Competency Management - Managing the Knowledge of the Workforce

In the global, technology based economy of today, organizations face a daunting task of keeping their workforce talents in sync with the current and future requirements needed in order for them to stay competitive. Competency Management programs are based on identifying the business processes that exist in a company, breaking them down into their specific tasks and understanding what each individual needs in order to perform the job. Once this is done, tools and programs need to be developed and used that will keep the workforce educated and trained so that people are able to grow and change as business environment changes.

Results from companies that focus on these issues include improved employee retention, improved employee performance and improved revenue per employee. Aberdeen Research has identified that Best-in-Class companies have five main reasons for focusing on competency management:

• Aligning the workforce with business objectives
• Improving workforce productivity
• Increasing the flexibility and agility of the workforce
• Identifying high potential workers
• Reducing employee turnover

In order to achieve Best-in-Class performance, companies need to:

• Understand their business processes, identify the core competencies required and link them to the lifelines of the organization.
• Identify current and anticipated gaps in organizational knowledge and skills based on this core competency analysis.
• Develop and/or seek out workforce education and training programs that will close the identified gaps and keep the organization moving forward.
• Add performance based rewards to compensation models so that workers can see a direct benefit to learning and higher levels of performance.

Are you Best-in-Class?