Competency Models Demystified!

If you are an aspiring HR professional, there are two words you must find a way to insert into any conversation with a business leader -- "Competency" and "Model".  Using these words will make you look smart and educated and send a message to the business leader that she needs you because you know about something she won't admit that she's never really understood.

Do a Google search on the phrase "competency model" and in 0.40 seconds you will gain access to 331,000 hits.  And if you are brave enough to go deeper, you'll look at searches related to "competency model" and find the following:

1. competency model examples;
2. competency model definition;
3. leadership competency model;
4. competency model template;
5. core competency model;
6. cultural competency model;
7. technical competency model; and 
8. competency model for managers

Let's go ahead and look at #2, competency model definition.  In 0.31 seconds Google returns 1,550,000 results.  Hmm, that feels like alot of reading.  Let's cut this short and go to my favorite source, Wikipedia.  Search in Wikipedia on "competency model" and you'll get a result with lots of words and this very telling post script:  "Competency has different meanings, and continues to remain one of the most diffuse terms in the management development sector, and the organizational and occupational literature." So how on earth can a good HR professional help a business leader understand competency models?  

Let's use an example.  Let's say that your business leader is the manager of a Walmart store and wants to hire one of those fabulous Store Greeters (is that their job title???). Hiring is a pain, takes alot of time and energy, and your store manager wants to get it right so he doesn't need to fire his brand new Store Greeter and go through the hiring process all over again.  How can you help him get it right the first time?

This is where competency models come into play.  A competency model is nothing more than this:  "Mr. Store Manager, if you can answer four questions, we'll be better able to predict who will be successful as a Store Greeter."  So, what are these oh-so-important four questions?

1. What does a Store Greeter need to know?
2. What skills does a Store Greeter need to possess?
3. What prior work experiences should a candidate for Store Greeter have had to put to the test what she knows and to practice and improve upon her skills?
4. What behaviors must a Store Greeter present to your Walmart customers?

Knowledge and skills are different.  I know how to throw a football, but do I possess the skills to throw one successfully in an NFL game?  Sadly, not.  Discerning what a Store Greeter needs to know - acceptable greeting conventions, location of merchandise, when does the store close?, emergency evacuation procedures, the difference between welcoming and accosting someone - and what skills a Store greeter needs to possess - listening (multi-lingual?), speaking (multi-lingual?), standing for extended periods of time, maintaining energy - are the first two steps in improving our chances of hiring a successful Store Greeter.

Work experiences give one an opportunity to put knowledge to the test and practice and improve upon skills.  In assessing candidates for Store Greeter, we should look for experiences that demonstrate that one really does know acceptable greeting conventions, where to find things, or what welcoming looks like and what accosting looks like (e.g., Church Greeter, Bus Monitor, Census Taker).  We should also look for experiences that require that one practice being a good listener, or maintain energy over extended time periods (e.g., Cheer Leader, Call Center Agent, Food Pantry Volunteer).

Lastly, if we are to reduce the likelihood that we'll end up firing our new Store Greeter, we need to understand what behaviors are needed for one to be successful as a Store Greeter. Maintaining one's composure under pressure, sustaining one's vivaciousness and personality in the face of limited external stimulation (i.e., boredom), or revealing a genuine gratefulness and appreciation that a consumer has chosen to become a customer of our Walmart versus Costco or Sears, are all essential if one is to be successful as a Store Greeter.

So that's that, competency models demystified.  If I'm going to predict one's success in a job role, I need to be specific about what they need to know, what skills they need to possess, what experiences they've had to put that knowledge to the test and practice those skills, and what behaviors they need to manifest.  

With this Blog Post, Google now has 1,550,001 search results that define competency models?

Paul E. DuCharme.  December 2012