We built a competency model… now what?

Amy Stull Office of Workforce Effectiveness and Resources (OWER) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

Technical Core Values

Non-Technical Leadership & Management

Supervisory

•  Training & Development needs •  Performance Management needs •  Hiring needs •  Because someone heard about them at

a conference •  Because that other agency is doing it

Competencies encompass knowledge, skills, and abilities combined with relevant personal characteristics that contribute to successful individual performance in a job/role.

WHAT

…..you need to know

HOW

…..you apply what you know

Technical

Behavioral

Why Competencies?

Ask the Audience

• How many of your organizations have an established competency framework? ▫  Do you know what’s included in the competency model for your

specific job? ▫  Have you participated in a self-assessment of your individual

competency proficiency? • Are competencies the foundation for other human capital

activities in your organization?

Benefits of competency models Benefit How?

Define Capabilities Provides a common language for describing workforce needs as they relate to the mission and strategic objectives of the organization.

Clarify Expectations Establishes and communicates expectations for the specific behaviors that contribute to successful job performance, readiness for promotion, and standards for leaders and managers across the organization.

Improve Conversations

Provides a baseline for learning and development conversations between employees and supervisors.

Support Learning Encourages employees to be accountable for their professional development; Focuses learning on clearly identified development needs.

Sustain the Organization

Identifies strategic, targeted and realistic learning and development objectives/needs to support a sustainable organization with a defined succession strategy.

Support Management of Employees

Focuses talent management programs on the target capabilities identified for organization-wide success; Focuses guidance of staff to selected aspects of performance to achieve the mission and organization’s objectives.

… but how do you recognize those benefits if you never use the model?

The model itself is not a silver bullet

“Too often, I saw organizations build a competency model but never get around to applying it. And a competency model alone provides little value to anyone.” -Dr. Richard Mansfield (Workitect)

•  In a perfect world: have a particular HR application(s) in mind while building the model

•  In our real world: incorporate the existing model to meet user needs with as little burden as possible

Strategic Workforce Planning

Recruitment & Selection

Performance, Engagement, & Retention

Learning & Development

Off-boarding & Succession

Planning

Human Capital Life Cycle – Endless Possibilities!

Strategic Workforce Planning

• Organization Skills Inventory and Gap Analysis • Hiring needs analysis by job function •  “Futuring” (i.e., Scenario Planning)

Recruitment and Selection

• Behavioral Interview Guides • Candidate sourcing • Realistic job previews and expectation setting • Onboarding activities •  Position Descriptions, Job Analyses •  Job Announcements

Performance Management, Engagement, Retention

• Competency-based elements in performance plans • Guidance on measuring readiness for promotion • Core Competencies to exhibit values of the entire organization • Communication of values and expectations of the work unit •  Framework for coaching and feedback conversations

Learning and Development

•  Self and/or supervisory assessments to identify areas for development

•  Leadership training designed around targeted competencies •  Training course mapping to competencies addressed • Competency tracking in LMS systems • Organization-wide core curriculum •  Individual Development Plans (IDPs) • Career Path maps •  Talent Mobility framework

Off-boarding and Succession Planning

• Validation of competencies’ applicability to job success upon exit •  Transition Plan required competencies section • Competency-based candidate readiness assessments (e.g., 9-Box) • Competency-based selection criteria for leadership development

programs • Bench strength analysis

Group Activity

1.  In which life cycle stage would it be easiest to incorporate competencies in your organization? Why?

2.  For your assigned activity, what three capabilities would be the most important and impactful to target?

Which competencies/capabilities would be the most important and impactful to target? •  Adaptability •  Coaching •  Collaboration •  Communication •  Conflict Resolution •  Customer Service •  Data Analysis

•  Decision Making •  Financial Acumen •  Innovation •  Interpersonal

Relations •  Organizational

Awareness

•  Performance Management

•  Political Savvy •  Problem Solving •  Project Management •  Risk Management

Or any others….

Have we made progress toward… •  Successfully carrying out the mission of our organization? •  Achieving the performance goals of our organization? •  Building a workforce with the necessary capabilities to meet the needs

of our organization five years from now? •  Developing a pool of talent capable of stepping into leadership

positions as soon as they become available? •  Engaging our workforce, with a good fit between the values of

employees and the values of the organization? •  Creating a learning environment that provides the right developmental

opportunities to all employees when they need them?

Amy.Stull@nih.gov 240-669-2842