Tom can now be considered professionally competent.

The continuing education network records and analyzes competencies of the partner companies

Competencies can therefore not be derived exclusively from the curriculum vitae and the accumulated qualifications; employees usually have professional competencies that have been acquired implicitly through the actual job or during other everyday situations. Together with its partner companies, the continuing education network tries to identify the strategically most important competencies in order to provide them with an optimal basis for continuing education.

Summary

In summary, it can be said that although training and continuing education form the basis for the successful completion of professional tasks, there are also informal ways of acquiring professionally relevant knowledge. This basic knowledge can, but does not have to, lead to competent professional action, because for this the person must be in a situation in which he or she can and will apply the knowledge. If she applies it successfully, we speak of professional competence. The continuing education network identifies the existing and future competencies required within our partner companies and thus derives the existing need for continuing education in a precisely tailored manner.