How to Make Talent Management Effective Using Competency Model
Attracting and maintaining high-quality personnel, expanding their abilities, and consistently motivating them to enhance their performance are all part of talent management. The main goal of talent management is to develop a motivated staff that will sustain your company’s competitive advantage in the marketplace. The specifics of how to accomplish this will vary from firm to company but the basic idea remains the same, to develop & retain as many talented individuals for the organization to perform. Many of HR’s functions are naturally included in talent management. However, simply having an HR department does not imply that you are in charge of talent management. To achieve the best results, you’ll need a talent management strategy tailored to your firm and this is where competency model comes in to support talent management strategy
A competency model is a detailed structure that outlines several competencies and their associated behavioral indicators and measurement requirements. Most organizations have their own set of competency model that are aligned with their visions and missions, as well as long and short-term organizational objectives.
👉 Competency-Based Talent Management
Competency-based talent management is a people management technique that identifies the competencies essential for organizational success and establishes a framework for hiring, developing, promoting, and managing individuals in accordance with these competencies.
Competency modeling is a useful way for organizations to focus on talent management within the organization.
Executives often ignore job analysis efforts, so implementing competency modeling is a useful initiative to encourage them to pay more attention to competencies and how to manage talent effectively. Organizations can use competency modeling to identify high achievers & low performers.Â
It is critical to develop a competency architecture that will work for your organization before implementing the competency framework.
Competency Architecture
To support competency-based talent management, a competency architecture provides the basis for building and using competency profiles. Different architectures can be defined, and each company must determine which architecture best suits its needs. There are three basic criteria for defining a competency architecture
- It should cover all of the skills that employees will need now and in the future to help your company realize its vision and uphold its values.
- It should be able to be easily integrated into all of the competencies’ intended applications (e.g., recruitment and selection; learning and development; performance management; and career development).
- It should be simple to operate.
👉 Benefits of Using Competency Model in Talent Management
Three specific benefits of effective competency models for people management programs are summarized below, especially when they are established before the programs are implemented.
✅ Success is Aligned Throughout the Organization
Competency models provide a framework for determining success in all positions and tasks within a company. When properly implemented, competency models provide a common vocabulary for hiring, developing, managing, and educating people about their responsibilities in the organization’s success.
They can also assist in forming a common culture for the organization & provide a roadmap for strategic workforce planning.
Competency models can also prevent the development of “rogue” competencies without sufficient screening or an expert’s opinion. In other words, rather than creating their own benchmark definitions for success in their field, more employees will draw from the organization’s established competencies.
A good competency model, in short, unites all employees on the success standards to which individuals, their departments, and the business should be held accountable.
✅ Promotes the Development of Talent Management Programs
Lack of sponsorship from senior organizational leaders and other stakeholders is one of the most common roadblocks to program execution.
It might be difficult to persuade executives to agree on the target competencies on which the programs should focus when creating a talent management system or strategic workforce planning.
However, with the competency model aligned, there is much less opportunity for disagreement about the target competencies.
With this level of agreement on the program’s content, the conversation can swiftly shift to processing challenges, making it much simpler to achieve the traction and support needed to advance talent management programs.
✅ Standard Talent Management Content Across the Organization
Even when companies try to construct programs like assessment efforts, performance management systems, development, succession planning programs, and training curriculums with an integrated approach, they are generally designed by various teams with diverse areas of expertise.
If these teams aren’t aligned to a single competency model to build their programs, it’s likely that they’ll appear to be built in solitude, with multiple names for the same concepts and a lack of alignment on the target capabilities.
On the other hand, using a single competency model to frame the design of all of these initiatives will encourage consistency and standardization, making it much easier to see how each element fits into the organization’s broader talent strategy.
👉 Conclusion
To summarize, any business interested in developing an effective end-to-end talent management program should begin by establishing a strong competency model that will serve as the common thread for all talent management initiatives.
Assessment and selection processes, new employee onboarding programs, performance management systems, employee development plans, and succession planning programs are examples of these types of processes.
When implemented correctly, competency models aid in obtaining the alignment, development, and uniformity that these initiatives require to succeed.
🚀Interested To Find Out More About Competency Model & Talent Management?
Follow us or click onto the following link for more articles!
7 Pain Points to Avoid When Implementing Competency Framework
Competency Framework : Making It Relevant For Your Company
Competency Framework : Is Its Pros & Cons Worth Your Time?
Follow our Linkedin page for more updates!
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.
Want to find other interesting discussions? Then connect with Ngiam now via his LinkedIn Profile and follow Growtribe’s LinkedIn Page.