Linking Competencies and Succession Planning

linking competencies and succession planning

Executive Summary

The importance of competencies and competency models has been seen from the 1960's onward. Competencies address both current performance and issues of growth. When the employees are the interface between the company and the customer, or with a business partner it makes immense sense to identify the skills that can help them perform better. But having done this is not enough. It is imperative that we look at and assess how these competencies not only help to develop individuals but also help to ensure consistent survival and growth of an organization.

Leadership Development and the Leadership Pipeline are not just meant for the C-Suite employees of a company, but is infact for all the employees, including the lowest entry-level employee. So then we begin to look at leadership pipeline in terms of Succession Planning.

Through this study I have looked at top management succession planning and how it has been simplified with the use of competency models.

INTRODUCTION

Literature

For business strategy to support business goals and mission, it is important that we build competency framework for the company. There are environmental imperatives that lead to the development of a competency framework. These include the impact of globalization, corporate governance, communication, impact of technology and other events that affect business worldwide.

Some dictionaries do not differentiate between 'competence' and 'competency' but there is a marked difference between them. Competence means a skill and the standard of performance reached while competency refers to the behavior by which it is achieved. One describes what people can do while the other focuses on how they do it. The interface between the two is that the competency application of skill is likely to make one act in a competent manner and vice-verse. Competences refer to the range of skills which are satisfactorily performed while competencies refer to the behavior adopted in competent performance.

Hogg(1993) defined competency as the characteristics of a man that lead to the demonstration of skills and abilities, which result in effective performance within an occupational area. It also embodies the capacity to transfer skills and abilities from one area to another.

Klemp (1980) defined it as an underlying characteristic of a person which results in effective and/or superior performance on the job.

Spencer and Spencer (1993) have defined competency as an underlying characteristic of an individual that is causally related to criterion referenced effecting and/or superior performance in a job situation.

Mathematically:

Competency= (Knowledge + Skill) x Attitude

Practically (professionally):

Competency= intelligence + education + Experience + Ethics + Interest

There are 5 types of competency characteristics

(a) Motive- the things that a person consistently thinks about or wants and that which causes action.

(b) Traits -physical characteristics and consistent responses to situations and information

(c) Self-concept- a person's attitudes, values or self-image

(d) Knowledge - information a person has in in a specific content area

(e) Skill- the ability to perform a certain physical or mental task.

Competencies can be defined as skills, areas of knowledge, attitudes and abilities that distinguish high performers. The common elements most frequently mentioned are knowledge, skills abilities, aptitudes, personal suitability behavior, and impact of performance at work.

Only some competencies can predict performance. Thus competencies can be of two types

(i) Threshold competencies- these are the essential characteristics that everyone in the job needs to be minimally effective but this does not distinguish superior from average performers.

(ii) Differentiating Competencies- these factors are the distinguishing ones,

Core competencies drive large enterprise wide critical projects. Workplace competencies focus on individuals instead of the organization and they vary by job positions versus enterprise endeavours.

Competent is when a person is qualified to perform to a requisite standard of the processes of a job. 'Competence' on the other hand means the condition or state of being competent.

Levels of Competency are:

i. Practical Competency: an employee's demonstrated ability to perform a set of tasks

ii. Foundational Competency : an employee's demonstrated understanding of what and why he/she is doing

iii. Reflexive Competency: an employee's ability to integrate actions with the understanding of the action so that he/she learns and adapts to the changes as required

iv. Applied competency: an employee's demonstrated ability to perform a set of tasks with understanding

v. Function specific competency: understanding many jobs require certain amount of knowledge of the other functional area

vi. Universal competency: which were judged to be a must among all associates and determined by a combination of the requirements of the particular business operation

vii. Behavioral competency: every job requires certain behavioral traits, which helps the person to do his job and duties smoothly

Myths about competencies

Competencies and their identification cannot guarantee that workers will perform adequately. Failure may be due to a variety of personal or environmental factors. Competency measurement should not be confused with performance measurement. Competencies are all about being qualified to do the work in a particular position. Performance is the result of the actual work. Competence is not process output but is one of the measures of performance.

Competence is not a trait.