Competency Mapping

COMPETENCY

• A Competency is an underlying
characteristic of a person which
enables him /her to deliver superior
performance in a given job, role or
a situation.
 COMPETENCY

• Competencies are seen mainly as

inputs. They consist of knowledge,
attitudes and skills that could affect
an individual’s ability to perform.
 KNOWLEDGE
Relates to
information

Set of Attribute
SKILLS Relates to
qualitative
Relates to the
aspects
ability to do,
personal traits

COMPETENCY

Outstanding
Performance of
tasks or
activities
 Behaviour Indicators
• A Competency is described in terms of
key behaviours that enable recognition
of that competency at the work place.
• These behaviors are demonstrated by
excellent performers on-the-job much
more consistently than average or poor
performers.
Analytical Thinking (an example of competency)

What is it?

• The ability to
– break problems into component parts
– consider or organize parts in a systematic way
– Identifying root causes
– Proactively assessing the consequences of
different courses of action for solution of the
problem.
 Examples of Key Behaviour Indicators

– Independently researches and seeks information

and solutions to issues
– Ability to identify what needs to be done and take
steps to get it done
– Seek information when not sure of what the
problem is or to gain more insight
– Able to identify the root cause
– Willing to experiment with non traditional ways
 What is a Competency Model

• A competency model is a valid, observable,

and measurable list of the knowledge, skills,
and attributes demonstrated through behavior
that results in outstanding performance in a
particular work context.
• Typically A competency model includes
– Competency titles
– Definitions of those titles
– Key Behaviour indicators
 Broad Categories in Competency
• Generic
– Competencies which are considered essential for
all employees regardless of their function or level.
For example - Communication, initiative, listening
skills etc.
• Managerial Competencies
– Competencies which are considered essential for
managerial or supervisory responsibility
 Broad Categories in Competency

• Technical / Functional

Specific competencies which are considered

essential to perform a specific role in the
organisation within a defined technical or
functional area of work.
 Why Competency approach?
Conventional Job Analysis leads to
• long lists of tasks and the
skills / knowledge required
to perform each of those
tasks
• Data generation from the
experts
• Results in Effective
Performance
Competency model leads to
• a condensed set of personal
characteristics
• Data generation from
outstanding performers in
addition to experts and other
job incumbents
• Results in Outstanding
Performance
 Identify Outstanding from Satisfactory
Performance

• Competency approach allows managers to make a

distinction between a person's ability to do a set of
particular tasks at specified minimum acceptable
level and the ability to do the whole job containing
these tasks in an outstanding manner.
 Remember Competencies are always
Behaviour Specific

• Asking whether an employee "takes initiative," (a very

general concept) is open to interpretation
• Instead ask, "Was it typical of Him to carry out tasks
without your having to request that they be done?,"

– This question has only 2 sides : either a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, isn’t it?
• Competencies help……

– companies ‘raise the Bar’ of performance

expectations
– teams and individuals align their
behaviours with key organisational strategy
– each employee understand how to achieve
stated expectations
 Competency based recruitment

• Competency based recruitment processes

reduce the chances of a costly hiring mistake
and increase the likelihood of identifying and
selecting the right person for the right job
 Competency based Performance
Appraisal
• Competencies enable
– establishment of clear high performance
standards
– Collection and proper analysis of factual
data against the set standards.
– Conduct of objective feedback meetings
– direction with regard to specific areas of
improvement
 Competency based Training
• Opportunity to identify/ develop specific
training programmes
• Focused Training enabling improvement in
specific technical and managerial
competencies
• Better ROI on training?
 Competency based Development

• Competencies
– enhances the understanding of
‘development’ and the individual gets the
necessary tools to take responsibility for
their own ‘development’
– give the managers a tool to empower them
to develop people
 Competency based Pay

• Provide an incentive for employees to grow

and enhance their capabilities
 Methodology of competency mapping
The steps in building of a model are…..

• Collect enough background information about the organisation

• Decide on the Job Positions that require competency Models
• Discuss the application of the competency model
• Select a data collection method and plan the approach
• Organize Data collected
• Identify main themes or patterns
• Build the model
• Defining specific behaviour Indicators
• Review the model
 Data Collection Methods

Structured process to get all the participants to think

systematically about the job, skills and personal
characteristics needed for success.

Structured interviews with superior performers which

involves detailed analysis of a large number of events
and experiences.
 Data Collection Methods
• Generic competency Dictionaries can give……
Conceptual frameworks of commonly encountered
competencies and behaviour indicators
Serve as a starting point to the model building
team
Can be used in by asking the participants to select
a set of generic competencies related to the job
and rate the importance
 Model building methods
• Full information about the company
• Decision on the job positions
• Discussion on the CM application
• Basic data collection on the job responsibilities

– Review job description

– understand performance criteria
– Discuss specific behaviours
– List top ten competencies
 Model building methods
• Critical incident technique (CIT) - interviewing top
performers on incidents

– that lead to effective performance

– that lead to ineffective performance
– Find out and discuss
– specific behaviours
– List those behaviours
– List the competencies
 Model building methods
• Content Analysis
– Group behaviours
– Match behaviours to competencies using
competency dictionary as a guideline
– Evolve new set of competencies if any
– Match behaviour indicators identified through CIT
to the top 10 competencies identified earlier
– Review the model and make make changes
wherever necessary