Competencies trumps experience every time

Competencies trumps experience every time

Many organizations are starting to realize that “prior job experience” is only one element that determines success in a job role. (Especially after we have seen new hires with “tons of experience” be less than stellar performers).

Since 82% of managers are in the wrong job— mid-size and large employers are looking toward other indicators to use for selection, career paths, training and development.

This has led organizational development experts to develop what is called the “competency model” process.

Competencies are a group of skills that make up a “global” trait that someone can apply to many different jobs.

  • For example, someone with problem-solving competency might potentially excel as a scientist, consultant, product designer or manager.
  • If they also have leadership competencies, then a career path and development to manager might be appropriate.
  • If they are results oriented, then perhaps consultant would be a good match.

To hire or promote the person with the highest success potential in a new role, you have to look at the experience as the evidence of a competency strength– “related experience” alone is not enough.

The “best practices” use competency-based interview questions to identify ideal candidates during the selection process, in the evaluation of current employees for job fit and are especially helpful to craft training and development action plans.

In fact, this information is so powerful we build the People Plan model to include detailed behavior-based descriptions of 30 competencies, and include them in every aspect of our coaching model.

Click here to see <a href="http://people-plan check that.com/15-competencies/”>15 key competencies for most jobs — How will you use these?

Wrong manager is chosen 82% of the time

Wrong manager is chosen 82% of the time

Want passionate engaged employees?

Then you need a passionate engaged manager with great leadership and coaching ability. One who focuses on productivity, accountability, and also cares about and builds trust with his or her team.

According to Gallup research, they say only 10% of people have the innate talent to do this, and that about another 20% can be effective if they are provided coaching and development to hone these elusive skills.

Gallup found 5 key behaviors that differentiated great managers from the poor ones (quoted verbatim):

  1. They motivate every single employee to take action and engage employees with a compelling mission and vision.
  2. They have the assertiveness to drive outcomes and the ability to overcome adversity and resistance.
  3. They create a culture of clear accountability.
  4. They build relationships that create trust, open dialogue, and full transparency you could check here.
  5. They make decisions based on productivity, not politics.

If the Fortune 500 can’t find good managers, how can your firm?
The good news is that people exist in your organization and in your neighborhood with these talents. The trick is to find them, develop them and give them a good team to work with.

If you have one or more managers, here are your action steps to find out if you have the right person in the right role:

  • Evaluate your current team for job fit (those in manager roles and those you see a high potential for that role in the future)- using a combination of personality assessment, performance analysis, and co-worker feedback
  • Coach and train you managers to build relationships (focus on the people) while emphasizing productivity and accountability (focus on the task)
  • Move those that are not succeeding in the role to another position

If you do not develop great managers, you are guaranteed to disengage everyone and are likely lose your top performers. They will leave to find a better manager somewhere else.

Read full Harvard Business Review blog article


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Holding onto your best team players

Holding onto your best team players

As a small business manager, you might think that large employers have it “easier” to keep great employees. After all, the big guys can pay more, provide more job security and career advancement, and off better benefits.

Actually, I often see that despite the resources at large companies, the direct managers are not using those resources wisely and have the same issues with retaining their best and brightest.

Here is a list of what they might do, and you can too, to build your fabulous team.

What can your small organization offer that will help you keep your talented employees?

  1. Challenging work— many employers hire a new employee, train them, and then leave them doing a job that becomes routine and frankly, boring. Check in with employees regularly to find out what new assignments you can give to keep them challenged.
  2. Less hassles— a primary reason employees look for another job is a lack of resources to do the job and unreliable co-workers. Encourage your team members to identify hassles and road blocks and then work to eliminate as many as possible.
  3. Work and results tied to something meaningful—the term “second paycheck” was coined to indicate that meaningful work is also rewarding. I have a client that makes concrete products and their employees take pride in the fact that they are part of American manufacturing and their products are used to keep roads and bridges safer.
  4. Involvement in company decisions— employees want to be part of something bigger and feel good about their employer and its direction. Get input on major strategic goals and keep communicating about the why and where your organization is going.
  5. Everyone gets development opportunities— if an employee feels that she has a “dead end job” you definitely won’t get above and beyond work. We recommend that everyone has an annual development plan to work on 3-4 key training goals, such as improving a competency, technical skill or contributing to a major project.

As you can see from this list, the direct manager plays an important role in understanding each employee’s talents and needs, communicating how everyone contributes to the organization’s goals, and involving each person finding how they can match up their interests and goals with what the employer needs.

It’s hard to get your team on board and on the same page if you are hiding in your office— so get out there and talk more with your team.


Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Engagement Driver #4-  Development Opportunities

Engagement Driver #4- Development Opportunities

Our prior article “What Drives Engagement?” listed the top 10 engagement drivers.

Three areas impact employee perceptions of available development and career opportunities (category 4):

1. Enjoy challenging work assignments that broaden skills

2. Improved my skills and capabilities over the last year

3. Have excellent career advancement opportunities

Many people are comfortable and happy in their current job and do not wish to take on additional responsibilities.

Others crave challenging work and the opportunity to learn and grow. A key component in keeping the second group of employees at your organization is to figure out how to meet these needs.

If you are small business, you usually do not have a “career paths” or a training department. However, you have many informal opportunities for additional development—these include cross-training, job enrichment, project assignments, and team lead opportunities.

It is always best to have a “back up” for each role– and developing someone as a  backup cross-trains another team member and gives a sense of skill development. Job “enrichment” means learning a bit deeper or broader on current tasks, such as increasing knowledge of accounting principles or equipment repair. We can always learn more about the work we do.

Even if your organization does not have “layers of management,” some employees are interesting in a newly emerging role of team leader. Team leaders are the “go-to” people who peers ask for help or to get another opinion for a decision. They often assist managers with routine supervisory tasks such as scheduling, assigning specific work, compiling reports, and side by side skill training. You may have someone now that is informally in this role.

Three steps you can take NOW to improve employee perceptions of development opportunities

  1. Think of one project or ongoing task that would be a stretch assignment for a team member, and delegate to someone with the competencies to accomplish.
  2. Spend 30 minutes one morning each week meeting with a team member to discuss “What skills or knowledge do you want to develop in the next year? How can this be accomplished?” Then create a timeline and action plan to achieve.
  3. Identify and start developing a team leader: If you have a great performer with interpersonal skills and a desire for additional responsibility, start with delegating a routine team task (scheduling, weekly project report, train new employee). If this person continues to grow in this role, create a team leader position with specific responsibilities and coach to achieve.

Two articles for more reading

For a source of stretch assignments, read our People plan article: “Too busy to delegate

Inc Magazine article How to Tell If Your Employees Are Bored


Image courtesy of basketman at FreeDigitalPhotos.net