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Understand terms such as;• Competency Framework• Competent,• Competence, and• Competencies in this

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Competency Frameworks

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Competency Frameworks

• 'Competence' in its Chambers' Dictionary definition is the 'ability to do something successfully or efficiently. Employers set out a definition of competence for most roles within a company to enable staff and employers to both understand what it means to be competent in any given role. In order for a company to define competence, a competency framework is written.

• Defining competence is what a competency framework is set up to do. If an employee is competent at his job then s/he will be able to identify him/herself within the framework. As such these are tools by which a company can identify an employee’s level of competence.

• Competencies and competence are a measure of personal skills or attributes of an employee, a required behaviour within a job role. These skills are defined competencies that employees need to demonstrate in order to be able to competently do their job. The more competent you are able to demonstrate yourself to me usually correlates with your suitability for leadership roles and instilling leadership values on others.

• Competency is a concept linking three parameters - Knowledge, Skills and Attitude. It may be that an employee has excellent interpersonal skills, but will not be considered competent at interview to join a company as, for example, a Project Manager unless their education (knowledge) and attitude fit the required competencies.

• Competency Frameworks therefore can be used as a recruitment tool but also as a performance management and continuing professional development (CPD) tool.

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Competency Frameworks

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What is a Competency Framework?• A competency framework is a set of attributes and behaviours written by a company that broadly defines what

the company expects from a person in any role or decompartmentalisation of that role. For example, the company may have a Time Management competency framework through which your ability to manage your time and prioritise your workload efficiently will be judged against. Take a look at our Time Management Training Course to give you an idea of expected and useful behaviours.

• Usually this tool will consist of a number of competencies which can be generically applied across a number of roles within a company. Physically, it often looks like a matrix with scoring system tallied to a description of the behaviours which demonstrate certain levels of competency. If you would like to download our example pack please follow the link.

• Critically, it is important that the language is simple and clear enough that it can be readily understood by any employee, enabling a common understanding of what ultimate job behavior for that company or role looks like.

• This common understanding of the competency framework then enables performance management to flow more intuitively and enables any employee to find better ways to improve their likely score when put against the framework.

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Competency Based Interviews• Advice on competency-based interviews can be frustrating to find. A better way

to prepare yourself is to understand what a competency based interview is so that you can learn how to provide neat responses to standard questions in your field.

• In a structured interview, which is what a competency based interview is, each question is designed to identify specific skills in the candidate. They are not trick questions. The candidates’ answers are usually then correlated with pre-determined criteria for the position applied for and the candidate is graded according to how their answers fit with that matrix or competency framework. Betters ways to present yourself at interview are to try to mirror industry standard frameworks when responding to questions. Reviewing how these frameworks are structured enables candidates to be more au faire with the sort of language an interviewer is going to find helpful in scoring you at a certain level. This embedding of language in application forms is also helpful to get you shortlisted.

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Competency Frameworks

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Competency Framework and a Personal Development Plan• Competency Frameworks can be used when writing and producing

Personal Development Plans. Using a competency Framework for each area of development for an employee (or pool of employees) adds significant coherent structure to a Personal Development Plan, with clear attainable targets that can be usefully evidenced.

• Understanding why Competency Frameworks are important therefore can help you build a better Personal Development Plan that provides the employer and employee with confidence in the continuing professional development process. To read more about a ‘Personal Development Plan’ and to see examples of them, please follow the link to our article on them here.

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Competency Frameworks

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