Assessing the robustness of a competency framework

Role of competency framework

In a knowledge intensive organization, talent pool constitutes a key and, most often, the differentiating asset. It is no surprise that attracting, developing and retaining talent (commonly called talent management) is one of the key goals of a knowledge intensive organization. Competency framework (CF) lies at the heart of organization’s talent management activity.

Why robust competency framework?

A CF consists of 3 elements (a) competency dictionary (b) proficiency levels for each competency (c) Association of a set of competencies and proficiency levels for each role in the organization. CF is used in various processes like hiring, career pathing, performance management, promotion reviews, reward and recognition. Hence, a robust CF goes a long way developing and aligning talent pool to organizational strategy.

How do we know if a competency framework is robust?

Following 5 criteria can be used to assess robustness of a CF:

1. Completeness: Are all the elements required for a CF in place? For example, a competency dictionary without the articulation of proficiency levels has limited use. Completeness is a hygiene factor.

2. Alignment: A CF is relevant only in a context of an organization. Is the CF catering to today’s business needs?

For example, is the CF helping in assessing and promoting the right set of leaders? Is it helping in hiring the right candidates?

Is the CF catering to tomorrow’s business needs? Will it assist in building leaders and engineers of tomorrow?

3. Usability: A database has limited use unless it provides required views, reports and query mechanisms. Similarly, a CF needs to provide views that make it usable by all stakeholders: employees, middle managers, senior managers, HR.

4. Coverage: What percent of employees does the CF cover? It is quite unlikely that a CF does not cover competencies of a project manager, a senior manager or an architect in a technology organization. However, does the CF cover the person responsible for logistics of training programs? Similarly, does it cover the employee responsible for taxation issues?

5. Maintainability: As every organization undergoes changes, so will a CF. Is a CF designed in such a way that it can be maintained easily? A CF which is out of sync with organization needs may be worse than no CF.