Competency Mapping

Competency Mapping is a process of identify key competencies for an organization and/or a job and incorporating those competencies throughout the various processes (i.e. job evaluation, training, recruitment) of the organization. To ensure we are both on the same page, we would define a competency as behaviour (i.e. communication, leadership) rather than a skill or ability. The steps involved in competency mapping with an end result of job evaluation include the following: 1) Conduct a job analysis by asking incumbents to complete a position information questionnaire (PIQ). This can be provided for incumbents to complete, or you can conduct one-on-one interviews using the PIQ as a guide. The primary goal is to gather from incumbents what they feel are the key behaviours necessary to perform their respective jobs. 2) Using the results of the job analysis, you are ready to develop a competency based job description. A sample of a competency based job description generated from the PIQ may be analyzed. This can be developed after carefully analyzing the input from the represented group of incumbents and converting it to standard competencies. 3) With a competency based job description, you are on your way to begin mapping the competencies throughout your human resources processes. The competencies of the respective job description become your factors for assessment on the performance evaluation. Using competencies will help guide you to perform more objective evaluations based on displayed or not displayed behaviours. 4) Taking the competency mapping one step further, you can use the results of your evaluation to identify in what competencies individuals need additional development or training. This will help you focus your training needs on the goals of the position and company and help your employees develop toward the ultimate success of the organization. Competency mapping is a process through which one assesses and determines ones strengths as an individual worker and in some cases, as part of an organization. It generally examines two areas: emotional intelligence or emotional quotient (EQ), and strengths of the individual in areas like team structure, leadership, and decisionmaking. Large organizations frequently employ some form of competency mapping to understand how to most effectively employ the competencies of strengths of workers. They may also use competency mapping to analyze the combination of strengths in different workers to produce the most effective teams and the highest quality work. Competency mapping can also be done for contract or freelance workers, or for those seeking employment to emphasize the specific skills which would make them valuable to a potential employer. These kinds of skills can be determined, when one is ready to do the work, by using numerous books on the subject. One of the most popular ones is Now; Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton, initially published in 2001. Buckingham and Cliftons book, and others like it, practice competency mapping through testing, having the person sift through past work experiences, and by analyzing learning types. However, the disadvantage to using a book alone is that most people may have a few blind spots when they analyze their own competency. Their perception of how others react to them may not be accurate. Competency mapping also requires some thought, time, and analysis, and some people simply may not want to do the work involved to sufficiently map competencies. Thus a book like the above is often used with a human resources team, or with a job coach or talented headhunter. Competency mapping alone may not produce accurate results unless one is able to detach from the results in analyzing past successes and failures. Many studies find that people often overestimate their abilities, making self-competency mapping results dubious.

The value of competency mapping and identifying emotional strengths is that many employers now purposefully screen employees to hire people with specific competencies. They may need to hire someone who can be an effective time leader or who has demonstrated great active listening skills. Alternately, they may need someone who enjoys taking initiative or someone who is very good at taking direction. When individuals must seek new jobs, knowing ones competencies can give one a competitive edge in the job market. Usually, a person will find themselves with strengths in about five to six areas. Sometimes an area where strengths are not present is worth developing. In other cases, competency mapping can indicate finding work that is suited to ones strengths, or finding a department at ones current work where one's strengths or needs as a worker can be exercised. A problem with competency mapping, especially when conducted by an organization is that there may be no room for an individual to work in a field that would best make use of his or her competencies. If the company does not respond to competency mapping by reorganizing its employees, then it can be of little short-term benefit and may actually result in greater unhappiness on the part of individual employees. A person identified as needing to learn new things in order to remain happy might find himself or herself in a position where no new training is ever required. If the employer cannot provide a position for an employee that fits him or her better, competency mapping may be of little use. However, competency mapping can ultimately serve the individual who decides to seek employment in an environment where he or she perhaps can learn new things and be more intellectually challenged. Being able to list competencies on resumes and address this area with potential employers may help secure more satisfying work. This may not resolve issues for the company that initially employed competency mapping, without making suggested changes. It may find competency mapping has produced dissatisfied workers or led to a high worker turnover rate.

COMPETENCY MAPPING Competency Competency Mapping Competency and Performance Competency Mapping and Development Competency Identification Methods of Competency Mapping Benefits of Competency Mapping Model of Competency Mapping COMPETENCY Competency is an underlying skill, personal characteristics, or m o t i v e d e m o n s t r a t e d b y v a r i o u s o b s e r v a b l e b e h a v i o u r s t h a t contributes to outstanding performance in a job. Competencies exist at different level of personality the various levels are: Knowledge:Information that an individual has in a particular area. Skills:A n i n d i v i d u a l s a b i l i t y t o d o s o m e t h i n g well. Behaviour:Action of a person in a given situation. Personal characteristics Traits:A typical way of behaving such as taking initiative. Motive:A f u n d a m e n t a l a n d o f t e n u n c o n s c i o u s driver of thoughts and behaviour for example con cer ns f or ex cel l ence. Per son al char act er i st i cs are hard to develop and it is more cost-effective to select

people having the desired personality trait. Knowledge and skills are easy to develop so training is costeffective. COMPETENCY MAPPING C o m p e t e n c y m a p p i n g i n v o l v e s t h e d e t e r m i n a t i o n o f t h e extent to which the various competencies related to a job a p o s s e s s e d b y p e r s o n s . T h e e x t e n t t o w h i c h a p e r s o n i s adjustable, resourceful, capable of anticipating threats, finding solutions and contributing in innovations from which i s t hen compar ed t o t h e ext en t t o whi ch t he comp et enci es are required for the job? COMPETENCY AND PERFORMANCE One of the major objecti ves of the companies to improve its per f or man ce e ver y year and set new st and ar d s an d n or ms. F o r e v e r y m a c h i n e t h e r e i s a h u m a n b e i n g a n d i t i s t h e quality of the man behind the machine or the process which determines the performance of the company .In view of this, t h e c o m p a n y d e p e n d s n o t o n t h e h u m a n a s s e t s b u t t h e human assets having rights match of competencies and their l e vel s f oe p er f or man ce r equ i r ement s. If t he r i gh t mat ch of competencies is available with the employees, then it is their mot i vat i on , th ei r wor k en vi r on men t and i ncent i ves wh i ch help them to give best performance.

COMPETENCY MAPPING AND DEVELOPMENT NEEDS T h i s m o d e l t r i e s t o f i n d o u t m a n y t h i n g s . I t i s a c t u a l l y a model, from which finds out the relationship between c o m p e t e n c i e s r e q u i r e d f o r a j o b a n d c o m p e t e n c i e s b e i n g displayed by the person performing the job. This helps to find o u t t h e mi s s i n g l i n k b e t w e e n t h e t w o . A n e m p l o y e e r a t e s himself on a particular competency. If the difference bet we en i s more, i t i s con si der ed t hat th e empl oyee n eed s training.

WHO IDENTIFIES? The competencies required for the job are identified by the h e a d o f t h a t f u n c t i o n a l d e p a r t me n t o r t h e t e a m a n d t h e function heads of the department tries to identify the skills, attitude, and behaviours required for that job. METHODS OF COMPETENCY MAPPING 360-degree multi-rating:It is a type of performance appraisal for assessing the employees more objectively. T h i s a p p r a i s a l met h od t a kes c are of man y t hi n gs l i ke w h a t k i n d o f b e h a v i o u r a p e r s o n h a s w i t h s u p e r i o r s , subordinates, peers etc. Organizational surveys:In the organi zational survey the questionnaire are filled by the employee, who rates himself Assessment centre:I t m e a s u r e f o u r b a s i c c ompet en ci es ad mi n i st r at i ve, co mmu ni cat i ons, supervisors are judged which help them to develop and expand the needed competencies as identified. E xper t s r at i n g of j ob an al ysi s:Job anal ysi s t ool s hel p companies extract knowledge of core competency required from internal experts and allow the company t o ha ve an y nu mber o f ex per t r at t er s con t r i bu t e r at in g o n s t a n d a r d c o m p e t e n c y s c a l e f o r a n y j o b t i t l e o r position. The accumulated ratings are transformed in to a composite template defining the ideal competency set f o r t h a t p o s i t i o n . E m p l o y e e o r j o b a p p l i c a n t s t h e n compl et e a sel f-r e por t ver si on an d t her e ar e mapp ed a g a i n s t t h e t e m p l a t e . S k i l l s o r c o m p e t e n c y g a p s a r e thus identified and informed to the training decisions. BENFITS OF COMPETENY MAPPING Compet en cy Ma ppin g d et ermi n es t he comp et en ci es of the e m p l o y e e a n d h e n c e w h i c h c a n b e u s e d f o r P e r f o r m a n c e App r ai sal and for pr o vi d i ng adequ at e t r ai nin g. Al so a ski ll ed workforce, at the heart of a competent organization, is required today to compete in a fast, global market place. Only c ompan i es t h at en gage t h e heart s, en cour age t h e sou l s an d e d u c a t e t h e m i n d s w i n d s w i l l s t a n d a c h a n c e i n t h e r a c e towards the future