Why do you Need Competency Mapping?

Competency mapping is a process of identifying, defining and measuring the specific competencies that are essential for employees to perform their jobs effectively. Competencies refer to the knowledge, skills, abilities, behaviors and attitudes required for successful job performance. Competency mapping is a useful tool for organizations to identify and develop the skills and abilities of their employees and improve their overall performance. So do you know the importance of competency mapping and the steps involved in the process? 

Importance of Competency Mapping:  

Better Recruitment and Selection: Competency mapping helps organizations to identify the specific competencies required for each job role and hire candidates with the right skills and abilities. This ensures that the organization hires the right people for the job, reducing the chances of employee turnover and improving the overall productivity of the organization.  

Employee Development: Competency mapping helps employees to identify their strengths and weaknesses and develop their skills accordingly. This enables employees to acquire the competencies required for their job role and improve their overall job performance.  

Performance Management: Competency mapping helps organizations to set performance standards and evaluate employee performance against these standards. This enables organizations to identify areas where employees need to improve and provide them with the necessary training and development opportunities.  

Succession Planning: Competency mapping helps organizations to identify employees who have the potential to take on leadership roles in the future. This enables organizations to develop a succession plan and ensure a smooth transition of leadership roles when the need arises.  

Several dynamic organizations use competency frameworks to facilitate the recruitment and selection process of employees. Competency Mapping is also used to set performance expectations and evaluate employee contributions objectively. It can lead to the enhancement of employees’ performance and increase the level of work satisfaction.With Competency Mapping one can easily map an employee’s professional development and further career planning by assessing the ‘competency gaps’ in individuals and teams. And then easily provide effective inputs for creating modules for increased development and training resources.  

Steps involved in Competency Mapping:

Identify the Job Roles: The first step in the competency mapping process is to identify the job roles within the organization. This involves analyzing the organization’s structure and identifying the key responsibilities and duties of each job role.  

Define Competencies: The next step is to define the competencies required for each job role. This involves identifying the knowledge, skills, abilities, behaviors and attitudes that are necessary for successful job performance.  

Assess Competencies: Once the competencies have been defined, the next step is to assess the current level of competency of employees. This can be done through various methods such as self-assessment, manager assessment, peer assessment, and 360-degree feedback.  

Identify Gaps: After assessing the current level of competency, the next step is to identify the gaps between the required competencies and the current level of competency. This helps in identifying the areas where employees need to improve and provides a basis for designing training and development programs.  

Develop Training and Development Programs: Based on the identified gaps, training and development programs can be designed to help employees acquire the required competencies. These programs can be in the form of classroom training, on-the-job training, coaching, mentoring, and e-learning.  

Implement and Monitor: The final step is to implement the training and development programs and monitor their effectiveness. This involves evaluating the impact of the training and development programs on employee performance and making any necessary adjustments.  

Involvement of people: To understand the nitty gritty of the different roles fully, one needs to go to the source directly and involve the people already doing the job, as well as getting an array of inputs from the managers and team leaders about what makes someone successful in that particular job provides a vast overview of the different job roles. 

Using relevant competencies: It is important to ensure that the competencies included apply to all roles covered by the framework, because if irrelevant competencies are included, individuals may face difficulties in relating to the framework in general. For example, if a framework is created keeping the entire organization in mind, several departments within the organization would not be included unless every individual has to demonstrate the particular skill. Instead, if a framework is developed separately for each department within the organization it would yield a more promising outcome. 

Achieving An Organization’s Goals With A Competency Framework :

An effective framework consists of competencies which are in tangent with the goals of the organization. It is essential to define and build the competency dictionary for an organization that consists of a strategic list, definition and indicators of all core, functional and leadership competencies required by all the employees to perform according to their specific job role. When an organization constructs a well-planned competency framework in the following processes of recruitment, selection, appraisal and rewarding employees, the employees’ competency set remains aligned with the description of the job role and thus, with the organization. This leads towards the direction of achieving common goals. 

What Does A Competency Framework Improve?

Selection, Training and Performance Management.

Once an organization develops a well thought competency framework, it becomes easier for it to recruit and select employees who possess the required competency set for the respective organization. The competency framework becomes the guiding criterion for the entire recruitment process. This also saves the organization from investing essential resources on recruiting individuals who do not demonstrate the right skills or aren’t a right fit for the job. A competency framework also assesses an employee’s performance through a performance measurement process which gives a more consistent and reliable result of the employee’s performance. This would also help in identifying the gaps in the competency that the employee has. As a result, the training and development needs could be distinguished more effectively based on the competency gaps identified.  

Competency mapping is an essential tool for organizations to identify and develop the skills and abilities of their employees. It helps in better recruitment and selection, employee development, performance management, and succession planning. The process involves identifying job roles, defining competencies, assessing competencies, identifying gaps, developing training and development programs, and implementing and monitoring these programs. By implementing competency mapping, organizations can improve the overall performance and productivity of their employees, leading to increased success and growth. 

Why is a well framed competency framework important?

The use of a competency-based structure provides several advantages, such as employees having clearly defined job roles and expectations, transparent appraisal and recruitment processes, and the ability for recruiters to assess necessary behavior regardless of career background. Additionally, competency frameworks serve as indicators for expected areas and levels of performance, providing guidance for behaviors and skills of value. This framework can help to develop the workforce systematically and adapt to changing work styles, while also mapping workforce design and succession planning.   

Other benefits include retaining employees, facilitating training and development, improving performance management, identifying areas for improvement, and revitalizing internal mobility. However, some individuals may struggle to utilize the framework effectively if they do not understand its benefits or receive proper training.   

Competency mapping can aid in understanding an organization’s capabilities and identifying gaps, allowing for HR activities to be fine-tuned. Talent management, learning and development, and organizational development become easier with clearly defined skills and behaviors. Finally, the competency framework can aid in planning, strategizing, and optimizing overall organizational capabilities.  

How is Strengthscape’s approach different?

• Experienced Facilitators – Strengthscape has an experienced team consisting of organizational developmental analysts, instructional designers and eLearning developers who provide practical insights in the process
• Blended Delivery Approach – Strengthscape conducts both online training, eLearning modules and live case studies to enhance convenience and make the program cost-effective

• Spaced-Learning Approach – Strengthscape® takes a spaced learning approach giving enough time to absorb the concepts and practice, leading to better retention and more concrete learning
• Our Own Methodology – Strengthscape provides a tried and tested, comprehensive methodology to map the behavioral competencies of employees. Our internal methodology of competency mapping is called StrengthMapping. StrengthMapping methodology works around the behavioral competencies of the employee
• Individual Hand Holding – Strengthscape provides continuous support through individual handholding for higher learning effectiveness

What is the Certification Program about?

The Program is one of its kind designed and delivered by industry veterans. The program is delivered virtually and includes a blended approach, which consists of e-modules and virtual simulation. This certification will also allow participants to partake in live projects, basis availability of the same.  

Competency Mapping Plan

Competency Mapping Course Details

• A blend of virtual sessions and eLearning modules methodologies. The course is enriched with audio, visuals, assessments, case studies as well as follow-up sessions for clarifications
• Access to Strengthscape’s Learning Management System (LMS) which has a range of learning materials starting with the course manual, videos, eLearning content, podcasts, case studies and a whole lot of assessments which promotes self-paced learning and help participants become confident of what is being taught
• The course manual is divided into 10 modules. Each module has chapters and units
• Online Competency Mapping Certification: 24 hours of live virtual Instructor-led sessions conducted every weekend spread over 8 sessions of 3 hours each. This is followed by a live project and final assessment
• Enterprise Version: The Enterprise Version is best suited for organizations that use or proposes to use Competency Frameworks and would like to train their HR and L&D professionals and trainers. Master facilitators from Strengthscape conduct a two-day in-person certification along with 10 hours of virtual training exclusively for internal teams of organizations
• Participants are expected to go through LMS and read the manual, watch videos and listen to podcasts as well as read any additional reading material that is provided

Who should get certified?

• Human Resource professionals 
• Learning & Organization Development Experts 
• Individuals involved in performance management 
• Professionals who have taken on training role within their department 
• Professionals who are involved in hiring process 

Material provided

• Access to Learning Management System (LMS) 
• 1-year complimentary access to the Digital Library
• Assignments and worksheets on the LMS