Optimize Your Recruitment Process by Using Competencies

Recently, we wrote about the five steps to optimize employee development with a competency framework. This 5-step process begins with identifying organizational competencies and determining expected proficiencies by employee position and continues. The next two steps include assessing competencies and aligning the current proficiency with organizational needs and career aspirations. Finally, each employee should track progress to enhance accountability and results. This process helps develop employees and optimize organizational performance.

A meaningful competency framework can also improve recruiting practices. By aligning organizational competencies and expected proficiency levels with position descriptions, it allows you to hire people who are a good fit for the organization in a strategic and targeted way. Here are three ways to do this:

1.     Assess and categorize competencies by type.

2.  Map the minimum expected proficiency by competency within each group to position descriptions.

3.  Identify and align behavioral questions with priority competencies during the interview process.

Assessing and Categorizing Competencies

Many organizations have “core” or “foundational” competencies that are distinct from technical competencies. Core competencies are the skills, knowledge, and abilities that all employees should have and work to improve, no matter their technical expertise. Examples include effective communication, problem-solving, and customer service. Technical competencies capture areas of expertise needed to be successful in a particular job series or position. Examples include competencies related to accounting, mechanical engineering, or computer science.

Identifying the expected proficiency for core competencies can often be streamlined by creating categories instead of defining them position by position. For example, CHCI recently updated its competency framework and categorized its foundational competencies into four groups: 

1) Corporate Member
2) Senior Consultant
3) Consultant and
4) Organizational and Project Support. These categories were defined by responsibilities and experience across all current and projected CHCI employees. 

Mapping Expected Proficiency to Position Descriptions

Once the categories are defined, the expected proficiency by core competency can be set. This expected competency clarifies the behaviors and skillets expected of employees in a particular category, at the time of hire or in their current position. Returning to our example, a small group at CHCI went through each foundational competency and identified the expected proficiency by competency in the four categories mentioned above by using a standard proficiency scale ranging from 1: Awareness to 5: Expert. The process included a select group of individuals who aimed for consensus agreement. The following criteria and/or process steps were identified to ensure consistency:

• No category of the employee should have an expected proficiency of “5” or “expert.” This doesn’t mean that an individual cannot have a current proficiency of “expert” but that it should not be expected in order to be successful in the organization. This criterion also encourages the idea of development and growth for all individuals, regardless of title.

• Key assumptions were identified that distinguishes the categories. For example, responsibilities in the Executive Member category focused on organizational outcomes and integrating processes across the organization while the Senior Consultant category focused on integration across the project as well as project delivery and leadership. Other assumptions included general levels of responsibility and proficiency required to be successful across all categories.

To define expected proficiency for technical competencies, a slightly different process was followed in the CHCI example:

1.   Position descriptions (PDs) were written for new hires based on priority needs and organizational capabilities.

2. Each group member independently identified expected proficiency across technical competencies using the PDs and the standard proficiency scale as their guide. It is worthy to note that not all technical competencies were required for each PD.

3.   The results from each individual’s process were consolidated into a matrix. The group met to review and analyze results.

4.   Expected proficiency scores were agreed upon and finalized for both technical and “foundational” competencies for each position description. A rationale for each expected proficiency was documented across all competencies for each PD to double-check the logic.

Aligning Competencies with the Interview Process

The example mapping exercise allowed PDs to become competency-based, aligning potential employees with both organization culture and performance. The alignment then streamlined the interview preparation process for hiring managers, allowing them to prioritize questions based on targeted competencies and expected proficiencies in a particular position.

For CHCI, that meant preparing interview questions for Senior Human Capital candidates in four priority areas. Behavioral questions were developed to understand the depth and breadth of each candidate’s experience.

Creating a recruitment process that incorporates the organization’s competency model will lead to high-performing hires that make a good cultural fit for the organization, the project, and the position. When individuals fit into the culture of the organization, they are likely to be more motivated, interact more easily with other employees, and stay happier in the job. All of this translates into higher-performing employees who will stay longer and potentially become highly qualified candidates for succession plans.

Once you hire a candidate, you can reinforce the organization’s values, culture, and competencies through your onboarding programs, annual competency assessments, and constructive feedback. This helps bring the entire talent life cycle together Click here.

Do you want to learn more about aligning competencies with your hiring process? Learn more by contacting us.

Why Leadership Training Fails

It happens all the time. Senior leaders seek leadership training to strengthen the leadership team. Yet they don’t know exactly what will make their individual leaders better in their roles.
Some will base their leadership training on the flavor of the month, such as emotional intelligence. They have heard in leadership circles how powerful emotional intelligence is for leaders, so think training in that capacity will improve their individual leader’s abilities. And while that might be true, it might also be true that a particular leader is actually not lacking in emotional intelligence, and there are other skills that would maximize the results of their training. This is how leadership training fails.
For effective leadership training, we must know what the leader needs. This need should also be aligned with the organizational vision and mission, which requires foundational work. And in order to do that work, competencies must first be established.

The Foundational Work Needed for Leadership Training to Succeed

Sometimes referred to as ‘KSA’, competencies are the things people need to know (knowledge), do (skills) and have (abilities) to be successful in a specific role. Competencies can be grouped into technical, foundational and leadership areas. They are defined by specific behaviors that describe what that competency would look like if someone were using it effectively. These behaviors are often laid out across a proficiency scale so the employee can clearly assess her current behaviors and understand what behaviors are needed for the next level.
Some examples of competencies are problem-solving, conflict management, technical skills and speaking up. While some competencies will be applied to every employee, others are role dependent. The CEO of a large organization likely won’t need to have specific technical competencies, and a coder on the tech team likely wouldn’t need to be competent in sales communication.
Once competencies are defined, the next thing to do is identify five clearly defined proficiency levels. For example, for problem-solving skills, level one might be, ‘asks questions and looks for information to identify and differentiate the symptoms and causes of every day, defined problems’. Level five might be, ‘anticipates problem areas and associated risk levels with objectivity; uses formal methodologies to forecast trends and define innovative strategies in response to the implications of options; and gains approval from senior leadership to solutions of multi-faceted problems".

After competencies and proficiency levels are clearly defined, the next steps are:

1. Determine the expected proficiencies by job position.
2. Assess the employee’s competencies using a standardized process, on a regular basis. Competing an assessment will help the leader know which competencies to focus on for future leadership training.
3. Facilitate career conversations with employees to match organizational needs, career aspirations, and current employee proficiency to a leadership development program.
4. Track progress using accountability measures in the leadership development training.

Read in depth about each step here.

Using this process will prevent your leadership training from failing. You seek training because you are invested in your employee development. If you’re willing to make that investment, it’s worth doing all the foundational work necessary to get effective training that elevates your leaders.