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HR Wheel for Recruitment Services from Clark Schaefer Strategic HR.

Using Competency Mapping to Align Recruiting Efforts with Strategic Objectives

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by Linda Gravett, PhD, SPHR

It’s well documented that organizations today are facing a skills crisis. There are simply too many Radio Babies and Boomers going out of our doors without an adequate number of younger people coming in behind them. This means that we have to be creative in our recruiting and retention efforts if we want to entice the best and brightest of all generations to join our organization. We’ve found that competency mapping is an excellent tool for executives who want to ensure this happens. Competency mapping will especially help in your recruitment efforts for Gen Yers, born between 1977 – 1991. People in this age group that we interviewed for our book, Bridging the Generation Gap, told us that they won’t even seriously consider working for an organization that doesn’t demonstrate how their position connects to and supports the company’s strategic objectives.

Competency mapping is an approach that has the objective of helping an organization align individual development with the strategic objectives of the company. We recommend the following step-by-step process for competency mapping.

Step 1. Development of Core Competencies

In this step, the leadership of the organization meets to brainstorm which core competencies the organization requires in order to achieve its Mission , Vision, and Key Business Imperatives. Examples of core competencies that are usually essential in organizations today are problem solving, teambuilding, decision making, and communication skills.

We encourage executives to be very specific about what these competencies look like. For instance, a description of customer focus might read like this: “strives to understand customers’ needs and to meet or exceed customer expectations; interacts positively and courteously with customers; and sees every customer problem as an opportunity to provide excellent service.”

Step 2. Assessing Competency Levels Required Across Positions

After the leadership team decides which competencies are essential, it’s necessary to determine the degree to which, and manner in which, these competencies are required in each type of position (i.e., Sales Manager, Receptionist, and CEO). This assessment can be made through interviews with incumbents of sample positions, using a Position Information Questionnaire (PIQ) as a guide. Examples of questions on a PIQ include:

  1. Who are your internal customers and how do you determine their needs?
  2. Describe how you draw in coworkers in departmental activities or projects.
  3. What type of records do you need to access and what methods do you use to access information in a short time frame?

Step 3. Developing Competency-Based Job Descriptions

Following the interview process, job descriptions can be developed that include not only duties and reporting relationships but the core competency descriptions that are tailored to each position. These same competencies are included in each employee’s performance appraisal instrument so that he/she is evaluated on the same criteria that are specified in the job description. For employees of all ages, this parallel process reinforces the fact that the organization has a set of critical competencies that will ensure success.

Step 4. Competency-Based Matrix

For career development purposes, the youngest generation of new employees (or potential employees) will be interested in career progression options available once they master different competency levels. In a career matrix framework, as career options become more complex and sophisticated, the core competencies are elevated in terms of sophistication as well. The career matrix is an excellent tool to show how each job family has a clear progression requiring development of core competencies to achieve.

Step 5. Individual Development Planning

Using the job descriptions and the performance appraisal process as a foundation, Human Resources can provide coaching for individuals based on their unique developmental needs. For example, if a sales representative is interested in a position as Sales Manager, a Human Resources professional can counsel this person about current strengths and areas for improvement and point out the competency levels required for the higher level position. Then the employee and the HR person can jointly map out a plan for the employee’s development (courses, workshops, mentoring, etc.) In our interviews, Gen Ys in particular expressed a keen interest in this type of process to entice them to accept a position.

Strategic HR would like to thank Dr. Linda Gravett, Ph.D, SPHR with Gravett & Associates for writing this article and sharing her insight. If you have any questions or wish to share your comments about this article, you can contact Linda at Linda@Gravett.com.

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Unleashing Employee Potential Through Competency-Based Job Descriptions

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by Linda Gravett, PhD, SPHR

How many times have you heard statements like these from your employees?

“I have no idea what my official job duties are.” 
“My job description mainly says ‘other duties as assigned’.” 
“I’m evaluated on things that aren’t even in my job description.”

If you’ve heard these complaints much too often, perhaps the time is right for your organization to develop competency-based job descriptions.

A competency-based job description has one significant feature that traditional job descriptions do not possess. In addition to listing duties assigned to a position, the skills and behaviors required to successfully perform these duties is also included. This feature does the following:

  • Enables recruiters to fully describe job requirements
  • Helps supervisors adequately explain areas for improvement during reviews
  • Lets employees understand skills they must acquire if they’re interested in other positions within the organization

Here’s how competency-based job descriptions are used on a practical basis:

Employees are often told that communication skills are important. Does that mean written, verbal, body language, or all of the above? An example of communications competency components that I’ve helped one of my clients identify is:

Communications

  1. Negotiating – dealing with others in order to reach an agreement or solution; for example, consensus building
  2. Persuading – dealing with others in order to influence them toward some action or point of view; for example, recommending an innovative solution to a problem
  3. Instructing – expanding knowledge or skills enhancement, in either a formal or informal setting
  4. Interviewing – conducting interviews directed toward some specific objective; for example, interviewing job applicants
  5. Routine Information Exchange – giving or receiving job-related information
  6. Public Speaking – making formal presentations before internal or external audiences
  7. Writing – writing and editing concise, clear letters, reports, articles, or e-mails
  8. Effective Listening – actively engaging in conversations in order to clearly understand others’ message and intent

Employees are often advised how important it is to be a “team player.” The supervisor may have a definition of a “team player” in mind that is vastly different from that of the direct reports he or she supervises. This was the case with another client who developed this set of statements to describe teamwork:

Teamwork and Collaboration

  1. Establishing Rapport – establishing and maintaining a good rapport and cooperative working relationship with all members of the organization
  2. Taking Initiative – showing flexibility in joining ad hoc teams and taking on extra responsibilities when required
  3. Choosing Communication Methods – effectively selecting the appropriate communication method to fit the situation
  4. Involving Others – involving coworkers and direct reports by sharing information through reports, meeting, or presentations
  5. Soliciting Input – asking for input from others through reports, meetings, or presentations
  6. Respecting Others – treating others with respect, regardless of position or function
  7. Influencing – using relationships to influence others to take risks for the good of the overall organization
  8. Facilitating Brainstorming – initiating brainstorming sessions when required to ensure that team members are invested in team activities and decisions

I don’t recommend that an organization use a “canned” approach toward developing competencies. Your organization’s Mission and Vision statements are the starting point to develop competency-based job descriptions. Why does your organization exist? How does your organization want to do business in three years? five years? What skills and behaviors must your employees have in order to successfully carry out the Mission and Vision? I advocate the company leadership taking time out to address these questions, with the input of Human Resources, to determine the unique set of competencies the organization requires.

I believe you’ll discover that a core set of competencies will be required organization wide. For example, one of my clients concluded that Communications, Teamwork and Collaboration, Research Skills, Innovation, Problem Solving, Coaching, Developing Goals and Objectives, and Leadership were all required to some degree. As an employee moves to the manager and executive level, the scope, impact, and level of sophistication increase. One size (job description) does not fit all.

For my clients that are now using competency-based job descriptions, there have been some clear advantages and some implementation challenges. The advantages are:

  1. Lower turnover because of better matches between applicants and jobs
  2. Less ambiguity during performance reviews because supervisors can provide more concrete examples of expectations
  3. More clarity about skill sets required for career development throughout the organization

Change is not easy to accept, even when the change will be beneficial to individuals and the organization. Some supervisors prefer room for subjectivity in hiring and promoting decisions. It’s so much easier to check a box for “Initiative” and “Dependability” than to think about specific behaviors and how those behaviors demonstrate competency. Those same supervisors, however, desire much more specificity when their review time rolls around!

I recommend that cross-functional, multi-level focus groups work together to develop the competency components – following the leadership’s articulation of the core competencies required for the organization to survive and thrive. I’ve found that this promotes buy-in and encourages employees to start developing a new language to describe how work gets done.

If you decide to move toward competency-based job descriptions, don’t forget to revise your performance reviews so they’re parallel. The competencies and their components on each individual’s job description should reappear on the performance review. Employees that I’ve talked with really appreciate the consistency!

Dr. Linda Gravett, PhD, SPHR is with Gravett & Associates (www.Gravett.com). If you have any questions or wish to share your comments with Linda, you can contact her at Linda@Gravett.com.