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PREFACE
New sets of competencies are needed in the European job market to make
the transition towards a low-carbon society a success. Informally and non-
formally gained competencies, for example through work experience, need to
be formally acknowledged in order to become meaningful indicators on the job
market. Certified Professional addresses both issues by certifying cross-functional
competencies and by introducing a standard for future-oriented skills.
B. towards a low carbon society (including both climate change mitigation and
adaptation);
C. that involves different dimensions of a socio-technical system that may include
more than one institution.
definition of terms
for the competency framework
Hence, it allows for a broader set of activities and measures that can be
applied in many different contexts, including the private sector as well as the
public sector and the field of non-governmental organizations or research
and development institutes. Such a transition practice requires new sets
of competencies in working areas such as Systems’ Thinking, Visioning &
Defining Goals, Experimenting & Initiating Change, Strategic Networking
& Communication, as well as Monitoring & Adaptation.*
*This is the result of marked research conducted in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United
Kingdom in 2014. The marked research included a review of literature (including grey
literature) and approximately 40 expert interviews with high level experts from the public
sector, large businesses, the financial sector, and academia.
Each of the 13 competencies (A1, B1, B2, B3, B4, C1, C2, C3, D1, D2, D3,
E1, E2) has 4 performance indicators. Each working area and its respective
competencies are displayed in different colours.
Working area
Description of typical tasks
Competency
Description of typical tasks
Performance description
Performance indicators
SYSTEMS THINKING
Systems’ Thinking is very useful for large scale, complex problems. It can
be used to relate externally driven, long-term and autonomous trends in
environmental, social, cultural, and political landscapes and within major
crises. As an analytical strategy it can help us understand our current
paradigms and environments and to plan and execute change initiatives/
projects/programmes.
Performance description
Candidate identifies the necessity for change in a relevant field (e.g. mobility,
consumption, production, or housing). Candidate conducts an analysis of system
components and their relationships, which adequately frames and describes
potential challenges and solutions. System analysis should include:
»» different subsystem perspectives (e.g. social, technical, political),
»» different actors’ perspectives (e.g. selected companies, politicians, citizens)
»» different levels of development & action (macro, meso, micro),
»» as well as the relationships between the above mentioned.
Performance indicators
It is important that the problems and the vision are clearly communicated
to others (sense-making) in order to build support for the change initiative/
project/programme.
Setting mid-term and short-term objectives that help to achieve the long-
term vision is key for strategic planning and taking specific action. For
identifying suitable pathways, the technique of backcasting is often used
based on the developed vision.
DEFINING PROBLEMS
Performance description
Candidate identifies unsustainable situations and practices and their
implications for the challenge(s) being addressed. Candidate selects and
uses the relevant methods to analyse the problems and identifies the main
drivers of the (environmental) problem situation. Candidate clearly outlines
the inconsistencies and implications of existing practices using a systems
thinking lens. This process of definition should result in a clear problem
statement.
Performance indicators
VISIONING
Performance description
Candidate conducts a visioning process to provide a shared, long-term
perspective on moving towards a low carbon society. Candidate elaborates
the vision in a participatory process and/or taking into account a range of
possible future scenarios.
Performance indicators
SENSE-MAKING
Performance description
Candidate properly communicates the relevant information and values to
persuade others of the vision. If necessary, candidate changes the mind-
sets of others by providing them with new and more convincing mental
models supporting its implementation.
Performance indicators
Performance description
Candidate uses iterative backcasting process to identify necessary action
steps and pathways guided by the vision. Candidate derives objectives and
work out stepping stones for achieving defined objectives.
Performance indicators
1. Candidate is able to derive different goals from the vision and describes
pathways to achieve them.
2. Candidate is able to identify and describe the required condition
changes for achieving the vision in different domains of the system (e.g.
legislative changes, new infrastructure, behaviour changes).
3. Candidate is able to redefine long- and mid-term goals and pathways
as things develop.
4. Candidate is able to formulate short-term goals aligned with the vision
that are specific, measurable, accountable, realistic, and time-related
(SMART).
Performance description
Candidate recognizes windows of opportunity to help action the change
initiative/project/programme. Candidate continuously seeks opportunities
for improvement, proactive experimentation for change, and promotion of
selected change initiatives/projects/programmes.
Performance indicators
Performance description
Candidate develops an operational strategy in line with transition pathway.
Strategy may include prioritization of action steps, resource planning, time-
based action plans, and the coordination of different actors’ responsibilities
and milestones.
Performance indicators
Performance description
Candidate accepts, values, and manages uncertain situations. This includes
working with assumptions in light of insufficient information or dealing with
criticism and resistance in a positive and proactive way.
Performance indicators
Typically for transition projects, this is not a one-off task but is repeated and
adjusted with regard to ongoing developments in the system. To effectively
work in transdisciplinary teams as well as across different hierarchical levels,
it is essential to offer and facilitate a common understanding and a goal-
oriented dialogue.
Transdisciplinary and
Transboundary Communication
Performance description
Candidate understands different expert jargons and relates them to
mainstream discourse of the actors involved. This may include translation
and communication into terms in common use. Candidate communicates
effectively with diverse range of stakeholders about policy development,
action plans, public relations etc. Candidate makes use of this understanding
to better communicate his/her views and proposals for action and change.
Performance indicators
Performance description
Candidate displays a keen awareness of the necessity to network widely
and effectively to increase the leverage of a project. Candidate willingly
collaborates with others to build a strong, ideally diverse, team that
supports project‘s aims. Candidate makes this social capital productive for
the purposes of intended change initiative/project/programme.
Performance indicators
Performance description
Candidate convincingly presents unsustainable status quo and need for
change to others. Candidate shows the benefits of the vision to different
actors and engages them to take action towards the achievement of the
intended goals. This includes maintaining momentum for those already
actively involved, as well as winning over passive or reluctant actors and
those not involved.
Performance indicators
MONITORING
Performance description
Candidate keeps track of and document progress. Candidate monitors
changing system/environment which relate to the defined vision. This
includes identifying suitable observation/performance indicators and the
identification of potential shortcomings. Candidate uses monitoring as a
resource for organisational learning.
Performance indicators
Performance description
Candidate makes use of monitoring results to adjust objectives, priorities,
resources, action steps or any other aspects of the process. Candidate
decides on the appropriate type of practical adaptations required (e.g.
quantitative or qualitative).
Performance indicators
A
Aim, goal, An aim is a general statement that gives direction and
objective identifies an intention to act. A goal is a high-level,
often non-measurable statement concerning a broad
measure of achievement. An objective is a more precise
statement about what is to be achieved in concrete
terms.
C
Collaboration Collaboration refers to the act of (voluntarily) working
together on a project or for achieving a common goal.
Many Transition projects can only be achieved through
collaboration as the goals can be greater than the ability
or scope of individual actors or stakeholders.
E
Environment(al) Environment regularly refers to nature, plants, and
animals as used in environmental science and ecology.
But it can also stand for the total of surroundings, as in
people, things, conditions or influences.
K
Knowledge A competency consists of knowledge, skills, and attitude
elements.
M
Mainstream(ing) Mainstream refers to the principle or dominant course
(literally main + stream - as in a river and its tributaries).
This can be used as an adjective such as ‘mainstream
politics’ or ‘mainstream culture’ and refers to the
dominant practices in any situation. Alternative practices
are often not initially accepted or approved by the
mainstream. Many of the projects and programmes
aimed at moving to a low carbon society are not
mainstream as yet.
O
Organisational Organisational learning is the process of creating,
learning retaining and transferring knowledge within an
organisation. Such an organisation improves over time
as it gains experience. From this experience, it is able to
P
create knowledge again and foster behaviour change.
R
Resilience Resilience is the ability to cope with change. Resilient
(~t systems) systems have the capacity to take setbacks or shocks or
to absorb change without being permanently damaged.
For example, a society may be resilient if it can deal with
major change and still function according to the goals of
the society.
Social capital Social capital generally refers to resources, and the value
of these resources, both tangible (public spaces, private
property) and intangible (actors, human capital, people).
Moreover it refers to the relationships among these
resources and to the impact that these relationships have
on the resources involved and on larger groups.
T
important for this competency framework.