Competency and Benchmarking

Competencies are powerful strategic driving-forces and cultural development tools. However, it is difficult to unearth and define job competencies because they represent a combination of processes, resources, procedures and technologies that are hidden from view by the products and services they helped to create and serve.

Competency development is a much-abused term and has been defined in a number of ways by different organisations. The Century Management definition is that:

‘competencies are the combination of behaviours, attitudes, values, attributes, learned practices and emotional intelligence applied by effective individuals and teams to deliver superior results’

When the job is Defined and Benchmarked there are 37 factors that contribute to competency development. The key is to focus on the top seven attributes, the top two behaviours and the top two motivators to help to meet and exceed the competencies necessary for superior performance.

Defining and benchmarking the competencies in the critical jobs in your organisation brings a clarity and focus to improving performance and productivity and reducing stress and under-performance.

The competencies necessary for superior performance are clear to all concerned.

Strategies can be focused on attracting and retaining the right people in the right jobs and building the human capital that is probably the ultimate competitive advantage in today’s changing economy.

Employment roles are influenced by many external driving forces such as:

• competition

• globalisation

• technology

• demographics

Understanding the many roles you can play in a position, the changing nature of employment itself and how these forces drive change is competency leadership in action.