A lot of the people who visit our website want to know the answer to the question “How do you build a competency system?” And of course the answer is, “It depends.” The things that determine how to approach building a system are really pretty simple:
- How many people are in your organization? 100 or less, 200 – 5000, over 5000
- How many common job groups do you have? Under 15, Between 15 and 50, Many more than 50
- How unique is your company and the work you do? Not unique, Somewhat, Very unique
- What type of systems does your company prefer? Simple, Somewhat detailed, Detailed
- Do you have people on staff who can champion for the development of the system? Yes No
- Do you have good job descriptions for every role? Yes No
- Can you gain leaders’ support for this program easily? Yes No
- How much do you have for a budget for the work? Nothing, A little, Have funding
Let’s start with the first question…how big is your organization. If you have less than 500 people, you are probably better off with a very simple system that has organizational competencies, centered around the values you expect people to demonstrate as they interact with one another and your customers. Then use well constructed, functional job descriptions to behaviorally describe the technical skills and abilities expected in each job title. This system works well when you have a number of job titles and not enough people to establish a real baseline of what differentiates high performance in a distinct role. You can, however, identify and study what behaviors are found in high performers by rolling populations up into job families or job groups. (Leaders, Associates, Supporting Roles)
If you have more than 500 people, or one population that encompasses a large part of your workforce, you can incorporate technical skills and abilities within a single model for specific jobs or job groups. For example, in a pharmaceutical sales company where many people are focused in field sales work, you could devise a distinct family of models for the sales team. Model 1 would be for Sales Representatives, Model 2 would be for District Managers and Model 3 would be for Regional Leaders. These three models would be related to one another through the use of a single set of dimensions, with the performance factors, or behavioral descriptors for each dimension, differing at the job level. In this way, a continuum is established. Selection processes, career planning and other talent management processes which rely on the competency model become more targeted and easier for users to understand.
On to question 2 – How many job groups do you have? If you have many job groups, in which the jobs within the job group are quite distinct, then you are better off reverting to the model described above of using cultural competencies working side by side with a behavioral job description. This gives cohesion to the system, while enabling people to see themselves within the models for developmental purposes. If you have only a few job groups, then you are better off preparing a model for each job group, leveled by the various positions present within the group, such as described above for our friends in the pharmaceutical company.
How unique is your company? Most people will respond that their company is quite unique, but in reality, most companies are quite similar, particularly industry by industry. A good way to investigate the degree of uniqueness is to go to industry websites and look for typical job descriptions. Review these to determine how different you really are. If you tend to be quite different from the norm, then go ahead and build a competency around your cultural dimensions, supported with good behaviorally based job descriptions that you have cast to reflect the actual job content in your positions.
What type of systems does your company prefer? This is a good question and perhaps one of the more important considerations in developing your system. There is no way that a company which tends to invent as it goes along will do well with a detailed system of definitions and a complex set of tools. If your company is still growing and developing its culture and marketplace position, or if you are in a time of distinct change, then you are better off with a very simple system that defines key behaviors that everyone is expected to demonstrate. If your company is very stable and tends to have a good deal of familiarity with performance management systems and tools, then you have a better chance of succeeding with a more detailed model.
However, our own experience with our clients over the years shows that if you want them to use it, they have to “get it” quickly and be able to remember it. We recommend no more than 7 dimensions, each containing no more than 3 to 5 key descriptors. This enables both managers and performers to target the things that count in the role and to focus on developing primary skills, knowledge and abilities.
Tomorrow, I will discuss how to decide whether to try to do the work yourself or hire an outside resource to build your system. If you would like additional information about ECI’s competency systems, visit our website at www.employerconsultancy.com and download our Competency White Paper.
Filed under: Competencies, Organizational Development, Talent Management | Tagged: behavioral descriptors, building competency systems, competency systems, how to choose competency systems, Job Descriptions, performance factors
