How Do We Support Competency Models?

Competency models are becoming increasingly important to the sustainment of a work force. Whether faced by challenges of replacing highly qualified team members who choose to retire or building skills to improve quality, competency models provide a framework of the knowledge, skills, abilities and characteristics (attitudes, behaviors) that are vital to a given role.

The competency models developed for specific jobs or organizations can be used to aid the hiring process and to help determine the training that is needed. So, there is a direct link from competency models to the training models used.

I’ve heard it said that in designing training courses the key is to ask, “At the end of this unit of instruction, what do you want the learner to know or be able to do?” However, this seems to focus only on the knowledge, skills and abilities of the learner. What about the characteristics component of the competency model?

Some organizations are not going to take the time to teach attitudes and behaviors. Instead, they are going to seek out individuals that have already developed the attitudes and behaviors identified in their competency model. But there is no perfect candidate and so these characteristics have to be considered as we build training models that support the competency models.

Therefore, I have 3 questions:

1. How can training support the evolution of characteristics like attitudes and behaviors that are important to a given role?
2. How can educational institutions help in the process of building the characteristics that tomorrow’s employees will need in order to be successful?
3. How can social network environments be used to support competency models that include attitudes and behaviors?

Obviously these questions are more than can be answered in a single blog post, but they are important questions for the community to discuss.

Over the remainder of this week, I’ll explore these questions and will look forward to what others may have to say.

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