7 Steps to Make An Effective Competency Framework Work for the Organization
Competency is, all in all, effective for the organization in enabling it to assign employees relevant to the job function. But, how can we make it more effective for a specific organization? Following are seven ways through which we can make the competency framework more effective for the concerned organization.
1. Link to Business Objective
One good thing to implement when developing a competency framework is to link it with the business objective. Business objectives are the defined and measurable outcomes that a company hopes to achieve as it expands. Business objectives serve as a compass for the company, indicating how it should distribute its strengths, shortcomings, and potential possibilities. Aligning the Business Objective with your competency framework can help to identify the competencies critical to deliver business results.
2. Integrate With Internal Processes
Although competencies are generally set according to each individual’s ability, characterizing them to a set of individuals will make the competency system work more effectively for the organization. Internal Process Integration of Competencies can be defined as the unifying of competencies throughout the organization to give birth to a unified system of competencies across the company. Integrating competencies with the internal processes will produce holistic results that will ultimately benefit the organization. This can mean connecting framework to the;
- Learning & development process to develop right competencies
- Recruitment process to focus on bringing in talents with the niche competencies
- Performance management process to reward acquisition & application of desired competencies
3. Ensure Line Manager Utilize the Framework Effectively
While reporting to a higher-ranking manager, line managers supervise other employees and the operations of a company. Ensuring the line manager is taking full advantage of the competency framework and properly utilizing it can work wonders for the organization. This enables organization to build talent pipeline effectively and recruit hires who are best fit to deliver results.
4. Don’t Make it HR Speak
A competency framework must be easy to understand, concise and simple. It shouldn’t be using HR terms that is hard for stakeholders to decipher. Making this relevant to the business challenges and simple, will ensure higher chance of utilization by the managers and employees.
5. Educate Employees on Key Action
An important aspect of competency framework effectiveness in the organization is the education of employees on how to use the competency framework. If employees fail to realize the significance of the competency framework and the key actions to work on, the competency framework is as effective as nothing. It’s important that employees should be educated on key actions to utilize it effectively for their own development and performance.
6. Make It Comprehensive
A competency framework should be made so that it covers all the necessary behaviors and deliverables necessary for success. Comprehensiveness doesn’t mean it should be broad and diverse, rather it should be more elaborate. A comprehensive Competency Framework can allow the line manager to judge all the employees based on their relevant competencies that are set according to their behavioral indicators.
7. Focus on Future
When designing a Competency Framework, it’s important to include the future perspective of the framework as well. Defining competencies so that they will remain relevant in the future and not become obsolete will make the framework effective in the future as well.
Conclusion
The process of developing a competency framework is time-consuming and difficult. That said, the work is definitely worth it because of the enhanced degree of understanding and correlation between individual roles and organizational performance.
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About The Author: See Wei Ngiam
Ngiam’s versatile background in HR management and extensive experience working with MNCs such as Kimberly-Clark and Amway have allowed Ngiam to design Growtribe in a practical way to enable people leader & manager to accelerate people growth through a simple and yet impactful approach.