Competency Modeling for the Not-Yet Expert

Competency modeling is a method of determining how people should go about their jobs. You can use competencies to guide everyday behavior, and to drive hiring, individual development, and training. Competency modeling is a bottom-line endeavor, not just a theoretical one. That point is reinforced throughout the book, showing potential impacts on revenue gains and cost savings. For example, if you use your model to hire salespeople, those people are likely to sell more. If you base training or development plans on your model, managers might solve costly problems better.

Competency models do not have to be elaborate and complex. Certainly, they should be designed with the organization's goals in mind, and should contain relevant, specific behaviors. But beyond that, everything is scalable. For example, you can apply them to a whole organization, or just one part of it. You can apply them to hiring interviews, training, succession planning, or none of those. You can identify many competencies, or just a few. Many behaviors per competency, or just a few.

This is a how-to book for managers, written for people who do not have teams of industrial psychologists at their disposal. It includes many guidelines and tips to help do a better job. These include how to get input, how to create behavior-based interviews, and how to design meaningful development guides. It provides guidelines for maintenance and for measuring effectiveness.

It discusses the option of creating a partner model for managers that reinforces desired individual-contributor behaviors. For example, if you want people to take calculated risks to improve results, then you also want managers to recognize people when their calculated risks don't pay off.

It provides a starter competency model, with ten competencies (Teamwork, Communication, Adaptability, Continuous Learning, Pursuit of Excellence, Problem Solving, Customer Focus, Integrity, Business Acumen, Innovation) that you can adapt to your environment. Each has seven supporting behaviors, with corresponding interview questions and development guides.

Perry Alter has customized competency models for clients in multiple industries, leading to actionable outputs such as hiring interviews, development guides, and 360 assessments. His focus has been on making the science of excellent management practices more relatable and actionable to users. He has a PhD in Educational Psychology and Research.