What you should bear in mind when working with competency models in recruitment and in personnel development is explained by Ronald Franke, managing director of LINC. He also provides best practice tips for creating professional competency models.
Competency models are part of every professionally organized human resources department. However, the knowledge required to create and use such models varies considerably. The following information and tips will help you to work successfully with competency models in recruitment and personnel development.
What exactly is a competency model?
Simply put, a competency model is a list of competencies that are particularly relevant to a company and should be promoted. The competencies can be assigned to different hierarchy levels (e.g. first and second management levels) or to specific job profiles.
A professional competency model also contains behavioral anchors that describe when a competency can be considered highly developed in a person and which (observable) behaviors demonstrate this. It is only through this assignment of concretely observable behavioral elements that it becomes possible to objectively grasp and successfully work with the abstract competency concepts.
Why competencies, of all things?
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It is interesting to ask why competencies are used for such models. It would also be conceivable, for example, to have models based on the Big Five personality traits or the motives of employees. Some companies also establish pure codes of conduct, such as leadership guidelines. However, these serve more as a recommendation for action for people acting in certain contexts (such as managers).
In contrast to character traits or motives, competencies are suitable as a direct basis for recruitment and personnel development measures because they can be expanded through learning and experience. In contrast, the Big Five and the motives are relatively stable over time in an adult and only change over long periods of time. Nevertheless, it makes a lot of sense to know the Big Five character traits of the workforce, since competencies, just like individual behavior and thinking patterns, originate here.
How can you find the right competencies for a competency model?
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First of all, a basic tip: don’t use lists of competencies that are too long in your model. In practice, competency models with up to 74 competencies have been used. Such a large number of competencies means that the individual terms become relatively arbitrary and interchangeable.
Here are some more best practice tips for creating professional competency models:
All competencies should be at a similar level of abstraction. For example, it does not make sense to place a very specific competency such as presentation skills next to very broad competencies such as leadership or planning skills.
In your model, differentiate between personal competencies (e.g. reflection skills), social competencies (e.g. conflict skills) and professional competencies (e.g. presentation skills).
To select the appropriate competencies, you can, for example, use job profiles that already exist in the company. Go through these profiles and derive the required competencies from the central tasks. Alternative sources are the primary goals and challenges of your company in the future or the management guidelines already mentioned above.
You can also use existing, comprehensive lists of competencies, which can be found in abundance in the relevant literature. It should be noted that there is no generally valid, scientifically based model in the area of competencies, as there is, for example, in the area of character traits with the Big Five.
What can a competency model be used for?
A professionally designed competency model has the advantage that various recruitment and personnel development measures can be consistently derived from it. For example, the competencies for a job profile in the course of a recruiting measure can be taken from the model in exactly the same way as the requirements for future leaders in the company. All those in the company who are entrusted with selection or development tasks can thus be guided by a consistent model, creating the basis for fair and professional HR measures.
Practical example: Using a competency model in a development program for junior managers
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A medium-sized company wants to identify and develop those high-potential employees who are believed to have what it takes to become managers in the future. This is particularly important for the company because it finds it difficult to bring managers into the company from outside and to keep them there in the long term. With the help of a predefined, uniform competency model, it is possible to decide on an objective basis which competencies for successful leadership should be as pronounced as possible in this company.
The first step of the program is then to identify the appropriate candidates using aptitude diagnostic procedures (personality analysis plus individual assessment center). The next step for the participants accepted into the program is to work with a coach to develop an individual development plan that addresses the skills that need to be further developed for sustainable leadership success. Depending on the areas of competence identified, the participants also take part in further personnel development measures such as training, e-learning or mentoring processes.
