I lead by acknowledging that there are some who may choose to believe that competency modeling, integration, and related work can be a little on the dry side. Fair enough; I can respect the point of view. However, that perspective may be influenced by how competencies have traditionally been defined, developed, and deployed. In my experience, some organizations have historically considered these efforts more as "necessary evil" compliance activities and a distant cousin to innovation.
Compliance is of course an important consideration from several perspectives. For example, competency definition is a foundation supporting effective, consistent, and legally defensible hiring and other employment practices. Additionally, highly technical and regulated industries in particular need to carefully define, document, and demonstrate very specific and technical competencies as a matter of their very survival.
As both a CPA (inactive) and a CMA, I have deep respect for compliance and the reality of risk. But there are indeed many more things we can do with competencies - particularly if we start with and accept to at least some degree a basic premise:
The things people define, measure, and discuss tend to be the things that actually get done.
At the individual level, these "things" tend to translate to the demonstration of competencies, the achievement of goals, or some hybrid thereof. Innovation is not an inert state. It is about "getting things done."
My objectives in this article series are two-fold:
1) To explore some of the innovative approaches we can employ in identifying and managing competencies in an ever increasingly complex and dynamic business environment.
2) To explore how we can strategically procure, develop, and incent innovation itself at a time when it is clear that the ability to innovate is critical to maintaining a competitive edge for organizations and individuals alike.
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