Competency is a serious business. After all it relates to performance appraisal, incentive and ultimately business goal.
But on a lighter note let’s lead the blog with humor.
HR during increment gave dice to employee and said: “If you get 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. No increment will be given to you.”
So the employee asked: “And if I get 6?”
HR poker facedly replied: “As is in the game of Ludo, you will get another chance to roll the dice.”
It is again that time of the year, when there is a scurry of activities, laced with excitement, trepidation and anticipation in an organization. It is a year gone by. It is akin to Judgement Day. It is when water cooler areas are more crowded than usual. Managers, teams and individuals are being assessed for their work. It is Performance Appraisal time!
Only the competent employees will shine and earn the reward they deserve. The rest will have to answer the most difficult question – Why were they not competent enough? What is it they lacked to justify their role?
Answers could be many –
- Lack of clarity pertaining to role or KRAs
- Using age old techniques of ‘imparting’ training instead of capability building
- Employees have not upgraded their skills. They are unaware of areas they need to improve on, due to weak assessment processes in the organization
- And often enough, companies fail to communicate to their employees on the ever evolving business requirements, leaving managers in the dark on upgrading team members’ skills.
“To be a manager requires more than a title, a big office and other outward symbols of rank. It requires competence and performance of a high order” – Peter Drucker
Competency is the measurable aspects of good employee performance – Abilities, Skills, Knowledge and Behavior (ASKB). It is the driver for new gen businesses. Today, HR Managers are developing robust Competency models to strengthen their talent management. Competency models can help organizations align their initiatives to the business strategy. Here is a list of areas where competency models help.
- In Job Description
- In Recruitment Management
- In Performance Management System
- In Training and Development
- In Career and Workforce Planning
- In Compensation
#4 ways to build a competent organization
An organization is as competent as its employees. Employee data is the new currency with which companies can remain competitive. Competency setting, employee assessments, mapping training needs and evaluating performance is possible only when clear objective data is available to all concerned.
- Hire the right talent
Nothing sounds more cliched than this truth. Yet, recruitment is still a subjective assessment of a recruiter. What if we could clearly define a set of expectations from the candidate and objectively assess his/her fitment to the role. An automated process would quicken the process and eliminate subjectivity.
- Clearly define job expectations to new or promoted employees
While this may seem fairly simple, it is surprising to note that even mature organizations fail this task. A well structured on-boarding process and communicating job expectations to the employee, either new or promoted is required. More often than not, employees under perform not because of capability issues, but due to poor communication of what is expected of them. - Do not make Employee Assessment an Annual event
How often have we not seen an employee performing to the best of his ability throughout the year, only to be told at the Annual appraisal that he was not up to expectation. A good HR leader will develop and implement a Competency Model that works best for his organization. However, this is easier said than done. This requires regular reviews with the employee and data availability to help HR managers perform employee ASSESSMENT against the COMPETENCIES required. Large organizations face the challenge of gathering this data annually, let only quarterly or monthly that we suggest it be done. - Move from Training to Capability building
Every employee in an organization must regularly upgrade his/her competencies to remain competitive. However, organizations must ensure they provide a platform for employees to do so. Gone are the days of classroom training. Today training is individual, interactive and focused to achieve a set objective. An experienced HR manager will understand that the training needs of an organization cannot be standardized for all employees. A training calendar is evolved based on the gap analysis between the required competency and available competency of an employee. If not automated, this is almost an impossible task.
PeopleWorks Talent Management Solution helps you automate processes like Talent acquisition, On-boarding, Competency Mapping, Performance Appraisal, Training and Employee Communication. A cloud based HRMS software solution, PeopleWorks Talent Management Solution is committed to provide you a solution that keeps your workforce and organization competent in a competitive market..
