Dear All,

I've been asked to do some ground work on Competency Mapping, as we plan to adopt it in our Company.

I have listed down the steps of going abt it, as per my understanding. But, have a totally unclear picture in mind.

Step 1: From the Overall Objective of the Company, you need to arrive at objectives for each Business Process.
Step 2: Based on the objectives of each BP, you arrive at competencies required.
Step 3: You Map these competencies against individual roles and responsibilities.
Step 4: Once this is done, you arrive at Job descriptions.
Step 5: Against which individual competency profiling is done.
Step 6: The gap identified b/n competency Profile and performance is evaluated..

First of all, Is my understanding right ? Any of you have adopted this in your company? Any case studies available? Books for reference..

What are the Pros & Cons of adopting this?

Pls help...

Regards

Jaswinder

Dear Jaswinder,

There are four important Stages in Competency Strategy Process :

1. Business Alignment
* Vision , Mission, Purpose , Values
* Strategies, Critical Success Factors
* Future Scenarios
* Core Capabilities

2. Project Planning
* Purpose and Scope
* Application and Tools
* Project Steps and Roles
* Information Systems

3. Model Development
* Performance Data
* Benchmarks / Research
* Behavioral Descriptions
* Validation

4. Rollout
* Communicate process to line
* Continuing Assessment / Development

As description of each and every section of this outline is huge , can we take it step by step depending on the availability of time and on your interest on it .

Before starting the project you have to make a clear decision on what is your approach to competencies , you want to be task oriented or behaviour oriented. How are you going to benchmark superior performance , whether by looking at industry standards or by looking in to superior performers of your company.

We had a very interesting scenario in one of our competency project implementation for a big oil company  where they proposed competency based appraisal. They came up with an innovative suggestion that "Competencies are just inputs / capabilities that are required to perform a task , but we would like to pay them based on the output they produce" i.e We will hire them for the competency they possess , but we will pay them based on the completion of the objectives set for them and not for their competencies however high it may be. Hence they have a familiar process of Objective/Potential Appraisal.

You need to be very careful on these issues , competencies if not properly used can put your company and you in a real fix.

Competency based appraisal system allows you to..

- measure not only what was achieved, but also how it was achieved
- emphasize to all associates what behaviors, knowledge, and skills will be necessary for future success
- reward those outstanding performers who make a difference

There are many options for competency-based appraisals. We believe that certain criteria are essential, others are recommended, and some depend on the unique needs of your organization.

Essential Criteria for a typical Competency Based Appraisal System
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- Both Competencies and results need to be measured

- Competencies must be relevant to success in the job.

- Core competencies must be instrumental in achieving success for anyone in the organization.

- Functional or technical competencies are relevant to success in a particular job family, role or process.

- Competencies and their behavioral descriptions must describe behaviors that can be demonstrated, observed, and developed.

- Raters must be trained in understanding the model, and in how to evaluate fairly and accurately against it. They also must have adequate interaction with the subject in order to observe and evaluate

Recommended Criteria
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Although these critieria are not essential they do make a difference in your competency based appraisal initiative.

- Employees need to have assigned some strategic competencies drawn from vision , mission, future and strategic goals and Appraising performance against strategic competencies should be done. This is done in order to align the performance of the individual to the business objectives of the company

- Regardless of the number of competencies assigned for an employee, we recommend that the appraisal focus on those few (less than 10) that are considered most critical to job success.

- A 360 Degree rating will do a world of good in assessing an individuals performance

Other things to consider
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- Whether or not weight competencies based on their importance to job

- Appraising only core/strategic competencies, or in combination with technical/functional/role competencies

Hope I have shed little light on CBA .

Look forward to responses from the group.

Rajul

I had some suggestion on your work. The points You have give is huge in process implementaion and derive to the Competency conclusion.

You have given the Objective for each Business process, I feel it will be very easy to identify the competencies, if you pioritize the activities in the Department along with it.

Now take two Heads for competency Technical( Sub points like technology updation, process re-engineering, basedon technology, other technical skills,)and Managerial which include Leadership Communication stress level in work (Criticallity)Time Management etc. Start match these skills with the prioritized objectives to acheive it.

I feel if you approach in this way you can arrive at your objective of Competency mapping.

Warm Regards

Anuj Jain 

It is absolutely true that competencies has to be definitely aligned with the results intended, but the point we are trying to put across is competencies are perfect tool to predict outcomes but are not to MEASURE them.

You may have a highly competent Welder, but at the end of the day, measuring how many weldings he/she had done will be more accurate than testing his/her competence level. Of course we cannot totally ignore competencies , but it has a relatively lesser importance in this context.