#cut-e group

by Nicole Russom

For someone that works in assessment and selection, competencies (or capabilities as many organisations seem to refer to them now) are part of our everyday language, they are the foundation for all that we do.  But this can easily be seen as psych babble/jargon to anyone that doesn’t work in the area!

So what do competencies refer to?  And how are they used?

Competencies are used as ‘hooks’ on which we can ‘hang’ similar types of behaviour.  They consist of:

A name/label;

A definition; and

Key behaviours.

For example, let’s look at the competency of Teamwork.

Name/Label: Teamwork

Definition: refers to the ability to work effectively through collaboration and co-operation as a member of a team to achieve a common goal.  Actively contributes to building positive relationships.

Key Behaviours:

Positive Behavioural Indicators

Openly encourages the input and sharing of information, knowledge and expertise with other team members and co-workers

Encourages, engages and actively builds trust and respect amongst team members

Appropriately gives, and is open to feedback from individuals/group

Actively removes obstacles to team effectiveness

Asks for assistance from others when required

Offers help to fellow team members when required

Takes into consideration the feelings and emotions of others

Negative Behavioural Indicators

Misses opportunities to work in synergy with others

Shows minimal or no respect for others

Misses opportunities to seek the input from others

Is ineffective in providing constructive feedback

Misses opportunities to remove obstacles to team effectiveness

Does not actively participate in team

Belittles team processes

Is overly controlling of the team

Responds in a critical but not constructive manner

Misses opportunities to consider the feelings of others

Typically, a role would have a number of key competencies that have been identified through careful job analysis as being critical to success in that role.  For example, the key competencies for a customer service role may be communication, customer focus, problem solving, resilience and planning and organising. 

In order to determine whether someone is a good fit for a role, when they go through an interview, assessment centre, or psychometric assessment, we are always looking at the key competencies of that role in each of those selection stages and scoring each candidate against key competencies based on their responses, behaviours and preferences shown in each of the selection stages.

So why do we use competencies?  Maybe this is easier to answer by looking at what would happen if we didn’t use competencies.

If you didn’t use competencies how would you:

1)      Know what to look for in each of the selection stages? and

2)      Know what you are basing your scores on?

I once had a client ask me if they could just give graduates in an assessment centre one score for an entire team activity (rather than 4 scores based on the 4 competencies the activity was designed to assess). As I explained to the client, the problem with this is that you lose touch with what you are actually scoring candidates on.  What does a score out of 4 for the team activity mean?  What does it say the candidate is good at?  Time management?  Teamwork?  Communication?  Or just one or two of those competencies?  Or just that you liked them and got a good feel about them based on nothing other than your gut instincts?

Without competencies, the ratings and therefore decisions we make about candidates are not defensible.  When you do not have a solid foundation, the entire house (in this case, the selection process) can fall down.

Competencies also allow you to look at a candidate’s transferable skills and potential.  Whilst they may not have the experience you’re after, they may have demonstrated the competency in another job or situation – which is especially salient for graduates, many of whom may not yet have worked full time.