Competency Model in Learning & Development

Have you ever wondered what an organization does to measure the competency level of its employees? On an individual level, it’s rather easier to gauge one’s competencies but calculating the competencies and skills of its hundreds and thousands of employees and further channelize them in the direction of organizational success may not be a cakewalk. It requires a lot of planning and many strategies are applied.

First, let’s know what is a competency? Competency is a skill required to perform a job in L&D. Whereas a competency model is all competencies put together and driven successfully in the direction of achieving organizational goals and objectives. Competency models are essential for the Training and Development and Human Resources to perform the functions such as training need analysis, recruitment, performance management, and hiring. A competency-based model encompasses the following:

• The role of Training and Development in meeting organizational objectives.
• The concept of competency is used in day-to-day life.
• General understanding of competency iceberg model.
• Application of key competency concepts

This brings us to another relevant topic, the role of Learning and Development in an organization. Learning and Development are defined as a systematic process to enhance an employee’s skills, knowledge, and competency, resulting in better performance in a work setting. Learning and development aim to align employee goals and performance with that of organizations.

The learning and development department maps and identify the skill gaps and works in direction of bridging these gaps by conducting training and skill enhancement sessions. For instance, if an e-commerce company finds out the constant feedback demonstrating customer dissatisfaction. It may then get into the root of the cause and a relevant training program can be conducted to make the customer service advisor equipped with the required skills which may eventually result in better customer handling.

The ice-berg model

An ice-berg competency model talks about two kinds of attributes. On top, as the tip of the iceberg that sticks out, denotes the attributes that are Easier to Change e.g., Knowledge and skills, and those which are Harder to Change are the behavioral competencies e.g. self-image and motivation.

These competencies are described as the demonstrated personal attributes of personnel and the demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills. A team discussion activity takes place based on the iceberg model where the participants again get into discussion among themselves.

The competency rubric

This competency rubric is a remarkable tool in the identification of competency assessment. It comprises of the competencies that are essential not only to get the job done but also these key competencies furnish the goal to reach organizational objectives and success.  These key competencies are technical skills, communication skills, adaptability, Analytical skill, teamwork, leadership, etc. Here she also elaborates the competency rubric and how it is used for the evaluation of employees’ skills and competencies. Here, in the given table, employees’ competency is measured from Scale-1 to Scale-4. Scale-1 is the employee not competent in performing a certain skill whereas Scale-4 is the one who is competent enough and can perform independently.

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Competency-based training

A competency-based training focuses on developing specific competencies or skills of the employees. Such training is either conducted to train employees on new skill sets or to strengthen their dormant skills. Following steps are taken into consideration before designing a competency-based training program.

• Training Need analysis
• Design competency-based training and assessment
• Development of training and assessment material
• Conduct the training
• Evaluate the training effectiveness.

Competency-based selection

This area is primarily taken care of by the Human Resources department. HR gets into the evaluation and selection of the right candidates. Following are the steps of the strategy, designed to execute the selection process:

• Identification of competencies or HR planning
• Job design- competency criteria
• Job specifications
• Job description
• Interview design

In conclusion, a competency model is designed not only to achieve big-time organizational goals and objectives, but employee skill upgradation is also one of the important areas it focuses on.