How Competency Models Give Practice Employees the Tools to Succeed

It can be difficult for practice leaders and HR professionals to combine talent acquisition, performance management, and employee development planning into one cohesive system. However, the achievement of such efforts is necessary to provide employees with a consistent model for success.

A critical step to merging HR processes is identifying a specific set of employee competencies that complement your practice culture and using that information to build a competency model for your organization.

What is a competency?

Competencies are employee qualities that are necessary to carry out a task successfully and efficiently. Some examples of competencies include:

• Relevant experience
• Job-related education and training
• Technical skills and functional expertise
• Quality and quantity of work
• Teamwork and collaborative approach
• Communication
• Decision-making skills
• Leadership qualities

Essentially, all of the qualities that we find in the most successful employees.

While all may be important, not all competencies carry the same weight for every practice or role, so it’s important to determine which matter the most to your individual practice and to the roles you are seeking to fill and retain.

How to use this model for talent acquisition

You can utilize competencies to recruit employees through behavioral-based interviewing practices. Specific questions may help to identify which candidates have the necessary qualities to be successful within your practice environment. More information about how to identify these qualities in potential employees can be found in our previous blog post, “3 Keys to Hiring Your Next Staff Member.”

Competency-based employee development

An effective competency model can also help generate more effective employee development plans to set future goals and objectives that will benefit your organization. Once an employee fully understands the competencies that are important to their job and to the practice as a whole, they are more inclined to perform at a higher level and will have the opportunity to refine the necessary skills to excel.

Curi members are encouraged learn more about this and other HR topics by listening to the December 2019 HR Experts webinar titled, Competency Model Adoption.