Developing Competency Frameworks for Professional Development and Business Success

Competency frameworks seek to provide guidelines that enable HR professionals succeed in their practice and realise their professional goals. They identify and situate the professional competencies needed by HR professionals in all stages of HR career and across all sizes or forms of business. There are a number of ways you can use a competency framework:

1. Professionals can identify areas of strength and needed development.
2. HR departments can use this to identify competency gaps for which resourcing, performance management, and learning interventions can be established.
3. Professional Associations can use this framework to improve the quality of value offerings to members across examinations, membership development,?and specialised certifications.?

Let's explore a number of HR Competency Frameworks.

1. CIPD's Profession Map

The Profession Map focuses on the knowledge and behaviours you need to create value and make an impact at work, shifting the focus from generic best practice to values-based decision-making. The Profession Map is designed to evolve in line with the shifting landscape of the people profession. The core values and purpose driving the professional standards will be the same, come what may. But as new roles, specialisms, priorities and opportunities emerge, the Profession Map will adapt to incorporate them.

2. SHRM's Body of Applied Skills and Knowledge

The?SHRM Body of Applied Skills and Knowledge? (SHRM BASK?), formerly the SHRM Body of Competency and Knowledge? (SHRM BoCK?), represents the evolution of the SHRM Competency Model by further defining the knowledge areas in addition to the behavioral competencies.

The SHRM BASK? identifies?what it takes to be a successful?HR professional.

• Defines the competencies and knowledge necessary for effective practice as an HR professional.
• Supports HR practitioners in their career and professional development.
• Helps organizations build approaches to identify and cultivate high-quality HR leaders, individual contributors and teams.

The SHRM BASK provides the?foundation for talent management?throughout the HR lifecycle and helps organizations ensure that HR professionals are proficient in the critical behaviors and knowledge necessary to?solve today's most pressing people issues?and strategies.?

Principles Guiding the Use of Competency Framework

When competency frameworks are developed, they aim to achieved a number of goals such as enabling consistency across organizational practices such as rewards, recruitment, etc; attain fairness in decision making in matters of discipline and performance management; achieve effectiveness in the delivery of results for the business by ensuring standardisation of procedures; and career management through development initiatives.

A competency framework defines the Credentials, Attributes, Skills, Knowledge, and Experience required from the workforce. Developing competency based frameworks is a task drawn on principles.

In this piece, I discuss 3 core principles guiding the development of a competency framework.

1. Working With Stakeholders. A stakeholder is any person or group that has an interest in the operations and outcomes of a business entity. When developing a competency framework, you must identify your stakeholders and understand their stake from the point of what they consider valuable and ensure to provide for who will deliver it within your framework. The goal is to see things from their perspective and provide for its delivery. Your stakeholders will include customers with a stake of product/service quality and value, employees with a stake of employment income and safety, investors with a stake of financial returns, suppliers and vendors with a stake of revenue and safety, communities with a stake of health, safety, and economic development, government with a stake of taxes and Gross Domestic Product.
2. Communicating the Intent. You must be able to clearly articulate the essence of the framework to your stakeholders. It is important to communicate it with them so they can be carried along in your pursuit of corporate goals. Competency frameworks are often used to influence organizational practices that impact of business success.
3. Securing Employee Buy-In. The development of a competency framework requires that employees are carried along to contribute in its development. Their understanding of the framework and the implication it will have on their job is essential for the realisation of the broad goals the organization may be pursuing.

A High Level Process of Developing a Competency Framework

1. Preparation. This include purpose definition and team formation
2. Information Gathering. This will include engaging approaches such as observation, survey (Questionnaire, Interview, Focus Group), job analysis (Corporate Goals, Corporate Values, Credentials, Attributes, Skills, Knowledge, Experience ), comparative analysis and benchmarking
3. Build the Framework. Group the statements from the information gathered, create and refine subgroups, tag the competencies, and validate the competencies
4. Implement the Framework. Connect to vision, mission, culture, and business objectives, align policies to competencies (rewards, learning & development), secure approval, and transmit the approved framework.

Components of a Competency Framework

• Core Competencies. These are competencies that support the organisation’s values and mission. They will usually apply to all jobs in the organisation. These are often behavioural competencies
• Common Competencies. These are related to similar job types.
• Technical/Functional Competencies. It applies to job roles and specific functions
• Leadership Competencies. This is a combination of behavioural and technical competencies that contribute to leadership performance.
• ‘Meta’ Competencies. These are future focused competencies, industry influenced competencies and tech-centred competencies

Avoidable Pitfalls in the Development of a Competency Framework

• Focus. Don’t just focus on the past. The framework must be able to keep up with the rapid changing business environment.
• Performance Measurement. Ensure that there are adequate measures to ensure the delivery of expected improvements on the job.
• Behaviour. Be careful not to design a framework that breeds sameness and reduces diversity, hence reducing the expression of uniqueness.
• Legal Considerations. Check for compliance with extant laws and regulations. Always check for fairness.

Final Word

Success is any career will demand a disciplined approach to building competencies that add value to the profession and delivers results to the business.

OAO

References

1. https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/finance/stakeholder/
2. https://www.shrm.org/certification/about/body-of-applied-skills-and-knowledge/Pages/default.aspx
3. https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/people/performance/competency-factsheet#6385
4. https://peopleprofession.cipd.org/profession-map