In a earlier post I had spoken about competency utilization. We looked at what drives competency utilization. Now here is a framework to understand the concept in more detail. You need to focus on substantive issues that are specific to the organization context and cannot find a generic solution that will work for you. That is the reason why so many companies that went in search of a solution to their problems by adopting a competency based HR framework did not succeed. Here is a simple way to view it.
When we hire people with required competencies we are making an assumption that they will deliver superior performance. This is however independent of the context. There are three aspects we need to consider. First we can assume that since you hired a person with the competencies there is one aspect "CAN DO" that is taken care of. He / She will be able to deliver the capabilities that have been considered in the hiring decision.
The more important aspect is that if the person "CAN DO" then is it necessary for him or her to actually deliver. The response to that is decided by two other aspects of competency which are "CHOOSE TO DO" and "ALLOWED TO DO".
CHOOSE TO DO is all about motivation. A person who can do may chose not to do. Simple enought. If that is the case then the quest for superior performance remains so.
A person CAN DO, may CHOOSE TO DO but is not ALLOWED TO DO. Barriers in performance, Assigning to the wrong role, not recognizing and providing the required resources are all reasons for the failure to perform inspite of the capacity and motivation.
So whether a person actually utilizes what he or she was hired for is something which is context specific and needs to be viewed in such a manner.
In hindsight it is all simple but very important to understand and address the same in competency system design. When I first designed and implemented a competency based HR system including a framework and enterprise wide portal at TCS it was exactly based on the premises above. This emerged from my research work on competencies.
There were several dimensions to this issue. To obtain a more detailed view of the framework and understand various dimensions you can register your email ID to receive updates. All those who register by 30 Jun 2014 will receive a free copy of the detailed write up. Just fill in your email ID in the Get Blog on Email Text Box on the right pane of this page (Below Popular Posts) and Click on Submit.
When we hire people with required competencies we are making an assumption that they will deliver superior performance. This is however independent of the context. There are three aspects we need to consider. First we can assume that since you hired a person with the competencies there is one aspect "CAN DO" that is taken care of. He / She will be able to deliver the capabilities that have been considered in the hiring decision.
CHOOSE TO DO is all about motivation. A person who can do may chose not to do. Simple enought. If that is the case then the quest for superior performance remains so.
A person CAN DO, may CHOOSE TO DO but is not ALLOWED TO DO. Barriers in performance, Assigning to the wrong role, not recognizing and providing the required resources are all reasons for the failure to perform inspite of the capacity and motivation.
So whether a person actually utilizes what he or she was hired for is something which is context specific and needs to be viewed in such a manner.
In hindsight it is all simple but very important to understand and address the same in competency system design. When I first designed and implemented a competency based HR system including a framework and enterprise wide portal at TCS it was exactly based on the premises above. This emerged from my research work on competencies.
There were several dimensions to this issue. To obtain a more detailed view of the framework and understand various dimensions you can register your email ID to receive updates. All those who register by 30 Jun 2014 will receive a free copy of the detailed write up. Just fill in your email ID in the Get Blog on Email Text Box on the right pane of this page (Below Popular Posts) and Click on Submit.
