Techniques – observing and reflecting
A competency or capability framework can be a useful tool to evaluate the skills and talents of employees. Managers can use these frameworks to identify the strengths of their team in different situations, recruit and select staff, and provide more personalised training and development. We can use a competency or capability framework to identify what strengths are required in a certain team role, and this ties into the strengths-based approach.
Let’s look at an example of a competency framework from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)[2]. This is broken down into 15 core employee competencies that are measured and constantly evaluated during an employee’s life cycle with the OECD. Having this allows them to fairly and subjectively measure an employee’s performance.
The OECD’s framework describes each competency in the diagram, for example:
Analytical thinking is the ability to identify patterns between situations that are not obviously related and to identify key or underlying issues in complex situations.Drafting skills are based on the ability to respectfully communicate ideas and information (often very technical) in writing to ensure that information and messages are understood and have the desired impact.Managing resources is about understanding human, financial, and operational resource issues to make decisions aimed at building efficient project workflows and planning and overall organisational performance.
Source: OECD – Employee competency framework [2]
Deloitte also offers us a perspective on competency frameworks and shapes them as ‘capability frameworks’:
The Deloitte leadership eight capability model
| Strong leaders | Corresponding capability |
|---|---|
| Inspire others to take action | Inspirational leadership |
| Get teams to achieve results | Execution |
| Persuade and influence in all directions | Influence |
| Collaborate with others | Collaboration |
| Set vision, direction, and a compelling course of action | Direction |
| Make business decisions that drive positive bottom-line performance | Business judgement |
| Know their markets and innovate to stay ahead | Competitive edge |
| Develop people for competitive advantage | Building talent |
Source: Deloitte – Competency model [3]
References
2. OECD. Competency framework [Internet]. Paris: OECD; 2014 [cited 3 January 2023]. 22 p. Available from: https://search.oecd.org/callsfortenders/competency_framework_en.pdf
3. Deloitte. Leadership competency modeling [webpage on the internet]. New York: Deloitte; unknown date [cited 3 January 2023]. Available from: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/human-capital/articles/developing-leadership-competency-model.html
