Competency Development & Success Profiles

The Competency Creation process is a facilitated competency development process that has been used successfully by PPS International Limited in order to outline, analyze and create job profiles and competency models and use them to create consistent learning content for training programs, performance management interventions and job aids. PPS International Limited developed the Competency Creation process to shorten competency development time, compile accurate data about job competencies, work processes, and most importantly, create buy in and support for the competencies and related training.

When to Use the Process

The competency development process is useful to implement if:

• Your organization has a strong need for buy in and support of the finished competency model.
• You face having inconsistent processes and role definition across the organization—and you need more consistency.
• Program experts and stakeholders are available for a limited amount of time.
• You have an existing competency model, but it has never been validated or much has changed and a re-visit is appropriate.

The 7 Steps in the Competency Development Process

The Competency Creation process has a few key stages:

1. Stakeholder Identification. Identify key client stakeholders who are representative of the target competency group and client organization. If the organization has different locations, PPS International Limited recommends that at least one member from each location, business unit or division be present for the competency development session. Other criteria for selection includes being an influential stakeholder or subject matter expert. Because the process is facilitated, stakeholders benefit from involvement, which leads to greater support overall.
2. Preparation and Stakeholder On-Boarding. Send out a Competency Creation pre-work packet and hold a virtual on-boarding session that includes the purpose, agenda and input desired from participants.
3. Competency Creation Working Session. Hold a facilitated Competency Creation workshop using a certified facilitator and recordkeeper who are prepared to both capture ideas and manage inevitable conflicts. The length of time for the working session is determined by the roles, number of stakeholders and availability of facilitators. At the working session, a Competency Creation-certified facilitator uses a systematic process to derive competencies, define behaviors, map processes and gain agreement while a record keeper captures all the data from the group.
4. Analyze Collected Data. After the session, the PPS design team and facilitator analyze the data collected and access PPS International Limited’s competency and behavior item library, which contains more than 2000 specific competency definitions.
5. Draft Competency Model or Success Profile. Draft the competencies, prioritize them and complete a content analysis (if the competencies will be used for training), which includes all agreed upon content, participant profiles, and cultural profiles. To prioritize the competencies, we use a specific formula that takes into account difficulty to learn the competency, importance to success in the role and frequency of use, among other factors.
6. Validate the Model. Key stakeholders review and validate the draft competency model and provide final sign-off on the content. Additional validation is done if the model will be used for selection and promotion or other employment-related activities.
7. Create Communication Pieces. Our corporate communication specialist or one from within the client organization creates a visualization of the model, along with any other supporting communication pieces.

In addition, the process can be completed using a structured interview process, which mirrors the steps above, but is handled through interviews with “star” performers and those below where the organization wants them to be. A structured interview process takes longer to complete because the process is conducted individual-by-individual.

Please contact us if you would like support in managing your own competency development process or using your competencies to design custom assessments or custom development.