Competency development is crucial for HR departments to create a capable workforce. The process includes needs assessment, identifying competencies, validating them, conducting training, and assessing competencies. Supervisors play a vital role in transferring training learning to work, and employee performance should be evaluated.
Competency development has become a key focus for human resource departments. With shrinking workforces and the need to be globally competitive, companies need a lean and capable workforce that can perform at the optimal skill level, knowledge level and competency. Effective training is focused on developing competencies through training activities developed through instructional design principles. The best plan for competency development is to conduct a needs assessment, identify competencies, validate competencies, conduct training, train competencies, and assess competencies. The process is ongoing and continues as new employees are hired, new competencies are developed, and skills and knowledge demands change.
The first step in competency development is to conduct a needs assessment. The needs assessment will determine the gap between performance standards and actual performance. A needs assessment helps determine which employees lack which skills. Assess all employees using the same methods and assess only those competencies needed to achieve the organization’s goals.
The next step in competency development is to identify which competencies need further development. The needs assessment will point out performance gaps. Information about these gaps will determine which competencies should be written. Write specific, measurable, attainable, and reasonable skills. Start each competency with an action verb like “Greet guests within three minutes of their arrival.”
Check whether the competencies being developed are valid. Once written, put them together in a survey and ask those performing the task, their supervisors, and co-workers to rank the competencies based on how often they are performed, how difficult they are, and how often they need to be performed. This will help determine if the competency is valid and how urgent training is.
Training improves performance by helping employees learn professional skills. Focus on developing individual skills using training that can be easily customized and broken down into specific segments. Ideal vehicles for this include computer-based training, distance learning, self-paced study and mentoring. When possible, create individual training plans that take into account the learning style of the person being trained and the type of competency being developed. Reading and self-study are excellent methods for developing knowledge-based competencies, while role-playing, simulation, and on-the-job training work best for developing skill-based competencies.
After an employee participates in competency development activities, he or she may still need additional training to transfer training learning to work. This is where supervisors play the biggest role. They must provide active, supportive training that recognizes when an employee has achieved standards in a specific competency and when additional guidance may be needed.
Finally, employee performance and competence need to be evaluated. Determine whether the employee meets competency standards. If so, determine whether the competency adequately meets the needs of the business. Measure success of competency development through concrete measures such as customer feedback scores, sales figures, and achievement of financial targets.
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