IMPACT:  Competencies  SM 

We want employees to proactively access ("pull") and focus upon competencies vs. devolution to once-a-year mandatory reference as a checklist for the sole purpose of evaluation.  This can be strategic for several reasons:

• Day to day work and performance should be aligned with competencies as defined for a particular job - i.e. a "roadmap" for success.  The people you want to retain want to know what they are supposed to be doing.
  

• Competencies can "paint the picture" for career progression - resulting in accelerated development, peak performance, and strategic retention.
  

• Competencies are key to self-directed learning strategies.
  

• The more people proactively embrace the competencies specific to their roles, the more:
  
  • Ownership they will feel and assume for their development goals.
    
  • Connectivity they will sense to their organization and its objectives - I think of it as "getting in on a piece of the action."
    
  • Meaningful pride they will likely experience in exceeding or meeting expectations.
    

• The common language well defined competencies provides can bridge gaps among departments, throughout teams, and between levels of management.
  

We want to effectively and efficiently "push" competencies to where "the rubber meets the road" - individual jobs.  This too is strategic for several reasons:

• Achieving the optimal blend of focus upon core, technical, and perhaps specialized technical competencies at the individual/job level optimizes organizational performance.
  

• Managing the number of competencies specific to any particular individual/job is also important.  Twenty (some would say even fewer) is probably starting to become counter-productive.
  

• Competencies form the foundation for individual position descriptions and expectations.
  

• Competencies provide one of the most powerful vehicles for achieving organizational alignment from several perspectives including:
  
  • Organization / business unit strategy and objectives
    
  • Strategic initiatives
    
  • Aligned goal setting

• Competencies in tandem with aligned goal setting form the basis for performance evaluation and, accordingly, recognition and reward.
  

• Life cycle: "recruitment to retirement" competency process integration supports our objectives to recruit, develop, incent, reward, promote, and align the competencies critical to the business..  As you know, I am passionate about my business development competencies.  Can you tell me more about the program and how I might be able to leverage it in even further developing my capabilities in this area?"