Competency models end the blind flight of HR departments

Competence model – a powerful tool for personnel development

Introduction

Today’s working world is characterized by high complexity. While most job descriptions continue to require traditional qualifications and pre-service training, it often turns out when you start your job that these are only a subset of the basics to successfully and comprehensively fill the position. Job-specific training, initial training and months of induction are part of the standard program for many new employees. Many positions thus require significantly more than degrees or training to hold successfully.

For managers and HR departments, this means that the focus must shift away from degrees and qualifications to specific professional competencies. Professional competence can be defined as a specific activity that individuals must perform in order to work successfully. The fact that employees work successfully and efficiently naturally reflects the expectations of the employer company. But how do companies verify, document or communicate the required professional competencies to their workforce? Particularly in small and medium-sized companies, reference is often made to internal job descriptions, but these are often written in a very general and superficial manner, making them less suitable for measuring the degree and quality to which a person performs his or her tasks, for example. Furthermore, these job descriptions are often limited only to various job-specific requirements and required qualifications, rather than concrete goal-oriented behavior.

A much more appropriate tool in this situation is a competency model. It can present complex issues in a clear and concise manner and still has sufficient depth of content, e.g., to enable the user to understand the content of a document. to verify whether persons are working successfully or not.

What is a competency model?

A competency model is a form of visualization that summarizes the required competencies of a position or a business unit. Competencies describe explicit, success-critical actions. In simpler terms, the competency model tells what which employee must do to successfully fill his or her job. At best, a competency model considers not only the current, but also the future requirements of a job or a business unit. The creation of a competency model is mostly the responsibility of the HR department or the management. However, care should be taken to ensure that individuals are aware of the strategic direction of the company.

Structure of a competence model

A competency model usually consists of four to five levels. First of all, different types of competencies are often distinguished, for example. technical competencies, methodological competencies or social competencies. They form the competency families, to which job-specific competencies are then assigned. These job-specific competencies are then defined and, if necessary, broken down into sub-competencies. The last level describes explicit work actions or goal-directed behaviors within the specific job for each competency.

Example: Competency model of an administrative employee with four levels. (First level: Competence category “technical and methodological competence”; Second level: Competence designation “control of business processes”; Third level: Definition of competence; Fourth level: Description of concrete goal-oriented behavior)

The person who creates the competency model decides which competencies and competency groups are listed in a competency model. Thus, there is no universally applicable competency model. The visualization and content of the competency model must be tailored to the specific company and job characteristics. The creation often falls under the responsibility of the HR department or the management. It is important that the persons creating the competency model have comprehensive knowledge of the company’s strategy, because the competency model should only describe competencies that are strategically relevant for the company.

In which areas of the company can the competence model be used?

A competency model is a powerful tool for human resources work and can be used flexibly in different areas of the company. The competency model is used in the following areas:

• Recruiting: Whether for job postings or interviews – a competency model is very well suited to describe to applicants in concrete terms what activities they will be expected to perform. However, based on the model, decisions can be made objectively and, if necessary, work samples and assessment centers can be developed. Does the person really fit the specific job? The competence model provides you with the answer!

• Performance management and performance appraisals: Is the person working successfully? Am I working successfully? We often try to answer these questions through previously defined goals. But how can individuals achieve these goals? What exactly do you need to do? This is precisely the question to which a competence model provides the appropriate answer. Based on the competencies defined in the competency model, supervisors and employees can check whether and to what extent the actual performance differs from the desired performance. In this way, a fair and objective framework can be created for performance appraisals and target agreements.

• Human resources development and training: The challenges and environmental influences that affect companies are constantly changing at a rapid pace. This has a direct impact on the workforce, if applicable, and can lead to changing work requirements. The question here is whether the competencies required in the future are currently already available in the company or not. Since, as already mentioned, a competence model also always has a prospective effect, the model can be used as an ideal basis for recording internal training needs. This would enable employees to receive effective and targeted training, while at the same time allowing companies to respond to changes in a preventive manner.

What should be considered when developing a competency model?

Designing a competency model for the entire company can be much more time-consuming and resource-intensive than starting with just one specific area of the company. Once an entry point has been found, further expansion is child’s play. Above all, methodology and diligence are important. Competency models can also be very heterogeneous in terms of content. Nevertheless, there are practical tips that should be followed for any creation of a competency model:

1. Align the content of the competency model with the company’s strategy.

Competency models should not only consider the currently required competencies, but also include future requirements. The direction in which the company wants to develop depends solely on its strategic orientation. In order to define the company’s strategy, the management should be involved in the process.

2. Capture current requirements within strategically relevant jobs.

Capturing current job requirements is essential for a competency model. Various methodologies can be used to find out which requirements actually prevail at the moment. You could, for example. Analyze job advertisements, conduct interviews with job holders and their supervisors, or use competency models already created for inspiration. Still, keep in mind that the competency model can be used for your individual and specific business areas.

3. As simple as possible and as detailed as necessary.

A competency model is intended to be a simplification of a complex issue. Therefore, it is important that the model is also recognized as such and does not consist of a confusing string of tables, definitions and subcategories. Try to visualize the model in a simple, clear form and reduce the text to the most relevant content.

4. Apply the competency model practically and get feedback.

Especially when creating the first competency model, probably not everything will be perfect yet. But does it have to? Think of your competency model as the foundation of an even more accurate model of your company in the future. Through practical application and feedback from your colleagues, the competency model can become what it is intended to be – a flexible tool for the HR department.

Conclusion

As has been shown, a competency model is a very powerful tool in HR work. It can be used for recruiting, feedback interviews, and training analysis. It creates transparency and helps to make objective decisions. Even though the creation is a very time-consuming task, the time invested can pay off in the end.

The continuing education network creates a competence model for each of its partner companies and makes it available to you. He is also using the information gathered to create a cross-industry competency model to prepare the industry for the challenges of the future.