Competence is a set of knowledge, resources and skills that add value to the organization and the employee.
Competency management , together with performance assessment and competency mapping, is fundamental for strategic people management.
This is because it helps to meet some essential needs for the business to grow and contributes to maintaining engagement and the organizational climate .
There are at least two approaches to this topic, which are widely discussed among professionals in the field. That's why we've created a practical guide on the subject. This way, you'll learn more about the concept and how to use the tool to evaluate employees .
Here, we discuss the types and classifications of competencies. We also show you how to use the model in strategic people management . So, check out the content below to stay up to date on everything on the subject!
There are at least two approaches that define the concept of competencies: the American and the French. The first, designed by David McClelland in 1973, mapped capabilities according to positions and functions.
The second, on the other hand, adds the concept of competence to the employee's deliveries, focusing on the actor. Understanding both, their differences and how they work, is of great importance.
Therefore, we will deal with each one separately and in depth below.
A few years ago, organizations, especially multinationals, used competencies based on the American model. It understood competencies through the concept of CHA:
In addition, it compared the skills desired by the organization with those presented by the employee. The intention was to identify gaps in order to design a collective or individual development plan .
At the beginning of the last decade, approximately 52% of private organizations used the model. However, when applied to the current reality of organizations, which are more volatile and fluid, it did not effectively meet the needs generated.
Since then, it has been increasingly replaced by a competency assessment model that abandons the formal job structure, adopting a model that considers the employee's personal characteristics.
To define what competence is according to the French model, we need to divide the concept into two types: organizational and individual competences.
Organizational characteristics can be defined as those that were built during the process of birth and development of the organization. They are what give a company a competitive advantage in the market .
The following categories of competencies can be found in organizations:
The concept of individual competence, as a set of knowledge, skills and attitudes, is not very practical. This is because the fact that an employee has such knowledge, skills and attitudes does not guarantee the delivery of value to the organization.
One of the concepts that best meets this need is the one that defines them as a set of knowledge, skills, resources and abilities that add two values: the economic value, to the organization; and the social value, to the individual.
An example is when an organization has its strategy focused on innovation and has product and process innovation as one of its organizational competencies.
While looking for individual skills in its employees, such as the ability to innovate and solve problems.
After all, it is through its employees that the organization can realize its organizational skills and adapt them to the context .
When used well, they can be improved and modified by employees, leaders and HR professionals for greater effectiveness.
Considering the limitation of the position as an element of competence classification, scales were created with the aim of ensuring a more appropriate way of evaluating employees.
From this, skills can be classified according to complexity and occupational space.
Complexity, in this case, is not about performing a difficult task, but rather how much an assignment demands from the employee.
This is because the tasks require a specific set of skills. And, depending on who is going to perform it, this same activity may be performed with difficulty or not.
Occupational space consists of the set of duties and responsibilities of an employee, considering the dynamic space that he or she can occupy in that organization.
It is important to understand that an employee can add value to the company by expanding their capabilities . This does not necessarily mean that they need to change positions, and the concepts of complexity and occupational space help us understand this better.
We can divide an employee's skills, based on their psychosocial experiences, into: soft and hard skills . When worked together, they contribute to achieving good results . See what they are:
Soft Skills are those qualitative skills, linked to the employee's behavior, their interpersonal relationships and how they deal with work and people .
We can say that these skills are related to the human aspect of the professional, as well as their emotional aspects. Dedicating yourself to them helps companies build a healthier and more productive work environment.
Hard skills
Hard Skills are quantitative competencies linked to the technical and functional aspects of the employee. These are the skills and abilities that a professional can improve through courses, training or qualifications.
Although Hard Skills are very important, looking at employees' behavioral and emotional skills is just as important as worrying about practical knowledge .
The ideal is to achieve a balance between these two types of skills so that you can qualify and enhance your capabilities.
Distribution of Competencies
Within the same organization, employees can experience different career paths. These are currently characterized by the nature of the duties and responsibilities that employees have, and this nature can be classified as:
Target audience: the audience for which the work is intended. Ex: same company, same clients, etc.
Nature: nature of the knowledge and skills involved. Ex: different positions, but originating from the same training.
The nature of the trajectory can be grouped into three categories:
After knowing what competence is and its main aspects, it is interesting to understand its relationship with career trajectories.
Each trajectory is related to a level of complexity of assignments and responsibilities of the same nature.
Therefore, there may be people in the same area of activity, delivering to the same target audience, but working with different degrees of complexity.
The deliverables of employees who are on the same career path are similar. Therefore, it becomes possible to group the skills of individuals across career paths.
As they do not change, the set of skills expected of a person according to their career path remains the same over time.
For the employee, having clarity about their career and understanding what is necessary to grow within the organization , helps them understand their place and future within the company.
Why combine people management and skills?
The people management model adopted by an organization guides the way it organizes and manages human behavior in the context of work. This model should guide all people management processes within the organization.
This is because the employee does not view these processes individually, but rather as a set of transitions that define their experience within the company.
From an operational point of view, it is not easy to see that adopting processes such as recruitment, performance, training and remuneration can cause impacts.
Considering this, the company must maintain coherence between all processes . It is important to act strategically and not just as an actor that reacts to the demands of the job market quickly and inconsistently.
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