building robust competencies

BUILDING ROBUST COMPETENCIES

- Paul C. Green

Book Review By PDhotre Preface This book, “Building Robust Competencies”, aims at linking the human resource systems of an organization to its purpose. The book gives insights into the process of aligning the human resources of an organization with the vision and mission of the same. It tries to chart out the differences between the core competencies of an organization and the individual competencies of an employee. This may seem to be a trivial issue, but for many it is very difficult to recognize this difference. The underlying theme of the book is to use the behavioral language to build robust core competencies, core values, priorities and skills that describe, guide and link the actions at work. Describing what was done helps performance measurement, describing what is being done helps training and describing what should be done helps define selection standards and performance goals. As mentioned earlier, the other message that this book tries to convey is about having the employees of the organization align their actions with the organizational identity and goals. The most effective way of achieving the same is to allow the concerned employees to participate in the process of strategic decision-making. This participation generates a sense of belonging among the employees towards the organization and they feel motivated to work towards achieving the goals that the organization may have set for itself. A very effective way of building alignment is to behavioral language to convert the vision and mission statements into clear actions, which need to be performed and conveying these actions to the employees. The employees can be involved with the framing of the vision and the mission statements. It can help if all the employees speak the same language, i.e. they have the same interpretation of the ultimate goals of the organization. Using the vision and mission statements in the selection procedures can do this. This allows an initial filter, which allows only those people who fit into the mould of the organization to join in. Book Review Identity, process and strategy are crucial for survival in today’s world of cutthroat competition. Conceptual leadership is becoming more crucial and the time available for critical thinking is diminishing by the day. The need of the day is of robust solutions to practical problems. Robust solutions are those, which work in the face of adversities. Behavioral competencies can be an asset to any organization. They are robust and are useful but can be hampered by abstract language and personality traits. Therefore it becomes imperative that the building of robust human resource competencies should be preceded by explicit explanation of the same such that everyone is able to easily understand. There may arise many situations where there is a lot of ambiguity. In such situations, simple decisions become difficult and ineffective. To avoid this state, one needs to be very clear about the existing situation and equally lucid about the course of action to be adopted from thereon to resolve the situation. Competencies help develop the required clarity.

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Here one needs to understand what is meant by the term competency. Competency means different things to different people based upon their perception and context of application. In the field of Human Resources, competencies often deal with the characteristics of a person. An individual’s competency is defined as a written description of measurable work habits and personal skills used to achieve a work objective. To make the description clearer, following are a few points to keep in mind: -

− An individual competency is different from the organizational competencies, capabilities, values and priorities

− A written description communicates exactly what the term competency means

− Measurable work habits and personal skills implies that competencies are a fair measure of an

individual’s actions

− Individual competencies contribute to achieving a common work objective Competencies are looked at differently by different people depending upon their context of work. Human Resources professionals look at competencies more on an individual level but business strategist concentrate more on the organizational competencies. Core competencies are stores of technical knowledge and skills which gives the organization an edge over other organizations and makes an impact on its services and products. Individual competencies along with organizational competencies help in avoiding and solving people problems. Capabilities are other things that the organization is capable of doing to achieve its goals. Currently, there is a high degree of discontent regarding individuals not being able to meet their targets. This discontent can be taken care of by improving the selection procedures, performance appraisal systems and coaching schedules according to the individual competencies of the employee. Thus task allocation should be done in accordance with the competencies of the concerned individual. Competencies define the coaching schedules. On the basis of individual competencies, one can decide to what extent the individual should be trained and what should be the contents of the training. Thus competencies, by helping correct job allocation, helps avoid the ambiguity and hence increase productivity. The best way to express competencies is by the use of behavioral language. It allows a clear ad understandable description of the actions needed to be performed in order to achieve the organizational goals. Individual competencies can also help diffuse conflicts and disagreements because they help put forward the situation in a very lucid format and give a different perspective to the entire matter. Behavioral language allows easy communication of standards, expectations, goals and objectives, thus making it the ideal way to build robust competencies. Competency models comprise of groups of competencies. Some models are generic lists of individual characteristics that can be used in HR systems. Other competency models are specially designed for a particular organization. The primary reason for constructing a competency model was to link the processes like interviews, appraisals, training and compensation to vision, mission, values and culture. Some other reasons were planning to grow newer skills within the organization, communicating the behaviors that are desired in the organization and clarifying the leadership focus. The gist of the matter is competencies help managers and other employees to link, plan, communicate and clarify. There are certain problems related to competency models though. Expensive competency model not being applied or off-the-shelf competency models which do not fit the bill of the specific organization in terms of correctly defining the uniqueness of the jobs or the organization. Expense incurred in getting the competency model designed, developed and installed can be prohibitive. Acceptance of the model is


another common problem that the competency models may face. A competency model thus has to be developed very carefully. There are some challenges involved with the development and installation of the model. These challenges can be listed as participation, measurement, negative feedback, job-relatedness and expense. One of the major challenges is participation. There may be two types of competency developments. One, which is faster and the other which is better. The faster model of development may be efficient in terms of the time taken for the development of the competency model, but eventually it may turn out to be more expensive. Executives sitting behind a closed door trying to formulate the competencies required and the competency model is not a feasible idea since the employees who are going to be subjected to that change might not like the model and refuses to use it. Participation is absolutely critical for acceptance and application of the competency model. Participation is not a manipulative ploy, but a mechanism for making your competencies more reflective of the true cause of performance. For the model to persist in the organization there should be broader participation in terms of multiple opinions and the ability to think and argue. Participation becomes a huge factor in the successful implementation of the competency system. Behavioral language is used to link what needs to be done with individual actions. Competencies become tools for direction and change. Assimilation of competencies into the everyday communications helps specific and explicit expression of feelings and opinions. The next challenge is measurement. Measurement is very crucial since the progress of a project or the performance of an employee can be tracked only when it is measured. Also in situations where the employee demands an explanation the only way out is by having hard evidence on our hands. This evidence is provided by measurements. Measurement can be used to fathom the skill level of any employee which is being selected for a particular assignment. Measurement systems though have to be validated before they are pout into action. For this purpose, they are put through a battery of test and the results observed to check whether they are in keeping with the characteristics observed. Negative feedback and the way it is taken is another big challenge that any organization may face. Some employees may not take a negative feedback constructively and cause harm to the organizational goals. Therefore the organization should have the courage to face the conflict that would arise when negative feedback is given. It is extremely important to have accurate performance measures when it influences compensation, promotion and career opportunities. Many managers shy away from giving negative feedback because of the awkwardness or the fear of a legal battle. To resolve these matters, there is models which have a cap on how low the measurements can go or there are a few other models which use a threshold of minimum acceptable performance. These models may avoid the unpleasantaries but at the cost of overlooking and actually accepting negative or undesirable performance into the organization. Thus, negative measurement or feedback though extremely necessary, should be handled with care since it is very difficult to accept. Individual competencies help map the characteristics of a person and therefore decide the suitability of that person for a particular job. Individual competencies can be used to structure specific questions which can be used in constructing the interviews that would help objectively choose the right kind of a person for the job under consideration. This task is becoming tougher and tougher by the day because in today’s dynamic environment the job descriptions are changing very fast. Nonetheless, competency systems should be job-related. The one other challenge that the competency system must face is that of the expense incurred in designing and implementing the system. Development of competency systems which may function as performance appraisal systems and their implementation is an expensive option and should be exercised only after taking all the considerations. These days the use of computers is relaxing the stranglehold of price on such


systems. Softwares are being developed to automate and handle each and every task like structuring the interviews or groupware to encourage the groups to work on a problem and find the solution collectively. To fully garner the benefits of the competency system, they need to be in sync with the current requirements of the organization and its goals. Competencies when in service of customers are powerful business tools. But it is extremely imperative to understand the meaning of the term competency in the given context. The competency scope does just that. It outlines what needs to be done in order to meet the requirements of the customers. In a competency scope, competencies are discussed with special attention on two factors; viz: the LEVEL factor which specifies how an organization can be effective in the marketplace or how an individual can be effective in doing a particular job and the TYPE factor which distinguishes between the use of concepts. The competency scope relates to the KSAO model. The KSAO model is as outlined under: - KSAO stands for Knowledge, Skill, Ability and Other. Knowledge: The specific information acquired typically through formal education to perform a particular job. Skill: The proficiency of using a tool or equipment. Skills are acquired in an educational environment or an informal one. Ability: Ability refers to specifics such as intelligence, spatial orientation, reaction time and stamina. Abilities are often measured by tests that provide estimate the extent to which a person has the specific ability to perform a given task. Others: Additional characteristics needed for doing a job well. Include performance skills, attitude, personality, etc. K and S organize into technical skills, A and O translate into performance skills. Coming back to the core competency model, it is partitioned into four parts: - Slice I: Core Competencies and Capabilities The combination of knowledge and skills with tools is reflected at the organizational level in core competencies and capabilities. A core competency is a unique bundle of technical know-how that is central to the organization’s purpose. A capability is also important to the organization’s effectiveness and is perceived to be valuable by customers. It is a set of business processes strategically understood. Core competencies and capabilities are ideally expressed in a mission statement that specifically communicates what the organization will do for its customers. Slice II: Core values and priorities Core values complement the technical aspects of work by explaining why the work is performed. At one level it encourages shared beliefs of people in the organization and its culture, including norms on how to act. Priorities reflect an organization’s emphasis on the use of individual competencies such as working habits and people skills to make business processes and work systems more efficient or effective. It is different from capabilities that emphasize the deployment of technical know-how, physical or financial resources to improve performance. An important priority lies in an organization’s willingness to use


participation to improve performance and create a competitive advantage. This priority is seen in the commitment to encourage associates to express their opinions on work issues. In addition, managers must be willing to listen to other’s opinions, accept them when appropriate and disagree when necessary. There always this uncertainty while distinguishing between a business process that defines a capability and the people skills that define a priority. When people can easily be asked to join a business process, they are supporting a business capability. On the other hand, when the process requires a person with a specific set of skills, it is an organizational priority that is being dealt with. A statement of core values and priorities describes how people actually do their work. It expresses norms and boundaries of acceptable behavior and business practices. Slice III: Technical knowledge and job skills Individuals use their technical knowledge and skills with tools to carry out their job responsibilities. Technical knowledge and job skills should be in support of the organization’s core competencies and capabilities. Technical skills provide a logical way fro an organization to maintain and extend its core competencies and capabilities. Slice IV: Performance skills and competencies Performance skills and competencies include work habits, communication styles, leadership and teamwork. They are easily transferred across different industries and jobs and they reflect a person’s efficiency or effectiveness in using technical knowledge and skills. Commitment to a task is a performance skill that shows the extent to which a person will work hard to get results. A performance skill can be directly observed and described at a behavioral level. A competency involves an inference about what a person is like. Organizational characteristics: When the slices I and II are combined, the organization’s identity is reflected, including the work context in which the individual is to perform. The more familiar components of organizational identity include vision, mission, values and culture. Core competencies provide the basis for an organization to define itself beyond its specific end products. Core values and priorities are quite different from core competencies. Individual characteristics: Slices III and IV pertain to the skills used by the individuals to perform their specific jobs. They reflect the job content including specific tasks to be performed and the individual characteristics needed to carry them out. Assessment technology offers a perspective that distinguishes between a performance skill and a competency. The behavioral approach to assessment would say that a performance skill can be directly observed and described in terms of the things a person is observed to say or do. It is very important to describe operational skills in very clear and precise words. In many instances the organization successfully draws its competency model but fails to clearly mention the actions to be taken in order to achieve the organizational goals. Consequently, even though the organization competency model is ready and in place, it does not deliver the expected returns. Therefore, it becomes imperative to put down the steps to be taken by an employee to be explicitly mentioned in the competency plan so that there is no haziness or ambiguity in the understanding of the model. The statements of the competency plan should be put down in the form of operational definitions, which explain a concept in the form of steps to be taken to observe it. However, defining a statement in terms of operational definition is not the job a single person. It becomes necessary to involve others in the process of defining the steps to perform a certain task.


Generally, behavioral language is used to define the actions and whenever a higher degree of detail is required operational definitions are used. Behavioral language is very concrete. It describes what one can see or hear being done. A performance skill written in behavioral language is the sequence of actions to be performed to the job well. Behavioral language is robust because the actions required to perform the task can be defined through the written or the spoken word such that any other person wanting to understand the action can do so, very easily and reasonably accurately. Verification in the case helps by showing the extent to which two or more people agree on a behavioral description. A performance skill is more concrete than personality traits or abilities. A competency system based on personality traits is not preferred because it would use terms which may be ambiguous. The tangible nature of performance skills means that it is helps reduce the influence of biases on people. The focus is on making reasonable inferences about people, based on verifiable information. Performance skills and descriptive rating scales are the foundation of the behavioral approach in objective decision-making. The three steps of the behavioral approach are: Step I: Observe what a person says or does. Snap judgments are not allowed. Only observation is what one is supposed to do. Step II: Describe what is observed in relation to the performance skill. The real test of the second step is whether another person can verify what has been described. Step III: Draw an inference from the description. The thumb rule is that this expansion of the description should be reasonable in light of what was observed and subsequently described. The perception of a person depends upon the reactions of one towards that person. But with the behavioral approach, perception is not reality. The three steps of behavioral approach enable the development of a reasonable understanding of the other person by substituting observation, description and inference for perception. A robust performance skill supports the steps of the behavioral approach. It will not contain abstract words and references. One of the major challenges facing organizations today involves alignment i.e. getting all the employees working in the same direction towards the same goal. A clear understanding of the direction in which the organization is headed is extremely essential. One effective approach is to help individuals see how their personal goals overlap the goals of the organization. This is called personal alignment and is achieved through participation and open discussion. Another type of alignment can be developed by using behavioral language to link HR systems to an organisation’s identity including its core competencies and capabilities, values and priorities. This is what is called structural alignment. Structural alignment can be carried out only when there is a clear description of the identity of the organization. The process is made easier when the organisation’s identity is expressed in behavioral language. The identity of an organization is a critical target for creating a structural alignment of the HR systems. This is achieved by expressing an identity statement in behavioral language and then using it in the forms and procedures prevalent in the Human Resources. There are two types of identities viz. behavior-based and virtue-based. A behavior-based identity statement describes what a person needs to do to be in alignment to the organisation’s vision, mission, values and culture. A virtue-based identity statement may have supporting information that converts the virtues into actions to take. Behavioral language can be used with each of the components of an identity statement. An organisation’s vision, mission, values and culture can be described as individual actions to be taken rather


than desirable qualities and attributes. The mission should reflect core competencies and capabilities as well as priorities. The vision could be expected to align with core values and priorities. A behavior-based vision statement is a word picture that describes the future statement for work and the actions that associates will take in it. The ideal mission statement includes movement. The behavior-based vision is more dynamic than static. A behavior-based mission statement explains why the organisation exists in terms of its overall purpose, the nature of its business and the principles that it follows when doing business. A behavior-based mission statement describes purpose and priotity in a way that suggests the direction for most of the people in the organisation to take. A mission statement provides a sense of identity and direction, thus unifying individuals and establishing the basis for future actions. There should be a reciprocal relationship between a mission statement and core competencies, each should influence the other. A behavior-based value-statement describes the shared beliefs and norms that characterize the organization. Often the shared values can be traced to the business philosophy held by the founders and the opinion leaders. An organisation’s culture is a reflection of these shared values. They represent one of the important components of the same. One challenge in generating a value statement involves going beyond feelings about the work situation. The statement must use behavioral language to describe what people will do when they are using the value. When an identity statement is written in behavioral language, there is an opportunity to align it with the organizational level of the competency scope. Many HR systems are practical are tactical. They respond to governmental regulations and specific needs. They become more strategic however when connected with the organisation’s identity through behavioral language. When this is done one can say that the organisation has a strategic HR system that reinforces its identity in day-to-day decisions about people. When the content of an identity statement is reflected in the content of HR forms and processes, it is said that content linkage exists. A cramped vision restricts the scope of an organisation while an open vision can help align more and more people with the organisation’s goals. There are four organizational approaches that influence the type of Human Resource systems that are put into place. The four approaches can be summarized as follows :

1. Perception-driven 2. Experience-driven 3. Attribute-driven 4. Behavior-driven

Perception-driven :The perception-driven organisation is more intuitive and feeling-oriented. The HR system in this organisation places less emphasis on being specific, gathering information and measuring. Its HR efforts will rely on gut-feel interviews, likeability appraisal, motivational coaching and smile training. There is a de-emphasis on structured job-related HR systems. Experience-driven : The experience-driven organisation uses work-experience in an intuitive way. A few features that characterize this approah are :

- conversational interviews - counsellor appraisal - mentor coaching


- hands-on training Attribute-driven : A organisation that emphasizes attributes uses trait words to describe people. All of a person’s characteristics are considered regardless of the extent to which they are used in a current work assignment. A few features that characterize this approach are :

- trait interviews - recognition appraisal - personal growth coaching - instrument training

Behavior-driven : When an organisation adopts the behavior-driven strategy, it emphasizes organization, description and cautious inferences about people. One of the most difficult challenges faced by a new interviewer is to go beyond the gut-feeling and gather behavioral information about a candidate’s job-related skills. A second challenge faced by today’s interviewer is to avoid the temptation to asses only a candidate’s fit to the organisation. An interview that is based on only the candidate’s fit ot the organisation will not measure the skills needed to do the job itself. The behavior-based interviewing strategy can asses the extent to which a person is both a fit for the organisation and able to do a particular job. Taking a look at various approaches to interviewing, following are the few that fit into the models explained above.

1. Gut-feel interviews 2. Conversational interviews 3. Trait interviews 4. Behavior-based interviews

Gut-feel interviews : This person-oriented intuitive approach uses the interviewer’s gut-feel as the standard for assessing the candidate. The interviewer does not use a structured interview with job-related questions. Instead questions are spontaneously asked in light of the interviewer’s reaction to the candidate. In this type of interview subjective criteria are used to interpret the answers and impressions serve as the basis for selection. A major disadvantage with this approach is that the decision is highly influenced by the interviewer’s perceptions and beliefs. Conversational interviews : This approach involves an unstructured interview with a focus on a candidate’s job-experience and job skills. It resembles a conversation between two equals. A disadvantage of this approach is that the conversational interviewer must be a very capable person who knows the job very well. Also failure to use a structured interview weakens the defensibility of the selection process. Trait interviews : A trait interview uses a structured approach that is oriented to the total person. It measures key personality traits. The questions relate more to the personal characteristics of the total person than to specific work-related skills. With a structured approach, a trait interview can be effective in assessing crucial personality traits needed for a specific job. But a good trait interviewer needs more training than a manager typically gets. Behavior-based interviews : A behavior-based interview is structured like the trait interview and job focused like the conversationalist. The structured interview form asks singular open-ended questions about past events in the candidate’s work experience. The interviewer takes descriptive notes during the interview and rates the candidate’s skills for doing the job by comparing examples of past performance to skill definition. The interviewer then bases the selection decision on the overall match of the skills to job requirements.


There are many reasons for using the behavior-based interviewing strategy. First there is evidence that the technique is both reliable and valid. Secondly, the behavioral language provides the basis for linking orgnisational identity to the interviewing system. Benefits of using a systematic approach to interviewing :

- Avoid subjective gut-feel decisions - Helps interviewers avoid asking the same questions of each candidate - Enables the standardization of the perceptions of the interviewers about the candidates - Makes the linkage of interviewing to other HR systems possible - Suggests information to be covered in interview training

There are five steps in behavior-based interviewing :

1. Skills analysis 2. Select and edit skill definitions 3. Create a structured interview 4. Gain behavioral examples 5. Rate skills

1. Skill Analysis : It is a systematic process of identifying the technical skills and the performance

skills important for doing a job well. There are several important elements of a skills analysis. − Identify job experts : Job experts are able to give an accurate description of what needs to

be done to do the job well. This approach is very different from the in-depth study of high performers.

− Assemble job information : A skill analysis co-ordinator collects existing information on the job and organization, documents the qualifications of job experts and directs the job experts on the steps of the work analysis. This enables the job experts to include information systematically on the work context and the job content in the skills analysis.

− Identify important work activities : The most frequently rated activities are combined into skill definitions. These statements are then linked to performance skills and questions for easy selection by interviewers.

− Specify essential job functions : Essential functions are the fundamental job duties of the employment positions that the individual holds.

2. Select and Edit Skill Definitions : There are two ways to develop skill definitions. In the first

approach the job experts pool the activities and tasks that are important in doing the job well and then build the skill definitions and other relevant data pertaining to the job and the organization around these pools. The second approach is much quicker and yields comparable results. Here a questionnaire is used to generate a job profile and then customize the generic skill definitions. These definitions are edited so that they are aligned with the identity statement of the organisation as well as the specific job requirement. A disadvantage to this approach is that the more the performance skill is edited the less does it benefit from the research responsible for developing genric vision.

3. Creating a Structured Interview : A Structured Interview is also called a patterned interview. In this

approach a list of pre-planned questions is present with an interviewer from which he may select his questions. Each answer to the question is scored by comparing it to the scoring guides. Such a technique is called a linear interview. Such an interview has to be structured failing which it loses its effectiveness.



4. Gain Behavioral Examples : Behavioral examples are a candidate’s description of past instances when he used a skill. Behavioral examples provide events from the candidate’s background to compare to job-related skill definitions. The selection decision can be based on the extent to which the person has the skills needed for the specific job. Thus not the entire person but only his job-related skills are assessed.

5. Rate Skills : In this final step, the interview responses are evaluated by a process called

triangulation. The three steps that comprise this process are as follows : − Read the skill definition specifying what to measure − Read all the notes taken in the interview − Compare the notes taken in the interview to the skill definitions by using the rating scale

After the ratings are completed the pattern of the ratings along with other candidate information is used to make the selection decision.

Skill definitions can be used to link performance discussions with selection interviews and organisation’s identity. This linkage can be achieved through a task-based appraisal system that uses behavioral narratives to provide a sample of what a person did during a performance period. The comparison of this information to either skill definitions or task statements provides the basis for a meaningful performance discussion. A rating matrix is then used to describe the extent to which the individual’s actions and measured outcomes met the expectations. A similar approach can be used for coaching. This linkage is achieved by converting phrases in skill definitions and task statements into goal statements. Goal-based coaching enables a manager to use a systematic job-related approach to individual development. It begins with the manager describing and modeling work expectations. Once areas for improvement are jointly selected, the managers help the job holders to convert the phrases in job-related competencies or tasks into goal statements. The job holder uses the statements for self-monitoring. Behavior based performance skills can be used to develop instructional objectives that reflect the skills to be learnt in doing particular jobs in a particular work context. This enables the linkage between instructional objectives and organizational identity including core competencies, capabilities, core values and priorities. This book thus looks into the matter of what competencies are all about and what the organizations should do so as to ensure that their core competencies are put into place as well as that of their employees are built in a manner, which are in alignment with the organization’s identity and helps the organization achieve its goals. - Prabhanjan Dhotre,

building robust competencies

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