CHAPTER 3
Competencies in the Context of Organizational Systems
In this chapter, we will reinforce the importance of using competencies as a shared language across applications in the context of an organization’s business and talent management system. We will provide more background for how competencies impact an individual’s career life cycle. We will also explore the most frequent competency applications and tools in organizational settings. We will theme these tools and applications across three broad areas: talent acquisition, talent development, and talent performance. We will also illustrate this career impact through an example of how a competency model is woven through the career of one organization’s employee. Finally, we will explain how competency models can drive a high-performance culture in organizations.
Competencies as the Common Language Across Talent Management Systems
First, let us explain talent management as the method for how organizations align business objectives to plan, recruit, select, integrate, and develop people. Figure 3.1 captures the overall platform of a talent management system. Next, let us zoom out to address how competencies fit into an entire business system as the complete context for understanding their importance. Talent strategy begins with business strategy.1 An organization’s mission, core technology, and key differentiators all influence the knowledge, skill, and motivation needed in their employee populations. Clear understanding of the ideal employee derives from this starting point. Engineering organizations do hire engineers, but other key competencies such as Customer Service Orientation may differ dramatically between a manufacturing and a consulting engineering firm with intensely different purposes and business models.
Figure 3.1 Talent management system driven by business needs
Business goals should inform every talent decision and provide the roadmap for what an organization wants to achieve with their products, services, and revenue goals. Organizations succeed or fail based on their talent.2
Living within these talent management systems, human resource professionals have often observed with interest, and with a little envy, that in many organizations the other primary staff functions of finance and information technology have successfully implemented universal systems with a common vocabulary and metrics, to optimize their effectiveness across the entire enterprise. In the specific case of finance, CFOs have realized that it is essential to implement standardized reporting systems and metrics to reliably measure and report relevant financial performance. One business unit cannot be measuring net profit while another measures earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), or report return on net assets (RONA) versus return on invested capital (ROIC) and still present a coherent, consistent report of annual performance to stakeholders. Financial experts do admit that there are different terms and metrics that can effectively report revenue, profitability, and measures of economic value, but they also know that it is absolutely necessary to choose a standard set of terms and stick with it over time to optimize systems. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) can provide standard terms, though within these guidelines custom variations can, and do, exist.
This same consistent approach should be a common practice in corporate human resources. But all too often, different criteria are used to hire, promote, evaluate, and train talent within the same organization. Recruiters will adopt one set of criteria, while succession managers use another, and trainers employ a third set as learning objectives. Of course, this leads to confusion on the part of line managers and inefficient (and probably ineffective) talent systems that should synergize across the enterprise. These conflicting models may actually suboptimize all of talent management. In one organization, we observed that one set of criteria was used in the hiring interviews for managers, a different set of behavioral standards was used in performance appraisal, and yet a third model for performance was employed in a 360° survey-guided development process. Of course, these conflicting standards caused confusion and tended to interfere with efficient and effective applications.
As has been reported in previous chapters, the easy remedy for this problem of conflicting criteria is to adopt a common set of valid criteria that can be reliably measured to support all talent systems across the enterprise. Competency models have become a recognized best practice to provide organizations with this consistent blueprint for ideal presentation.3,4 Competency models can provide ideal criteria by which to compare candidates’ skills with job needs in selection interviews or assessment centers. Or, taken from the same model, a subset of competencies can also help clarify individual role requirements and populate job descriptions, thus setting expectations to help in performance management. The same model can provide competencies as learning objectives in development programs, or as criteria in a 360°survey-guided leadership development experience. In this way, a common language is introduced to allow all talent management systems to talk to each other and reinforce organizational talent strategy.
Common Talent System Applications for Competency Models
Competencies are extremely useful in a broad range of applications across the organization. Having a common understanding of the elements of success provides the benchmark by which all the players know what is expected, and how well they are meeting the organization’s needs. The major applications we will talk about here are:
1.Talent acquisition
2.Talent development
3.Talent performance
4.Competency, culture, and strategy.
Talent Acquisition
The most important decision an organization makes regarding its people is the decision to employ them. Every other decision is a consequence of this governing choice. In preparation for this important decision, the hiring manager can use competencies to establish position criteria. A common practice is using competencies to select the top six to eight that are representative of effective job performance. The use of competencies can create a productive discussion with position stakeholders regarding the framework for effective performance in a job. With criteria, talent acquisition can effectively identify and build candidate pools. Competency models provide the ideal template for comparing and contrasting candidates for a particular target role to facilitate this crucial decision. Assessing candidate readiness in terms of competence is most frequently accomplished through an interview, but other methods, such as assessment centers and online assessments, can also provide insight into an applicant’s potential to perform.
Competency-Based Interviews
As mentioned, the most common assessment used globally to evaluate any candidate’s readiness to assume a vacant organizational role is the interview. Research suggests that structuring an interview with a competency model (ideal criteria) and then using behavioral episode questioning can greatly increase interview efficacy.5,6
In this approach, a subset of valid competencies helps define job requirements and targeted questioning and then explores a candidate’s performance background relevant to the competencies. For example, if troubleshooting is part of a customer service representative’s job (and it usually is) then exploring the competency of Problem Solving and Decision Making in a candidate’s history would help verify that capability. For instance, applicants for the customer service job might be asked to “describe a recent challenging problem with a customer you had to solve.” This technique demands the interviewer to possess the skill to probe for details and surface enough specifics to establish sufficient narrative to assess future potential. Without this specific understanding, evaluation becomes a moving target and will vary from one person to the next. As a result, the interview process becomes more subjective and less accurate.
A variation in the standard sequential interview process is to conduct panel interviews composed of the hiring manager, human resources representative, and maybe other content experts, where specific behavioral questions are asked and all panel members hear the responses and independently judge the candidates’ readiness. While seemingly more cumbersome, panel interviews actually can be more efficient than the sequential (and seemingly endless) interviews that are often used.
To help organize the execution of a panel interview, a planning tool should be prepared in advance to determine where each interviewer will focus (see Table 3.1). For example, after first identifying the competencies to be assessed, the interview team develops behavioral episode interview questions for each relevant competency area, along with follow-up questions to probe further and help the candidate to elaborate. Finally, the questions are distributed among the interviewers to ensure that all competencies are covered and none are redundant.
Table 3.1 Panel interview planning tool
Assessment Centers
Assessment centers are really a process, not a place, and have been a best practice talent diagnostic technique since the 1950s. The process is best described by the Standards and Ethics for Assessment Center Operations. The standards formally define an assessment center as a process that “consists of a standardized evaluation of behavior based on numerous inputs. Multiple trained observers and techniques are used. Judgments about behavior are made, in part, from specifically developed assessment simulations.”7 While there are variations on this theme, the basic elements of an assessment center have all stood the test of time and have provided dozens of criteria-related validity studies proving the efficacy of the process. These required elements are:
1.A valid competency model providing evaluation criteria.
2.A set of exercises simulating professional life in an organization, exercises might include:
a.Leaderless group discussions
b.In-basket simulations
c.Business case analyses and presentations
d.Role-plays
3.Three or more trained assessors who triangulate on participant scoring.
4.A rigorous assessment methodology.
Centers are often used to inform organizational selection decisions, especially when the target role is the first-line supervisor. When many in the applicant pool are individual contributors, and have not performed in the target role, assessments and measures based on job history are less predictive. For example, if a sales manager suddenly resigns, the organization naturally looks to the sales representatives reporting to the now vacant role for possible replacements. Of course, the two roles have dramatically different skill sets and choosing the best sales person, without testing their leadership and management motivation and competence, can often end badly. In the worst case, the organization loses an excellent seller and gains a mediocre manager who soon derails. Assessment centers can help make a better selection decision by testing candidates in the competencies they will have to possess, and situations they will have to face, as a manager and not as an individual contributor.
Online Assessments
While there are too many to be detailed here, it should be noted that another option for evaluating competency readiness is through the myriad paper and pencil (written) examinations available. These can be delivered in proctored settings or online. Literally thousands of tests are now available to measure the social and cognitive aspects of competence. For example, any number of tests can measure the intelligence factor of a competency such as Learning Agility or Problem Solving. Other tests measure underlying natural influences on emotional intelligence such as agreeableness, conscientiousness, or extroversion, which show up in competencies such as Relationship Building and Sensitivity.
Finally, it should be noted that, in the context of selection, competency models used for hiring also help ensure good person-job fit and thus increase the likelihood of retention. Good orientation helps to set the stage for retention, but a strong competency evaluation in the selection process also translates into hiring managers who are able to work closely with the new hires to reinforce positive competency behaviors and shore up any deficits.
Talent Development
The heart and soul of successful and sustainable organizational performance comes from the continuous development of a capable workforce. Initial orientation and training followed by ongoing development are essential to staying relevant in today’s ever-changing world. Competencies provide a necessary framework for these ongoing learning and development efforts.
The American Society of Training and Development notes that developing (training) an employee without any diagnosis is like planting cut flowers! And, likewise, in the health care world, if you prescribe without diagnosing you may be guilty of malpractice. You need to diagnose, or prepare the soil first to determine readiness and more precisely target the training. Consequently many competency-based learning applications involve individual assessment as the first step in a developmental cycle.
Orientation and Integration
Though often neglected, initial talent integration, or onboarding, is a golden opportunity to discuss role clarity and explain the requirements for effective performance to a new employee, including the competencies essential for effective performance. The moment new people enter the organization or start a new job, they are eager to assimilate and perform as quickly as possible. As an organization, you never get a second chance for this first impression. One study demonstrated that 86 percent of new hires decided to stay or leave the organization within their first six months.8 Organizations create a competitive advantage when they integrate their talent quickly and set competency and learning expectations in advance.
Competency-Based Survey-Guided Development—360° Surveys
Increasingly popular in recent years has been the use of a competency model as the diagnostic template for a survey-guided development effort. These multirater surveys, popularly called 360°s, have become a best-practice leadership development tool now used in the majority of large American organizations. These surveys are called 360°s because a participating manager asks for feedback from all points on the compass surrounding him or her on an organization chart: their boss (to the north), their peers (to the east and to the west), and direct reports (to the south).
The typical 360° survey includes the following elements:
•Participants identify and invite anonymous feedback on their competence from organizational peers and direct reports. Identified raters are limited to those who have known the participant long enough to reliably rate them. Bosses are included, but are not promised anonymity. Once respondents are selected, typically a third party administers an online survey to those identified. Most 360°s solicit feedback from a dozen or more respondents.
•The surveys employ rating scales to judge and compare perceived proficiency across relevant competencies by the different respondent groups. These quantitative results allow normative comparisons. More robust surveys also solicit open-ended written comments to ensure more complete and specific feedback.
•To ensure that participants understand, own, and act on the survey results, they are packaged into a feedback report and a qualified coach delivers the feedback and helps interpret the report for them.
•Accountability for any needed improvement surfaced by the survey is ensured through a variety of options, including ongoing coaching, developmental objectives required in performance appraisal documents, follow-up surveys, and informal continuing feedback.
•Typically, repeat surveys occur a year or two after the initial survey. Occasionally pulse surveys are administered more quickly and target the specific subset of competencies the participant may be trying to improve.
•Because of issues with politicizing the process and rater accuracy, the vast majority of 360°s are used strictly for development. While it is tempting to use 360° feedback for administrative purposes (e.g., informing annual appraisal ratings or succession management readiness evaluations), experience has shown that these applications can damage the 360° reputation and introduce negative power and political dynamics into the process.
Many organizations have used 360° leadership development processes for years and managers have been through several cycles allowing measurement of progress on targeted areas.
Competencies as Learning Objectives in Workshops
Once an organization has a valid competency model in place, individual competencies that are common to a given role or band (e.g., entry-level supervisor) easily translate into learning objectives. For example, many entry-level supervisory training programs, whether online or in classroom settings, teach basic competencies such as Active Listening, Problem Solving, Organizing and Planning (Time Management), and Communications. These workshops use a variety of instructional techniques including lecture, case study, exercises, and simulations.
Sometimes an individual competency, such as Presentation Skills, becomes the single learning focus for a workshop. In a typical two-day workshop, participants may experience a lecture on the elements of the ideal public speech (i.e., clear purpose and use of stories, facts, quotes to build credibility, obvious animation and enthusiasm, plus instruction in the use of multiple media, etc.). Then trainees might observe (via video) good and bad speeches to compare and contrast techniques. And finally, the majority of time in learning this skill-based competency would probably be spent on delivering speeches and receiving feedback. Practice, practice, practice!
Other more cognitive competencies, such as Financial Acumen, lend themselves as learning objectives for online training. There are a number of very good web-based programs that clearly present the basics of finance (i.e., how to read income statements, balance sheets, cash flows, economic valuations, etc.) and then use exercises such annual report analysis to consolidate the learning and test the learner.
Competencies for Career Planning and Mentoring
Once again, if an organization has a valid, and comprehensive, competency model it automatically provides clear criteria for employee career planning. Coupled with interest, value, and motivational assessments, the advertised required competence for a target role can help individuals investigate and make future career choices.
While many managers attribute personal development to informal mentors and coaches, many organizations have installed formal mentor programs to enhance career planning and succession management efforts. Often coupled with the 360° process outlined above, a mentor matched to an appropriate protégé provides feedback, coaching, and counseling. One technique for matching mentors and protégés is to couple a potential competency weakness with a mentor’s strength for targeted coaching. Another approach is to couple assessment center diagnosis with mentor programs to provide an initial diagnosis to help shape the coaching agenda.
Competency Coaching
Under the learning and development umbrella the widespread use of internal and external management coaches has come of age in recent years. Organizations such as The Hudson Institute and International Coaching Federation provide certification programs to ensure proper training and experience. In a typical engagement, the certified coach is retained by an organization and then initiates a diagnosis (e.g., 360° survey plus personality assessment) and begins a development cycle of feedback, action planning, implementation, and follow-up.
Competencies in Talent Performance
Talent performance also known as performance management refers to the process of communicating specific position expectations, and then managing an individual’s performance against those expectations. In point of fact, individuals can manage their own performance efforts when they clearly and comprehensively know what is expected of them.9 While providing the needed role clarity at the outset seems to be rudimentary, many organizations do not take the time needed.
Competencies help define expected behavior in jobs and organizations. These behaviors can and should be part of defining performance as a way to link it to the right outcomes. Figure 3.2 illustrates a typical performance management cycle from setting business goals and specifying required competence to establishing and monitoring individual performance supplemented with feedback and coaching.
Figure 3.2 Performance management cycle
The use of competency models in the performance management process also switches the focus from what employees do, to how they do it. This realignment reflects an overall move to a developmental approach to performance management. The use of competency models in the appraisal process results in “more qualitative, longer range, future-oriented information which is used for employee development and career path planning.”10
The following is a list of organizational issues that indicate a need for competency-based performance management:11
•Job performance standards and appraisal criteria are seen as unfair.
•Performance appraisals are not taken seriously because they have little impact on employee performance or development.
•The performance management system does not reflect or reinforce the organization’s strategy because it fails to focus employee behavior on strategic priorities such as quality or service.
•Performance ratings are inflated.
In the context of coaching during performance management, competencies also allow managers to redirect marginal employee performance more objectively by providing a template for diagnosing why the desired objectives or standards have been missed. For example, one of the first places to look into when helping a new supervisor who misses deadlines or milestones may be the competency Delegation. Are they trying to do all the work themselves? Are they micromanaging? Have they learned to release appropriate authority to fully use all their team members? Once diagnosed, competencies can then provide a clear developmental path forward in terms of acquiring needed knowledge and skill.
A competency-based appraisal can also make explicit the different levels of proficiency required within a specific competency. A good competency model will use a measurement scale to differentiate the levels of competence, thus helping to differentiate between effective and noneffective performance. For example, if an employee scores low on competency measurement, the actual, and required, behaviors are readily available. With a scale, it is easy to start a conversation regarding the specific levels of proficiency needed for acceptable performance.
In sum, it can be seen that identifying clear competency requirements for jobs, levels, or functions can allow organizations to pivot and apply the same competencies to position descriptions, hiring and succession criteria, as well as learning objectives for development programs such as mentoring, training, or survey-guided development. Once again it is competencies that knit these common applications together and integrate them.
Competencies and Strategy: Building Models to Drive a High-Performance Culture
Competency models have an automatic head start over other job analytic techniques in reinforcing organizational goals and building a high-performance organization, as they typically derive from research on high performers in a specific organizational context. Best practice modeling techniques employ interviews and investigations into the competencies it takes to consistently produce positive results across a balanced score card (i.e., key metrics of success in finance, talent, operations, and customer/consumer). One set of popular criteria for isolating high performers for emulation12 includes these four filters:
1.Results: Model individuals who have produced tangible, relevant, and persistent results in their function and at their level.
2.Respect: Model individuals who have generated a positive reputation of trust and accomplishment.
3.Passion: Model individuals who clearly enjoy their roles and working in a specific context (industry, organization, role).
4.Likeability: Model individuals with team skills; those who work well with others.
When models are built to emulate internal high performers with these characteristics, and concomitant track records, and when the models are used to hire, promote, appraise, and develop internal talent, they automatically support a high-performance organization.
Indeed the modeling process itself can be seen as an organization development (OD) intervention to help build or reinforce a high-performance culture. Most good modeling projects follow a classic OD approach13 in development in that they:
1.Employ behavioral science theory and application
2.Are driven from the top down across all the organization
3.Invite involvement (and hence commitment)
4.Provide a feedback and adjustment loop (action learning)
5.Prepare the organization to manage change
Culture building typically takes years, and a common competency model that inflects strategic priorities and is applied in every talent management system can provide a culture change catalyst and constant reinforcement.
For example, a large consumer sports apparel supplier modified a commercially available model to reinforce their strategic emphasis on aggressive growth—a brand with personality, innovative design, and global reach. The model provided a consistent dictionary of relevant competencies that were used in recruiting, competency-based interviewing, assessment centers, performance management, and as criteria in leadership development programs and 360° survey-guided development programs. The competency model reinforced a consumer focused, creative, and growth-oriented matrix organization and ensured that the right talent was hired, promoted, appraised, and trained to support that culture.
Competency models ensure that the right development activities are in alignment with organizational strategy. As discussed earlier, aligning competencies with organizational strategy provides the right direction for the talent management system. With this in mind, focusing on the right training and development initiatives that support the organizational strategy ensures that the time and resources devoted will be well utilized. Using a competency model helps remove doubt on where to focus limited resources toward developing people.
Putting It All Together: One Employee’s Competency Journey
Figure 3.3 illustrates how a common model can integrate talent management in a typical career life cycle. From the first hiring interview as a candidate for an individual contributor role, to the final panel interview for a strategic leadership position 20 years later, a competency model informed individual and organizational choices. The journey also includes into the context the common applications described previously.
Figure 3.3 Competencies in 20-year career trajectory
To illustrate this career path, and to emphasize how central a standard competency model is to an integrated talent management system, one professional’s story in a well-managed organization might go like this:
Meet Piper Chatman. She graduated with a business degree, with an emphasis in finance, from a well-known California university and entered the job market. She attended interviews in a number of accounting firms and larger technology companies in the San Francisco Bay area. She received several offers, but really liked a technology company named Hi-Teck. In particular, she was impressed with their professional interview process, as the questions were relevant, both to her experience and to the advertised role financial analyst), and she felt she was afforded the opportunity to demonstrate her competence. She accepted Hi- Teck’s offer, and after hiring found out that during the interview she was being compared to the company’s competency model of an ideal analyst, with questions designed to explore her performance background relevant to the knowledge, skill, and motivation necessary for exceptional performance in the target role. This was Piper’s first exposure to Hi-Teck’s competency model.
During her orientation to the company, Piper’s HR representative presented a job model to further clarify her role and set expectations. In addition to standard information on her responsibilities, the position description also listed eight competencies essential to her success at Hi-Teck. These included Financial Acumen (her core skill set), and other competencies like Team Skills, Problem Solving and Decision Making, and Communications. The interview had confirmed Piper’s necessary proficiency in all these competencies and made explicit the areas in which she needed to stay current.
Within a few weeks of arriving, Piper’s manager met with her to discuss Hi-Teck’s annual performance management process. Piper was being assigned to support Hi-Teck’s retail operation, and her primary business goals involved milestones and deadlines for the roll-out of a new financial results tracking system. The performance management system also included personal growth goals, as Hi-Teck wanted to set the expectation with every associate that continuous personal growth was an imperative. While Piper was judged to be proficient in the competencies necessary for her role, she expressed an additional goal to acquire more Industry Knowledge in Hi-Teck’s business in order to gain more credibility and contextual understanding of how the finance function could better partner with its business customers. Progress toward goal accomplishment in this competency was an essential part of Piper’s annual review.
An integral part of Hi-Teck’s succession management process was to use a Promotion Readiness Index (PRI) to measure both potential and performance. The PRI was based on competencies required at the next level in the talent pipeline in order to seed each function with potential leaders. Piper’s initial employment interview had revealed not only the technical expertise she needed to hit the ground running, but also the potential to move into supervisory roles later in her career. Piper had held several leadership roles in her university and also demonstrated exceptional Informal Communications and Relationship Building competence, all of which were needed in supervisory roles.
During the next few years, Piper’s manager used the annual performance appraisal meeting to test her interest in advancing into a supervisory role someday. Piper also took an online career planning workshop that asked her to explore her interest and aptitude in the competencies necessary for supervision. She liked responsibility and working with people, and received positive feedback regarding her choice to move into management.
After five years of successful performance at Hi-Teck, Piper had moved from her entry-level role to a senior analyst position with excellent internal customer feedback, and stellar performance reviews. Piper had learned from her HR representative and her manager that twice a year Hi-Teck offered high-potential associates the chance to test their readiness in the competencies necessary to move up the career ladder into supervision at an assessment center. The assessment center employed simulations such as group discussions, role-plays, in-basket exercises, and business case presentations to test candidate readiness to be promoted to supervision. Trained internal managers observed Piper’s performance in the simulations and evaluated her readiness to assume a supervisory role in competencies such as Organizing and Planning, Delegation, Communications, Influence, Relationship Building, and Problem Solving. The assessment center revealed that Piper did indeed have the potential to move into supervision, and she was put into the pool for consideration for the next opening for a supervisory position in finance or a related function.
Within six months of completing evaluation at the assessment center Piper was promoted to Accounting Supervisor. For the next few years, she continued to advance and maintained an excellent performance management record. She also joined Hi-Teck’s mentoring program to help young professionals successfully assimilate into the company’s culture, and explore their own growth potential. She developed an excellent reputation as a coach and had a track record of selecting and developing exceptional talent for Hi- Teck. During her years as a manager, Piper participated three times in Hi-Teck’s 360° survey-guided development process. In this process, she received feedback against Hi-Teck’s competency model from her boss, self, peers, and direct reports. The process was strictly developmental, with Piper having the option of using survey feedback to drive her annual development goal. Piper took her feedback to heart, and learned to better leverage her strengths while she addressed developmental opportunities, both formally and informally.
Aided by regular feedback, Piper moved up the managerial ladder and continued to grow and excel as a leader. Hi-Teck’s annual succession management process was also tasked with recommending individuals for participation in the company’s strategic leadership development program. The company had long recognized that being a good functional manager did not necessarily qualify you to move to the C suite, where strategy and vision were the key differentiators. The program to take good functional leaders and develop them to be strategic leaders was anchored by a leadership development workshop using a simulation to teach strategic competencies such as Visioning, Business Systems Thinking, Strategic Thinking, and Financial Acumen in an enterprise context. Following her successful completion of the workshop, Piper volunteered to serve on an action learning team that had been assigned a strategic problem to solve for the company. These teams not only provided valuable input to Hi-Teck’s senior leaders, but also included peer feedback to continue to develop as potential strategic leaders.
One day the chief financial officer announced his retirement after 20 years with the company, and Piper applied for the role. The selection process for any direct report of the CEO required a panel interview with all six members of the senior leadership team. This interview employed questioning techniques similar to Piper’s initial interview many years ago, but of course now she had to demonstrate a performance history that would qualify her for a strategic role— that of a CFO. The interview questions were centered on the competencies of Strategic Thinking, Team Management, Visioning, and Business Systems.
Piper was selected as the company’s new CFO. While thanking her senior leaders for their confidence, she attributed a good share of her success to the clear expectations and developmental support provided by Hi-Teck’s competency model. It had provided a needed blueprint, with reliable and valid feedback techniques along the way, which had accelerated her growth and revealed her potential. A final confidence boosting conclusion for Piper looking back on her career was a realization that by applying a transparent competency based approach, her company had assured that she was ready for the current promotion and knew what to do to prepare for the next one. Politics and preference were minimized and she felt good she had earned her position in the C suite.
Benefits of a Competency-Based Talent Management System
Business needs must drive talent needs. Failure to connect the two will result in different talent agendas across the organization. Good competency modeling provides a fundamental building block in talent management to produce the employee behavior to drive needed business results. Table 3.2 summarizes the advantages of building and applying a valid model.
Table 3.2 Benefits of competency models in talent management systems
| Talent management system element | Core competency benefits |
| Talent assessment | •Informs the required success criteria for talent management systems •Provides direction for using validated assessment |
| Talent acquisition | •Provides a clear framework for the interview process •Informs good talent selection |
| Talent integration | •Clarifies the competencies required for the role •Increases the likelihood of retention |
| Talent performance | •Helps define the measurement for job success •Provides a shared understanding of what is expected |
| Talent development | •Provides focus on areas for talent development •Ensures that the right development activities are in alignment with organizational strategy |
Competencies not only integrate complete organization wide talent management systems but also help individuals link together all the tools needed for job performance and career management. Experience has shown that employing a common language of competence can optimize talent assessment, acquisition, and integration. Using competencies on the front end of the talent management system will ensure benefits in their later use for talent appraisal and talent development.
Competencies and the Link to Diversity
The business case for a diverse workforce has been well established. Propelled by not only legal requirements for objective hiring practices but also a growing body of evidence suggesting the benefits of a diverse workplace, and by the correlation between an organization’s financial success and the greater innovation provided by a diverse, and divergent, employee population.14 These benefits are the direct outcome of acquiring diverse talent.
Diversity and competencies (e.g., job success criteria) go hand in hand during talent acquisition. Competencies provide a strong, objective foundation for an unbiased recruitment and selection process. Competencies are blind to race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. Instead, they provide the structure to fight bias and ensure fair treatment. To succeed, it is important to create and implement specific talent acquisition practices that will help drive desired diversity hiring outcomes (See Table 3.3).15
Table 3.3 Practices for diverse talent acquisition
| Practices | Outcomes |
| Developing a diversity talent acquisition strategy in alignment with organizational areas in need of diverse talent | Builds a targeted diverse talent pool aligned with organizational goals |
| Developing success profiles (e.g., job descriptions) anchored in job related competencies | Provides clear criteria and outcomes for success in specific roles |
| Establishing a structured selection process based on relevant competencies | Increases the probability of hiring the best candidates |
| Developing onboarding strategies | Outlines the path for success in the role of and integration into organizational culture |
Integrating competencies into a talent acquisition process offers the necessary objectivity to help provide a fair process for a competent, diverse candidate pool. Competencies also provide support by informing the onboarding of new hires through role clarity and a coaching structure.16 These practices ultimately help pick the best, most diverse talent.
Questions for Reflection
1.Provide three examples of competency applications in specific talent management systems for hiring, promotion, appraisal, or training.
2.Discuss at least four incidences when an employee might encounter competencies in a 20-year career arc.
3.How are competencies used in onboarding and appraising employees?
4.Discuss how competency modeling can be considered an organizational development effort.
5.Discuss how competencies add value across diverse applications such as assessment centers or employee orientation programs.
6.Discuss the key elements that define a classic assessment center.
7.What competencies might form the learning objectives for an entry level supervisor workshop?
8.How can competencies help in diagnosing and developing a poor performer?
9.What is survey-guided leadership development?
10.How does your talent strategy align with your business goals and objectives? What can be done to ensure better alignment?
11.How do organizations create an environment to attract, recruit, develop, reward, and retain the right people?