Kravetz- Building A Job Competency Database: What the Leaders Do Page 5

Under these labels would be placed specific behaviors that demonstrate each level of the competency. While measurement can be done on as many points as desired, the behaviors are typically developed for just the low, mid-point and high end of the scale.

Manager's ratings of their employees and employee self-ratings correlate very highly since the behaviors are so specific. Debates over what is "good judgment" go away. Further, development is easy since the exact behaviors desired are already described in the competency scale. It is a matter of getting the employee to training events that build the right behaviors.

Career Development

For career planning to be effective, employees need job information. While merely stating the desired education and experience for a job is helpful, it does not tell the employee what they will do on the job--what they need to be competent at. Since competencies are very behavioral, self-assessment is easy. The employee merely asks, "Do I have these competencies? Would I want to do them on a regular basis?" By answering such questions, employees can steer their development in the right direction.

The leading companies link their training activity to their job competencies. If employees know which competencies are in need of development, they can see internal and external resources available to build needed competencies. Competencies form the backbone of any career development system for employees cannot develop their careers if there is limited or vague job data.

Some organizations also track employee competencies. When job vacancies or project team assignments become available, the organization goes to its database and generates a list of all employees with the desired competencies. They can then contact the employees to determine their interest in the job or project.

Training

When designing training courses, designers first ask, "What do employees need to be competent at to do this job?" Having the competency database tells the designer precisely what desired behaviors are needed. This makes it very easy to determine what the course content should be.

What the leading organizations have done is craft entirely new compensation systems.

If the training director knows the competency levels of the workforce, competencies can be rank-ordered from those in greatest need of development to those in least need of development. This determines what the training priorities are.

Some training directors merely buy off-the-shelf courses on the latest fad. They never ask, "What competencies does this course build? Does my workforce need these competencies?" With competency data, it can be ensured that only needed competencies are being built. This saves resources. While it sounds simple that an organization should build the competencies that it needs and not build the competencies that it doesn't need, the majority of organizations in our database are not doing this.

The competency performance measures described earlier can also be used to conduct "Level 3" measures of training effectiveness. Nothing new needs to be created. You merely use the same scale to measure before and after competence for individuals who attend the training class. What could be easier and more effective?

When a small number of employees need a particular competency, it is not practical to conduct internal training. What is done is to show, for each competency, outside seminars, books, articles and on-the-job activities that the employee can pursue. In this way employees can still obtain any needed development. This development information is typically stored on software linked to each job competency.

Pay for Competencies

Merit pay increase systems have been around for nearly fifty years and are extremely common. These systems have accumulated error in them. As a consequence, it is unlikely that the highest paid individual in a given job is the most competent. These inequities can take many years to straighten out if they are ever straightened out. Many merit increase systems are nothing more than cost-of-living systems since in times of low inflation a highly competent employee's increase is perhaps one percent more than someone less competent.

What the leading organizations have done is craft entirely new compensation systems based on competencies. Though there are many variations, the general idea is that the more competent the individual, the higher the pay. With the previously mentioned performance measurement and development systems in place, the essential ingredients for such a compensation system are available.

As an example, say that the salary range for a job is from $50,000 to $70,000 per year. Assume the job has ten competencies which are equally important. An employee having all ten competencies to the highest degree would be paid the maximum. An employee with none of the competencies would be paid the minimum. With varying degrees of competence, the salary would be somewhere between minimum and maximum.