Appendix C

A History of the ASTD Competency Models

ASTD has sponsored six studies of practitioner roles and competencies. These studies all attempted to identify what roles should be fulfilled and what competencies successful practitioners should demonstrate.

By looking back on these six models, workplace learning and performance (WLP) practitioners can see how the field has gradually moved away from a single area of focus (that is, training) to an emphasis on learning as a means to an end: improving individual and organizational performance. These studies have built a framework for thinking about the WLP field and have driven professional development and education curricula to prepare people to move into the profession or advance in it.

Each study reflects a major shift in thinking about the competencies essential for professionals’ success. And each study is regarded as an evolutionary—and sometimes revolutionary—shift in defining the field and establishing expectations for practitioners and stakeholders. A brief description of each study follows.

2004: Mapping the Future: New Workplace Learning and Performance Competencies

Bernthal, et al. (2004) unveiled a new competency model that was designed to take WLP into the 21st century. The publication defines the profession in the context of its strategic contribution to organizational performance. The model was created with the participation of more than 2,000 ASTD members and other WLP practitioners who helped define the current and future state of the profession and identified the key trends that were shaping it.

Structured as a pyramid, the model includes three layers of knowledge and skill areas: competencies, areas of professional expertise, and roles. These three layers correlate to important drivers of the profession: foundation, focus, and successful execution. Inputs to model creation included a literature review, expert interviews, and special conference sessions. It was later validated through a survey that asked respondents to rate its features in terms of importance for effectiveness in their current jobs.

1999: ASTD Models for Workplace Learning and Performance

ASTD Models for Workplace Learning and Performance was driven by the desire to determine what competencies practitioners, senior practitioners, and line managers needed for success in the WLP field then and in the next five years. As in earlier ASTD studies, this report defines roles as “a grouping of competencies targeted to meet specific expectations of a job or function” and identified seven major WLP roles (Rothwell, Sanders, and Soper, 1999, p. xv).

The study used a three-fold methodology that compared the perceptions of a cross-cultural mix of practitioners, senior practitioners, and line managers to identify 52 competencies, understood in ASTD’s tradition to mean “an area of knowledge or skill that is critical for producing key outputs . . . international capabilities that people bring to their jobs” (McLagan, 1989, p. 77). These competencies are classified into six groupings: analytical, technical, leadership, business, interpersonal, and technological.

1998: ASTD Models for Learning Technologies

This report examines the roles, competencies, and work outputs that human resource development (HRD) professionals need to implement learning technologies within their organizations (Piskurich and Sanders, 1998). (HRD is further defined in the 1989 study.) It also provides a classification system that relates instructional methods (for example, lectures, role plays, and simulations) to presentation methods (for example, computer-based training, electronic performance support systems, multimedia, and video) and distribution methods (for example, audiotape, CDROM, Internet, and videotape). Although this work enhances professionals’ understanding of the issues surrounding learning technologies, it does not intend to describe the larger field within which training resides.

1996: ASTD Models for Human Performance Improvement

This report explores the roles, competencies, and outputs that human performance improvement professionals (performance consultants) need to effect meaningful changes within organizations (Rothwell, 1996). The report emphasizes that human performance improvement (HPI) is a process, not a discipline. A host of disciplines within WLP (for example, human resource development, human resources, performance consulting, ergonomic design, and line management) carry out the HPI process.

A key point of this study is that everyone in organizational settings plays an important part in improving performance and contributes to enhanced organizational competitiveness. Practitioners, line managers, employees, and others may perform HPI work; HRD professionals are not its sole practitioners. A second key point is that no one individual can play all the roles and master all the competencies described. Instead, the report supplies a menu of options for doing HPI work.

1989: Models for HRD Practice

This study was groundbreaking because it expanded the profession beyond training and development to include career development and organization development (McLagan, 1989). Naming the field human resource development (HRD), the report defines HRD as “the integrated use of training and development, organization development, and career development to improve individual, group, and organizational effectiveness,” and positions HRD within the larger human resource field. It was an expansion of the 1983 study, which focused on training and development alone.

1983: Models for Excellence

In 1981, Patricia McLagan carried out a series of studies focused on training and development and the trainer’s role that led to the publication of Models for Excellence in 1983 (McLagan and McCullough, 1983). This study represented the first modern attempt to define training and development. It also established the format for all later competency model studies. The report included a definition of training and development, a list of 34 future forces expected to affect the field, and 31 foundational competencies.

1978: A Study of Professional Training and Development Roles and Competencies

This study was the first published effort sponsored by ASTD (Pinto and Walker, 1978). The goal of the study was to investigate what training and development professionals really do and to “define the basic skills, knowledge, understanding, and other attributes required for professionals for effective performance of training and development activities.”

To that end, six panels of ASTD chapter members and the Professional Development Committee of ASTD reviewed the study questionnaire. The final study questionnaires, containing 92 multiple-choice items, were mailed to more than 14,000 ASTD members worldwide. A total of 2,790 usable questionnaires were returned, for a response rate of nearly 20 percent.

The ensuing report revealed the following major areas for training and development practitioners:

• Analyzing and diagnosing needs
• Determining appropriate training approaches
• Designing and developing programs
• Developing material resources
• Managing internal resources
• Managing external resources
• Developing and counseling individuals
• Preparing job- or performance-related training
• Conducting classroom training
• Developing group and organization
• Conducting research on training
• Managing working relationships with managers and clients
• Managing the training and development function
• Managing professional self-development.

What’s Next

All ASTD competency studies, including those that informed World-Class Selling: New Sales Competencies, use a systematic approach to determine what it takes to be a successful practitioner in the field. The approach used in the ASTD 2008 World-Class Sales Competency Study is described in Appendix D. To obtain copies of any of the reports mentioned in this section, or to license the World-Class Sales Competency Model, contact ASTD at 703.683.8100.