How capable and skilled a company’s employees are will determine how successful they are. If your firm has set workplace skills for various functions, you can assess the capabilities of your personnel.
In order to increase organisational productivity, job competencies have been around for a while and are very helpful.
Competencies are the qualities or abilities needed to do an activity or profession. What traits constitute competencies, and how do you define them? While some managers contend that personal skills should be taken into account as competencies, the majority of managers view formal education as a trustworthy indicator.
Discover what job competencies are and why they are significant in this post. But first, let’s define what constitutes competency in an organisation.
What Are Competencies?
A competency is a group of particular talents or skills needed to perform a job. It is the capacity to carry out a task well. To be competent at something, a person must be able to perform a variety of tasks at a specified skill level and skill gap.
Employees can clearly understand what is expected of them in terms of performance thanks to job competencies. They get knowledge of the behaviours they should practise at work to be appreciated and rewarded through competencies.
These skills can be broadly divided into two categories:
- Competencies in behaviour
- Technical / Functional Competencies
- Behavioural Competency
You can identify an employee’s behavioural strengths that can support organisational performance using behavioural competencies. They specify not just what can be done, but also what should be done.
When hiring a new employee, managers typically consider traits like interpersonal skills, the capacity for accepting constructive criticism, the capacity for understanding others’ perspectives, decision-making abilities, time management, the capacity for taking ownership of one’s own actions, etc.
Behavioural competency examples:
Managing Competencies is the first competency.
Behavioural description – Establishes clear objectives for team members, develops a work schedule based on corporate goals and offers regular, frank feedback.
2. Competence – Dedication
Widely trusted, taking responsibility, and fulfilling obligations are characteristics of behaviour
3. Values and ethics-related competence
Description of behaviour: Complies with company principles and conduct code.
Functional Competency
Functional competencies, which contribute to overall organisational productivity, are more akin to the technical skills of an employee. It is more about the abilities that workers must have in order to carry out technological tasks for a business.
Functional competency examples:
1. Human Resources
Competencies: Workflow planning, employee retention, recruitment, HR strategy, and performance management
Computer programmer, second job role
Competencies: the creation of desktop and mobile applications using Ruby on Rails
Let’s find out why it’s necessary to have workplace competencies now that you have a better idea of what competencies are.
The Benefits Of Having Workplace Competencies
Many businesses are spending money to match corporate strategies and plans with personnel competencies. Here is a list of advantages of having workplace competencies in case you’re wondering why they’re so crucial.
1. They assist HRs in streamlining the hiring process and effectively convey performance goals.
2. They increase job satisfaction by assisting employees in recognising the behavioural standards of a business.
3. Based on how well team members perform in terms of competency, managers may quickly determine where there is room for improvement.
4. Competencies encourage increased organisational operational effectiveness.
5. Having a list of specific workplace competencies makes it easier to give staff better training.
6. They aid HR departments in enhancing their talent management plans.
What Is Competency Mapping?
Identifying important competencies for an organisation and integrating them into other organisational functionalities like onboarding, training, performance evaluation, etc. is known as competency mapping. It pinpoints a person’s advantages and disadvantages.
Although competency mapping is one of the greatest strategies for performance management, it does take a lot of time, effort, and money. Every organisation should have a suitable competency model or framework based on its organisational needs and the sector they are in.
The following steps are typically included in the competency mapping process:
Employees answer a questionnaire about their jobs. Furthermore, they are asked to answer questions on the abilities needed to perform their work well as well as other behavioural and functional skills that support them in doing so.
A competency-based job description is built using the data mentioned above.
Competencies will now be laid out. Later, the performance of the workforce will be evaluated using these job competencies.
Moreover, employees will receive a report detailing potential development possibilities following the examination.
We hope this post has given you a better understanding of the many types of organisational competencies, the significance of job skills, and competence mapping.
