Competency mapping: A complete guide
To sustain in this highly competitive and continuously evolving business world, it is crucial to understand the capabilities that employees bring at various levels in any organisation. These competencies help to evaluate process management and recognise when to procure, retain, and develop competent team members.
Companies rely on talented employees to inject efficiency into day-to-day functions, further organisational goals, fill leadership roles, and foster a positive work culture. Yet, this talent is getting harder and harder to find. The world is witnessing an acute shortage of people with the varied skills that organisations are desperate to land. The purpose of implementing competency mapping is for ensuring competitiveness, efficiency and effectiveness inside the organisation.
In order to create a learning and development plan for an organisation, it is necessary to first understand what types of competencies are needed for various roles within an organisation. This process is called competency mapping, and it helps identify both the skills required for a role and the gaps in an individual’s current skill set. In this article, we will discuss the different types of competency mapping so that you can choose the right one for your needs.
What is Competency Mapping?
Competency mapping is the process of identifying the specific skills and knowledge required to perform a job. It can be used to assess the skills of current employees or to identify the training and development needs of new employees.
It helps organisations to create standards for employee training and development specifically tailored to their needs. Competency mapping can be used to create a job description, to identify training and development needs, or to assess an individual’s suitability for a particular role. It can also be used as part of a performance management system, to identify areas where an individual needs to improve their performance.
It is not easy to identify all the competencies required to fulfil the job requirements. However, many methods and approaches have been developed and successfully tried out. To inculcate the correct method in your organisation contact an expert to ease you with further steps. These methods have helped managers to a large extent, in reinforcing and/or developing these competencies both for the growth of the individual and the growth of the organisation. In the following section, some major approaches to competency mapping have been presented.
Different Types of Competency Mapping
Competency mapping has gained commonness, momentum and popularity in today’s ever-evolving landscape. The old maxim, “ Slow and steady wins the race” has lost its validity in view of the fast-changing business environment.
In order to cope with the changing world economy and keeping the view that the world is becoming a global village, organisations have to become more aware of the need for having competent employees and to develop this in their workplace it is immensely important to understand the different methods that HR professionals can use in this process. Let’s understand this better.
1. Functional mapping
This type of CM is used to identify the skills and knowledge required to perform a specific job or role within an organisation. It breaks down the job into its key functions and then identifies the competencies needed to carry out each function effectively.
2. Behavioural mapping
This mainly focuses on identifying the behaviours that are associated with high performance in a particular job or role. It can be used to identify both positive and negative behaviours, and to develop plans for addressing any negative behaviours that are identified.
3. Results-based mapping
It is used to identify the skills and knowledge required to achieve specific results or objectives within an organisation. It is often used in conjunction with other types of mapping, such as functional or behavioural mapping, to ensure that all relevant competencies are identified.
4. Skills-based mapping
This type of mapping focuses on identifying the specific skills that are needed to perform a particular job or role effectively.It helps in identifying the key skill sets and helps in developing plans accordingly.
Don’t get confused! Let us help you build a customised method for your organisation that can help to thrive in the business world. We follow strategic steps to identify your need and then execute the plan that improves employee performance today and enhances the potential of employees for tomorrow!
How to Choose the Right Competency Mapping for Your organisation
To unlock the infinite benefits by inculcating CM, It becomes a challenge to handpick the correct method. The world has evolved where one shoe doesn’t fit all! Now we need a more customised approach to develop workplaces as every business working style and culture is different. Let’s discuss some of the factors to keep in mind while inculcating this in your organisation:
By taking the time to choose the right type of competency mapping for your needs, you can ensure that it will be a valuable asset to your organisation to thrive in this VUCA world.
As per Gallup’s research, only six out of ten employees are aware of their job expectations and only 41% agree that their job description matches the work assigned to them. The statistics show the urgent need for having a strong competency mapping process in organisations.
The Benefits of Competency Mapping
There are many benefits to CM, both for individuals and organisations.
Individuals can use it to identify their own strengths and weaknesses, and set goals for personal development. organisations can use them to assess the skills of their workforce, identify training and development needs, and make more informed hiring and promotion decisions.
Competency mapping can also help organisations to align their human resources strategies with their business goals. By identifying the skills that are most important to achieving organisational objectives, competency mapping can ensure that HR strategies are focused on the areas that will have the greatest impact. When used effectively, CM can be a powerful tool for improving individual and organisational performance.
Implementing a Competency Mapping Program
Organisations looking to implement a competency mapping program may find themselves wondering where to start. Successful CM and execution are beneficial to both the employer and employees. It helps in creating a standard for employee recruitment, training and development, re-skilling, and effective positioning of resources.
A well-defined competency model helps in skilling the employees in performing the job functions efficiently and setting benchmark standards for a particular job function. To achieve these benefits we need to understand different methods to identify the competency mapping which can be added to your organisations. Here is a brief overview of some of the most popular types of these programs with their advantages and disadvantages to make your selection process easy.
1. 360-degree feedback
In this type of program, employees receive feedback from supervisors, peers, and subordinates. This provides a well-rounded view of an employee’s strengths and weaknesses. However, 360-degree feedback can be time-consuming and expensive to administer.
2. Developmental Plans
These plans focus on identifying an employee’s development needs and setting goals for meeting those needs. Developmental plans are often less expensive and time-consuming than 360-degree feedback programs, but they may not provide as comprehensive a picture of an employee’s competencies.
3. Job shadowing/job rotation
In this type of program, employees spend time observing and working with people in other jobs within the organisation. This can give employees a better understanding of the organisation as a whole and help them develop new skills. However, job shadowing/job rotation can be disruptive to workflows and may not be feasible for all employees.
3. Self-assessments
In this type of program, employees assess their own competencies and development needs. This can be a quick and inexpensive way to gather data, but it may not be as accurate as other methods.
Once you’ve decided on a Competency Mapping program, the job doesn’t end here now, you’ll need to develop a plan for implementing it. The following tips can help you get started:
If you’re looking for ways to improve your organisation’s performance, you may want to consider using competency mapping. This tool can help you identify the specific skills and knowledge that your employees need in order to be successful in their roles. It can also help you assess employee development needs and create training and development programs that target those needs.
There are different ways to approach Competency Mapping, but one common method is to use case studies. By studying real-world examples of organisations that have used it successfully, you can learn about best practices and get ideas for how to implement this tool in your own organisation. If you’re interested in learning more about competency mapping through case studies, check out now on LinkedIn
