As you go about building or expanding your company, there is so much to consider: What are your expectations for your employees? How can you measure your recruiting and hiring effectiveness? What about conducting performance evaluations? How can you identify skill gaps that need to be filled when the need arises? And, when it comes to succession planning, how can you determine to whom you’ll pass the torch? Not to worry: All of these questions can be answered with the help of a competency framework.
What is a Competency Framework, and Why is it Important?
A competency framework is a way to set out and define the competencies that are important to your company. With it, you give yourself and a company a plan to work with, and goals to work toward.
A Framework for Success
You’ll know exactly what is expected of your new hires and current employees, and they’ll know how they will be evaluated, once you create and implement a competency framework.
When performance isn’t up to snuff, your competency framework will help you identify why, and fill in any gaps to get you back on course. When considering promotions, you’ll also be able to look at employee competencies and behavior profiles, compare them with performance evals, and make the best possible choice for your company’s future.
To put it bluntly, a competency framework is your framework for success.
Get Organized
Drafting a competency framework requires a lot of data collection and organization. With a competency model completed, you then have to create a basic structure for your framework, sifting through all the data to decide what fits and what can or should be left out. It might seem tedious, but this framework contains valuable information that will actually come in quite handy when new positions open up and you start the hiring process.
Use it When Advertising Jobs
Ideally, you’ll be able to single out and pull sections or info from your competency framework as you write job descriptions to help you find the right candidates. How so? Well, according to Indeed, you should “Identify and name the competencies within a specific category to capture all elements of a particular role or position.” The benefits of doing this are obvious. You’ll have an easier time finding qualified candidates for a position if you provide as many details as possible about what your exact competency expectations are for successful candidates.
Tailor Your Hiring Objectives
Let’s say you’re in search of a candidate with strengths in “collaboration”, and who have a “willingness to accept feedback”. Which competencies fit the bill, and how will you describe them? Using your framework as a guide, you can list your desired interpersonal skills with actionable expected competencies like the ability to “Perform quarterly performance reviews for staff, rating employee progress,” or even “Continuously generate leads with sales team for effective marketing campaigns.”
Once you’ve collected all the necessary data for your competency framework, and finally have put it together, it’s time to put it to good use. The best way to do that is talk about it with your people. Make sure everyone knows what your competency framework is, why it was made, and how it will be used going forward. To get everyone on board, emphasize that it is not being used as a tool to judge them, but rather as a guide for everyone to see how they can better contribute to success.
Hiring for The Future of Your Company
Building competency frameworks and using them to get the right people into the right seats is incredibly helpful, but it can take a lot of work. With so much already on your plate, why not pass the baton on to someone else?
By using Reveal’s valid and reliable competency-based assessment tools, you’re better able to get a clearer picture of your candidates’ and employees’ strengths, along with their opportunities for growth.
When new positions open up, do you want to be hiring for the moment, or for the future of your company? Obviously, your objectives should be hiring for the future of your company and setting the best course for success, right?
With Reveal’s data in-hand, you’ll better understand those already working for you, and provide a more rewarding experience for candidates as they transition into your organization.
Are you convinced, yet? A 15-minute call is all that it takes to see all that Reveal’s competency-based assessment tools can do for you. If you want to offer everyone on your team the best route for success, get in touch with Reveal today.