Competency mapping refers to an organised order of systematic processes that are adopted by an organisation to identify and record all skills, knowledge, as well as, behaviors that make one fit for the various roles in the organisation. This is a very important factor in aligning the employees with the organisational goals and great for a number of Human Resource Practices such as recruitment, training, performance appraisal, and career planning.
Competency mapping simply means defining the job-specific competencies and measuring the competencies of employees against these competencies. Competencies are defined as a combination of skills, knowledge, and attributes necessary for performing an individual's role effectively in the organisation. An example of a competency for a sales manager is that of communication skills or negotiation abilities or capabilities relating to customer relationship management.
This process will:
Identify skill gaps in employees,
assess the compatibility of roles with the organisation's goals,
develop training to improve competencies, and
recruit candidates with an appropriate fit for the role.
Organisations can define competencies for a specific role and ensure employees can adequately perform their job.
Competency mapping will also be helpful for employees in knowing their strengths and limitations in order to make preparations for betterment.
It facilitates design of focused training initiatives that would teach specific skills.
Candidate profiling through appropriate methodologies will be nearer to hiring the right person with participation in the real work environment with respect to skills and abilities for the right work, and living up to the employee's self-image, generally reducing overall turnover.
Having an understanding of why the organisation would require competency mapping is a prerequisite prior to getting into the project. Is it that improvement of performance is desired or will it be recruitment enhancement or development of the training programme? Defining a purpose will inform the entire exercise and keep the activity focused.
Competency mapping must relate to the broader goals of the organisation. For example, if the company wants to position itself as a leader in customer service, then the competencies identified should help to achieve this. Understand the company's mission, vision, and values so that you can build a relevant and effective competency framework.
Include all the key positions in the organisation that require competency mapping. Start with the positions that are extremely critical, such as leadership positions or those that impact the business directly. Once the roles have been identified, gather detailed job descriptions for each.
Conduct a job analysis to determine what competencies are appropriate for a particular job. It refers to Interviewing the employee performing the role.
Observing their job tasks. Reviewing job descriptions and responsibilities. Collecting feedback from managers and above all team members. This step in the process should clearly show the skills, behaviors, and traits necessary for doing the job well.
All employees must possess this competency, like communication, teamwork, or adaptability.
Functional: Specific to a particular job or role. For example, a software developer must know how to program; whereas a marketing manager must know digital marketing.
A competence framework is a well-structured document that presents all competences required under different functions in the organisation.
It should clearly define that competence.
It should describe actions or behaviours that demonstrate that competence.
The levels of mastery should be defined, such as basic, intermediate, advanced or expert.
On the basis of the evaluation, set up training programs to close the competency gaps. For example: If employees lack some technical skills, provide software training.
If leadership skills are weak, offer leadership development workshops.
It can even be supplemented by mentoring, coaching, and e-learning platforms.
Competencies change as the industry and technologies change. So with the changes, you also need to review and update competency frameworks as appropriate. You are going to gather feedback from employees and managers for this.
Although competency mapping is advantageous in many ways, it can be very difficult to implement. Some of the challenges include-
The process involves detailed analysis and collaboration.
The employees are reluctant to be assigned to an assessment category.
Competency Frameworks may be complex, particularly in a large organization.
Competencies can quickly become out of date when not reviewed regularly.
All of these challenges can be handled through effective communication with the people impacted, engaging the employees throughout the process and using technology to ease tasks.
Competency mapping can be well defined as a collection of tools and techniques that may include competency matrix , which is a visual alignment method to match job roles to relevant competencies, behavioral interviews-a measure of past actions to identify competency, skill assessment software-automated skill evaluation-and workshops and focus groups to work on defining the key competencies.
For a better understanding of a competency mapping, it is best to enroll in a competency and its benefits offered by the British Academy for Training and Development.
Charts Attached Roles to the Competency Required.
Interviews that focus precisely on the past behavior of candidates to evaluate competencies.
Automates the entire assessment process.
Concerns where collaborative efforts for the identification of competencies are held.
The five benefit of competency mapping are:
Employees know what is expected of them.
Recruitment is based on skills and behaviors that fit the job.
Employees perform better when they have the required skills.
Clear career paths and opportunities for development feed motivation for employees.
Ensuring that the employee capabilities organisation supports the goals of the entire organisation.
Competency mapping can serve as a transformative tool for organisations in aligning employee skills to business objectives for better recruitment and employee development. The effort systematically identifies and addresses skill gaps within the organization thus ensuring clarity in roles, improvement in productivity, as well as motivated teams.
The British Academy for Training and Development offers complete courses related to the Competency Mapping aspect for the organised level and individuals alike.