This will be your invaluable partner to a successful, stress-free implementation of a competency framework. It gives loads of advice and points to consider, tools to help you design and build your framework, guidelines for how to collect the information you are gong to need, and even examples of management competency levels you wont have to re-invent the wheel!
Section One covers all the basics, it explains how to build the framework, how to design and test levels, how to seek buy-in and ensure a successful roll-out. Section Two has case studies illustrating how real live organisations have applied competencies, and the different approaches they have taken.
This is a extremely practical and pragmatic resource that aims to describe each step in the process and then give you the tools to get out there and do it.
Contents:
SECTION ONE: DEVELOPING YOUR COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK
1. Getting started
Why should your organisation consider adopting a competency framework? What implications should you consider before approaching such a project? This unit is focused around helping you to think through or revisit the pressures that may be driving your initiative, and to identify the people and the other factors which are available to help and support you.
2. Uses of competencies
How will you identify those processes in your organisation where competencies will be of the most use? How will managers and staff react to them? Competencies are generally used as measures of performance. People like to know what they are supposed to be doing, and how well they are doing it, whilst managers also like to be able to assess how well staff are performing. This set of tools helps you to identify processes within your organisation where competencies could profitably be deployed, and gives guidance on the various ways of using competencies.
3. Collecting the information
Collecting information about the jobs to which the competencies will be applied requires a great deal of work. It is crucial that you ensure the relevance, validity and accuracy of the competency statements you will be using by making a thorough investigation and analysis of the jobs in question. Otherwise, every use that is made of those competency statements may well bring you complaints and difficulties. This unit assists you in the vital information gathering phase of the project, to enable you to identify clearly the key points and critical factors for each job and create competency statements that truly reflect the nature of what is involved for effective operation.
4. Measurements, levels and links to organisational values
Your competency framework must provide a way of grading performance in line with organisational systems and consistent with organisational values. The tools in this unit guide you in identifying the information and resources you need to create effective competency statements, and in comparing some of the different methods of grading that can be used with them.
5. Making the case
You will need to demonstrate to staff, colleagues and senior managers, the advantages of a positive use of competencies in your organisation. This is important with any change, but particularly so when you are thinking about introducing competencies which, to those who have not met the idea before, do not obviously appear to offer any improvement to the business bottom line. The tools in this unit, including a full presentation, will help you to prepare and present your case.
6. Designing the framework
This unit takes details from earlier units for you to use in overseeing the design of appropriate sets of competency statements; it demonstrates a variety of ways in which that information can then be used to construct the framework itself.
7. The pilot study
To introduce a competency scheme effectively, you will need to try out your plans, processes and paperwork by running a pilot study, a small-scale version of the main event. In this way, you can discover what works, what does not, and what needs a little addition or amendment to put the scheme on track before too many people are using it. In this unit, you will find the information and resources to clarify what needs to be considered, and how you might undertake some key activities.
8. Roll-out and buy-in
What issues could affect the roll-out of your scheme? This unit builds upon your activities in earlier units, helping you to think through what will be involved and to plan every detail fully, so that there are no surprises for you, your sponsors or the users.
9. Training the users
To ensure that your scheme is launched well and used to its full potential, some form of training or briefing is vital for everyone. This unit provides you with the kind of tools, including a full presentation, that you will need to set up and run a training session or seminar in connection with the launch of the scheme.
10. Monitoring and standardising your framework
The tools in this unit are to assist you in monitoring a competency framework to ensure that it is up to date and effective, and to check on consistency, effectiveness and fairness within the overall scheme. This applies equally to a new framework, or to an existing one that has been in use for some time and needs a regular review and update or a major overhaul.
SECTION TWO: CASE STUDIES AND EXAMPLES
1. Case studies
This unit illustrates the different ways in which competencies have been applied within different organisations. The tools are drawn from a number of real sets of competencies currently in use within a range of organisations from both thepublic and private sectors. A range of examples is offered to demonstrate the diversity of approaches available, and a commentary is provided on each to underline the advantages and disadvantages of each.
2. Worked examples of tools
In this unit, you will find worked examples of many of the tools in the Toolkit. These examples show you ways of completing the tools to provide the sort of information you are likely to need in preparing your own framework and competency-based scheme. You will find it useful to have these examples beside you as you apply the tools to your own situation. They can also be used to illustrate to others the steps and issues involved in building your competency scheme.
3. Examples of management competencies
To guide you in writing your own statements, this unit contains typical competency statements in typical clusters. Additionally, when they cover exactly those topics you wish to cover, you can use these statements as they are, instead of reinventing the wheel by writing your own.
