Developing a Competency Based

Organization

Corey Seemiller, PhDDirector of Leadership Programs

The University of Arizona

Purpose What We Did

Develop measurable competencies for student leadership development grounded in theory and research

Developed list of leadership competencies for students (SLCs) with 4 dimensions

Develop measurements to assess student learning and development around leadership

Created measurements for each competency dimension

Link leadership competencies to those expected in academic programs

Cross-referenced SLCs with learning outcomes in academic programs

Purpose and Rationale

Version 1.0, July 2008-August 2008Document analysis to create list of competencies• CAS Standards • Learning Reconsidered• Relational Leadership Model• Social Change Model of Leadership Development• 5 Practices of Exemplary Leadership• Program assessment data

Versions 1.1, 2.0, and 3.0, July 2009-October 2011 (JLS)• Coded learning outcomes from 475 academic programs within 93

accrediting agencies• Updated competencies and measurements along the way

Version 4.0, February 2013-March 2013 (Jossey-Bass)• Recoded original 475 academic programs within 93 accrediting agencies;

coded new programs and agencies for a total of 522 academic programs within 97 agencies

• Updated competencies and measurements

SLC CreationCoded 17,577

learning outcomes

Aviation Accreditation Board International American Optometric AssociationThe Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business American Osteopathic AssociationAmerican Association of Family and Consumer Sciences American Occupational Therapy AssociationAmerican Academy of Forensic Sciences American Psychological AssociationAmerican Association of Health Education American Podiatric Medical AssociationNational Association for Sport & Physical Education American Psychoanalytic AssociationAmerican Association for Marriage and Family Therapy American Physical Therapy AssociationAmerican Association of Nurse Practitioners Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician

Assistant, Inc. American Bar Association American Speech-Language-Hearing AssociationThe American Board for Accreditation in Psychoanalysis, Inc. American Society of Health-System PharmacistsApplied Science, Computing, Engineering, and Technology American Society of Landscape ArchitectsAmerican Board of Funeral Service Education Committee on Accreditation

Association of Technology, Management, and Applied Engineering

Accrediation Commission for Audiology Education Association of Theological SchoolsAccreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine

American Veterinary Medical Association

Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs American Council for Construction Education Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training EducationAssociation for Childhood Education International Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational

Programs Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications

American Dietetic Association Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education

American Culinary Federation’s Education Foundation Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management

Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education Council on Chiropractic EducationAssociation for Clinical Pastoral Education Commission on Collegiate Interpreter EducationAmerican Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Commission on Collegiate Nursing EducationAmerican Dental Association Council for Exceptional ChildrenAssociation for Educational Communications and Technology Council on Education for Public HealthAmerican Library Association Committee on Accreditation Council for Interior Design Accreditation American Association of School Librarians Council on Naturopathic Medical EducationAssociation for Middle Level Education Commission on Opticianry Accreditation

Accrediting Agencies

Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs

National Association for the Education of Young Children

National Recreation and Park Association Council on Accreditation of Parks, Recreation, Tourism, and Related Professions

National Association for Gifted Children

Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care National Association of Schools of Arts and Design     Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation National Association of Schools of Dance Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation National Association of Schools of Music Council on Rehabilitation Education National Association of School PsychologistsCouncil on Social Work Education National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and AdministrationNational Environmental Health Science & Protection Accreditation Council

National Association of Schools of Theater

Educational Leadership Constituent Council National Council for Accreditation of Coaching EducationGlobal Accreditation Center National Council for Accreditation of Teacher EducationInternational Assembly for Collegiate Business Education National Council for Accreditation of Coaching EducationInternational Fire Service Accreditation Congress Degree Assembly

National Council of Teachers of English

International Reading Association National Council of Teachers of MathematicsInternational Society for Technology in Education National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission, Inc. International Technology and Engineering Educators Association

National Science Teachers Association

Joint Review Committee on Education Programs in Radiologic Technology

Planning Accreditation Board

Joint Review Committee on Educational Programs in Nuclear Medicine Technology

Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System

Liaison Committee on Medical Education Society of American Foresters Midwifery Education Accreditation Council Teacher Education Accreditation Council, Inc. National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences Teachers of English to Speakers of Other LanguagesNorth American Association for Environmental Education

Accrediting Agencies

Category Competency Header

Learning and Reasoning Research Other PerspectivesReflection and ApplicationSystems ThinkingAnalysis

SynthesisEvaluationProblem SolvingDecision MakingIdea Generation

Self Awareness and Development

Self-Understanding Personal Values Personal Contributions

Scope of CompetenceReceiving FeedbackSelf-Development

Interpersonal Interaction Productive RelationshipsAppropriate Interaction Helping Others Others' Contributions Empathy Supervision

Providing Feedback Mentoring Empowerment Motivation Collaboration

Group Dynamics Organizational BehaviorPower Dynamics

Group Development Creating Change

Civic Responsibility Diversity Others' Circumstances Social Justice

Inclusion Social Responsibility Service

Communication Verbal Communication Nonverbal Communication Listening Writing

Facilitation Conflict Negotiation Advocating for a Point of View

Strategic Planning Mission Vision Goals

Plan Organization

Personal Behavior EthicsResiliencyResponding to Change Responding to Ambiguity Functioning Independently Initiative

Follow-Through Responsibility for Personal Behavior Positive Attitude Confidence Excellence

SLCs

Knowledge, Value, Ability, Behavior

SLC Findings-Snapshots

Percentage Finding

30% of all agencies (29/97)

had 50% or more of their outcomes with one or more SLCs

27% of all outcomes (17577)

had one or more SLC

100% of all agencies (97/97)

had at least one SLC

41% of all agencies (40/97)

“leadership” appears

SLC Findings-Career

Career Field # Outcomes

# Outcomes with SLCs

% of Outcomes with SLCs

Public Service 48 28 58.33%Theology 193 90 46.63%Aviation 42 19 45.24%Information and Communication 29 13 44.83%Education 1724 767 44.49%Business 288 127 44.10%Law 5 2 40.00%Counseling and Therapy 963 327 33.96%Architecture and Construction 204 65 31.86%Health and Medical 11276 2933 26.01%Environmental 211 40 18.96%Performance 1391 252 18.12%Art and Design 364 65 17.86%Retail 50 8 16.00%Science 166 17 10.24%Culinary 107 8 7.48%Engineering 516 34 6.59%

Competency Prevalence

Frequency

Has skills to effectively communicate verbally 61.11% 1053

Has skills to evaluate information effectively 56.13% 1464

Has skills to write effectively 54.02% 647

Has skills to analyze information for more thorough understanding

46.55% 572

Motivated to generate new ideas 33.33% 523

Motivated to make decisions appropriate to each situation

32.57% 396

Has skills to collaborate effectively 28.74% 369

Has skills to advocate for a point of view effectively

24.71% 395

Has skills to interact with others appropriately 26.25% 301

Understands others’ circumstances 24.33% 357

Has skills to synthesize multiple pieces of information

23.56% 210

Motivated to engage in self-development 22.61% 188

SLC Findings-Competency

• Competency mapping• Curriculum development• Marketing• Evaluation• Reporting

Using Competencies

CompetenciesCompetencies

    Research Research Research Research Idea Generation

Idea Generation

Idea Generation

Idea Generation

Other Perspectives

Other Perspectives

Other Perspectives

Other Perspectives

    Knowledge

Value Ability Behavior Knowledge Value Ability Behavior Knowledge

Value Ability Behavior

Courses

HED 201

1

Courses

EDL 270

1

Courses

EDL 271

Courses

EDL 272

1

Courses

EDL 280

Courses

EDL 281

1

Courses

EDL 282

1 1 1

Courses

EDL 291

Courses

EDL 293

Courses

EDL 297a: Arts

1

Courses

EDL 297a: Eco

1

Courses

EDL 297a: Global

1 1 1

Competency Mapping• Review all program, event, curricular, and positional

learning outcomes and associate outcomes to competencies.

  Research Research Research Research Idea Generation

Idea Generation

Idea Generation

Idea Generation

Other Perspectives

Other Perspectives

Other Perspectives

Other Perspectives

  Knowledge Value Ability Behavior Knowledge Value Ability Behavior Knowledge Value Ability Behavior

ATLAS 3 0 0 8 0 0 1 18 4 0 0 5

Avenues 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Blue Chip 0 0 2 2 2 1 6 7 0 1 1 0

Courses 1 1 1 8 0 0 2 1 0 3 1 1

Equiss 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

IBM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

LOD 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

NCLA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

NCLC 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 3 0 0 2 2

ODK 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total 4 1 3 21 2 1 11 29 4 4 5 10

Competency Mapping• Determine strengths and gaps related to competencies.

Competency Mapping• Determine competencies to focus on.

• SLC study top 12 most prevalent competencies• College success predictors• Alumni data on essential career competencies• NACE Job Outlook Survey of competencies employers want in new employees• Center for Creative Leadership’s future leader competencies• Institutional, departmental, and program values

Resiliency 100 95 Creating Change 94 95Organizational Behavior 100 95 Synthesis 94 95Other Perspectives 100 95 Positive Attitude 94 95Idea Generation  100 95 Plan 94 95Power Dynamics 100 95 Productive Relationships 93 95Others' Circumstances 99 95 Evaluation 93 95Initiative 99 95 Goals 93 95Systems Thinking 98 95 Organization 92 95Reflection and Application 98 95 Self-Understanding 92 95Motivation 98 95 Confidence 91 95Follow Through 97 95 Decision Making  91 95

Responsibility for Personal Behavior 97 95 Analysis 91 95Advocating for a Point of View 97 95 Functioning Independently 90 95Self-Development 96 95 Problem Solving 89 95Listening 95 95 Responding to Change 89 95Collaboration 95 95 Writing 85 95

Appropriate Interaction 94 95 Supervision N/A  95

Verbal Communication 95 95      

Curriculum Development• Modify existing curriculum/programming based on

competencies we wanted to focus on.• Added listening workshop • Added supervision training for student leader roles

• Create new curriculum/programming to focus on competencies we wanted to focus on.• ATLAS Emotional Intelligence Track (Resiliency, Responding to Ambiguity, and

Confidence)

Engineering (ABET)-Bachelors

Women in Science & Engineering Curriculum

Self-Development Personal Leadership Styles

Collaboration Personal Leadership Styles

Idea Generation Leadership Styles Case Study

Analysis Leadership Styles Case Study

Evaluation Leadership Styles Case Study

Ethics Green Leadership and Sustainable Future

Others’ Circumstances Social Identities and Social Justice

Verbal Communication Effective Communication and Public Speaking

Writing N/A

Curriculum Development• Create tailored curriculum based on academic program.

Marketing• Put all intended competencies on websites, in syllabi, etc. so

students could determine a good fit.

Marketing• Develop a searchable database by academic program to help

students identify critical competencies.

Marketing

leadership.arizona.edu

• Develop a searchable database by competency to help students identify a program/experience that is right for them.

Marketing• Provide resources to campus departments to market

programs.• Advisor handouts on website recommending leadership programs specific to a

student’s major (also provided at Advisor Kick-Off)• Program advertising that target specific departments based on essential

competencies• Brochures targeted to students and families of students that address

competencies (offered at Orientation)• College websites with competency-based research specific to those academic

programs [forthcoming]

Marketing

Evaluation• Provide opportunities for students to self evaluate.

Evaluation• Measure student learning and development.

• Self-reported evaluations after every event, experience, or role

Did not increase

Slightly increase

d

Moderately increased

Greatly increase

dMy understanding of my own values.My understanding of how to develop a mission statement effectively.My understanding of how to develop a vision effectively.Please place an X in the box that most accurately indicates your level of engagement as a result of participating in the Personal Mission and Vision workshop:

I did not

I did to some extent

I did

Use skills to develop a mission statement effectively.Use skills to develop a vision effectively.

Personal Mission and Vision

Facilitator:________________ Residence: Off-campus Campus Employed: Yes – UA Yes - Other No Major: ____________________ Academic Standing: Fr. (0-29 units) So. (30-59 units) Jr. (60-89 units) Sr. (90+ units)

How did you learn about this workshop? Please check all that apply. Required to take Web search University staff/faculty

member Friend Listserv: ______________ Other?____________________

Please place an X in the box that most accurately indicates your level of development as a result of participating in the Personal Mission and Vision workshop:

Competency Prevalence

UA Growth

Has skills to effectively communicate verbally 61.11% (93%) n=631

Has skills to evaluate information effectively 56.13% (93%) n=192

Has skills to write effectively 54.02% (82%) n=373

Has skills to analyze information for more thorough understanding

46.55% (93%) n=374

Motivated to generate new ideas 33.33% NA

Motivated to make decisions appropriate to each situation

32.57% NA

Has skills to collaborate effectively 28.74% (95%) n=313

Has skills to advocate for a point of view effectively

24.71% (91%) n=110

Has skills to interact with others appropriately 26.25% (94%) n=382

Understands others’ circumstances 24.33% (96%) n=318

Has skills to synthesize multiple pieces of information

23.56% (92%) n=285

Motivated to engage in self-development 22.61% (96%) n=141

Evaluation• Analyze learning and development for program effectiveness.

Understands others' circumstances Understands the value of diversity Motivated to act in a socially just manner2.8

2.9

3

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.6

3.7

3.8

Equiss Social Justice Retreat

EDL 270: Social Justice Leadership

Evaluation• Benchmark between similar programs.

Other Perspectives

Reflection and Application

Decision Making

Receiving Feedback

Collaboration

Social Responsibility

Responding to Ambiguity

Excellence

ATLAS 100% 100% 100% 96.6% 100%

Blue Chip

100% 98.1% 100% 95.7% 95.2% 94.5% 100% 89.5%

Courses 100% 98.3% 91.6% 93.5% 94% 94.1% 90% 94.7%

IBM 100% 100%

Equiss 100%

NCLC 100% 99% 100% 100% 100% 95.9%

ODK 100% 96%

PLA 96% 96% 96% 100%

Evaluation• Benchmark across programs.

Evaluation• Provide student feedback.

• Performance evaluations for all leadership roles– Learning: Intended SLCs for the position (knowledge and ability dimension)– Engagement: Intended SLCs for the position (behavior dimension)– Performance: Standard performance measures across positions (behavior

dimension)

Reporting• Students can showcase in paper portfolios and ePortfolios.

Reporting• Students can showcase in their co-curricular transcripts.

Resources

www.studentleadershipcompetencies.org

Leave a business card if y0u would like to be notified when the book and database are available.

Corey Seemiller, PhDcrs@email.arizona.eduleadership.arizona.edu