What’s a Competency Framework?

[ad_1]

A competency framework is a document that identifies the skills needed to do a job within an organization. The main goal of a skills framework is to clearly identify and communicate the skills an employee needs to thrive in a job. Once a competency framework is defined, employees can be assessed on how well they meet those competency requirements. The framework competency components will differ for each position.

This type of framework is similar to a skill profile, except that it only identifies the skills needed to do a job and does not identify the skills of individual employees within a profile. A competency profile will identify employee skill levels as well as listing required skills. Competency frameworks are used in performance management, which is usually handled by an HR (HR) department. They contain information similar to what is found in a typical job description.

The skills listed in a competency framework are often related to the employee’s past performance to encourage improvement in the workplace for the employee. Skills that require the employee to constantly improve include initiative and learning. When designing a framework for assessing job skills, it is important to balance specific job-related skills with general skills that lead to success in any job.

HR departments typically handle all things human resources in an organization, meaning they are responsible for all things employee related. Workplace communication, hiring and firing fall under the scope of human resources. When corporate management needs to get a message across to employees, they often turn to the Human Resources department to relay the message.

It is important for an HR worker designing a competency framework to define competencies specific enough for an employee to focus on one area for improvement. For example, if a job requires good hygiene and an employee has bad breath, the competency framework should require all employees in that position to maintain good breath. This is more likely to affect the improvement of positive and specific skills than a general requirement for good hygiene which does not define what good hygiene means.

Creating frameworks that encourage both general and specific upskilling can help employees upskill. Focusing the guiding competency framework too closely on the level of performance of job-specific talents and skills can frustrate an employee who has difficulty acquiring skills in a single area, but labeling competencies too broadly can leave an employee confused about how improve the results on its competence framework. A balanced competency framework might include performance evaluation of skills used in the workplace, but it will also evaluate overall performance, including attitude and interpersonal communications skills.

[ad_2]