Many competence initiatives fall into one or other of 4 ‘instant fail’ categories:
- purely defensive reactions to regulatory pressure or because something went bang
- well-intentioned but bureaucratic systems that try to assess everything that moves
- ‘head office’ flavours of the month with unassessable one-line competency statements
- a narrow focus on technical competencies or on those at the sharp end while ignoring issues of behaviour and belief at all levels.
But well-planned, risk-based competence management can provide a powerful basis for change in the alignment between organisational behaviour and individual behaviour. Identified organisational benefits include:
- Management control over competence development
- Improved speed of response on new projects
- Reduction in time wasted justifying competence
- Higher commercial rates for staff with proven competence
- More effective attraction and recruitment
- Progression and development ladders towards professionalism
- Targeted training and more effective cost-benefit analysis
- Reinforcement of company values and core business objectives
- Long-term upgrade of organisational capability
Even in very small organisations, I have seen competence frameworks used as an effective catalyst for change in order to:
- embed changes in strategic direction
- highlight expected performance
- build balanced teams
- manage projects/services more effectively
- provide a framework for staff development/training
- create flexible but consistent job descriptions
- derive targeted recruitment specifications