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Competency Management News-To-Use
| 5 Ways to Transform Your Organization with Competency
Management |
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Finding, Developing and Retaining Future
Leaders
There is a clear link between the success of a
company’s leadership and financial success. According to a
study by Ninth House, successful companies use talent
development as a differentiation point for competitive
advantage. Seventy percent of respondents linked their
business success to their leadership development. These
respondents “performed some level of assessment or measurement
of their business objectives and adjusted their leadership
development strategy accordingly.” Four common competency sets
were linked to successful leadership; setting strategies,
engaging talent, generating revenue growth and executing and
operating efficiently. The article continues to highlight the
ties between assessment and the Kilpatrick model as well as
the methods the surveyed companies use to increase skill
levels and decrease gaps.
Top
Performing Organizations Connect Leadership Development with
Financial Success
Successful Team Building
According to a
survey in this Workforce Performance Solutions article, only
one in five experienced project team managers in the US are
inherently skilled to manage global sourcing projects
successfully. Of the remaining eight, four could be successful
with the proper training and four will not succeed. Eighty
percent failure rates leave a lot of room for improvement.
Clearly there are distinct factors that dictate a manager’s
success, in this case they are relationship-management,
adaptability, cultural agility and business knowledge, but
they can differ based on the manager requirements. A
competency management solution can reveal in advance which
individuals have the appropriate skills for success, which
need additional training to strengthen essential skills and
which may never be appropriately prepared. By knowing the
appropriate skill levels project managers can be hired or
trained to increase project success rates. For the entire
article
Skills
Required for Global Project Teams
Mentoring Best Practices
General Mills
proves that mentoring programs may be worth implementing.
Mentoring programs can be an intimidating startup due to the
time consumption and difficulty in finding good matches
however an effective competency management solution can ease
the process difficulties and increase effectiveness. Employees
can be narrowed down by the basic department and geographical
location factors as well as experience, shared interests and
organizational level. The ability to narrow employees down by
personally selected factors can even allow for commonalities
such as alma maters and birth city to be factored into the
selection process. To learn more how General Mills created a
recognized mentoring program, read the article at
Mentoring
Best Practices
Succession Planning and Baby-Boomer
Retirement
Steelmaker Dofasco wanted to understand the
competency levels of its employees and was surprised to
discover that 50 to 70 percent of the company’s employees
would be retiring in five to ten years. Dofasco was in
desperate need of finding the right talent to replace its
aging workforce. Competency management solutions ease and
speed the process by allowing executives to see exactly which
competencies are necessary at which levels and can then train
younger employees or put them in places to gain experience in
order to fill those positions. A solution can measure existing
competency levels and create Individual Development Plans
(IDPs) which will recommend training and/or positions to
prepare them for leadership roles. The full article:
Steelmaker
Revives Apprentice Program to Address Graying Workforce, Forge
Next Leaders
Employee Retention
Tying an employee’s
personal motivation, offering training opportunities, and
tying skill improvement to performance reviews benefits
organizations in a number of ways including retention. This
article highlights a study showing that IT workers want to
advance their careers and want to work for an organization
that rewards them for doing so. In fact, 60 percent of the
workers surveyed say they are looking for new jobs and 80
percent of those looking hope to find jobs with new employers.
Survey:
Tech Workers Get Little Career Guidance or Support from
Employers
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| Industry News |
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Workforce Performance Management Will Be a Top
Priority For Companies in 2006
A study released by IDC shows that workforce
performance management will be a top priority for companies in
2006. As WPM software improves, so does its ability to create
stronger alignment between corporate objectives and individual
performance. IDC predicts a 16.3 percent compound annual
growth rate for WPM service spending during 2006-2010. IDC
offers tips for potential buyers as well as guidance for
vendors.
For
the Full Article
Study: Seventy-One Percent of TechLearn 2005
Attendees Say “Linking Learning, Performance and Knowledge
Management” is a Significant Organizational Strategy and
Planning Challenge
TechLearn’s Study, The Learning, Training and
Workforce Performance Community, surveyed 431 TechLearn 2005
attendees on their organizational learning priorities and
challenges. The most significant strategy and planning
challenge stated is Aligning Training to Business Initiatives
and Goals, with an 87 percent response. The study assumes the
reason this has consistently remained a challenge is due to
the struggle organizations have in acquiring the right tools
and strategies in order to implement alignment. The study
asserts that the learning, training and workforce performance
community will “continue to seek new tools and more efficient
methods to demonstrate this alignment.” In addition to
learning challenges, the study reports on expectation and
perspectives of learning and training conferences and
community demographics.
For
the Complete Study
A Company’s Steps and Advice For Competency
Management Implementation
Pilz, a leader in machinery and safety control
products, implemented a competency management program to
increase health and safety knowledge and skills. Their release
takes you through a simplified step process and advice to
create and maintain a successful program. Pilz compares types
of competencies, ways to assess and how to set goals. Although
Pilz focuses on engineers in machinery, their practices can be
applied across other industries with an appropriate competency
product.
For
the Full Article
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| Avilar Events |
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Avilar will be present at the following conferences:
IHRIM HRM Strategies Conference &
Expo
Washington, DC
April 9-12
ASTD International Conference and Expo
Dallas,
Texas
May 7-10
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Avilar Announcements |
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Avilar Announces Release of New Competency
Management Product, WebMentor Skills
Avilar announces the upcoming release of its upgraded
competency management product, WebMentor Skills, at the IHRIM Human
Resource Strategies conference. WebMentor Skills is a web-based
competency management and skills assessment platform that
supports a variety of workforce activities such as training,
recruiting, succession planning and performance management.
The product will release mid-year.
“We owe the innovation of WebMentor Skills in large part to
the input of our user-base,” says CEO John Skowlund. “We’re
committed to being customer- focused to ensure our solutions
are improving the performance and productivity of their
workforces.”
Avilar’s release comes at a time when competency
management is surfacing in industry publications and rising in
popularity. Josh Bersin of research firm Bersin and Associates
published the article “Keep Your Eyes on the Performance
Management Markets” in the March issue of Workforce
Performance Solutions magazine and attests to the increasing
interest in competency management.
According to Bersin, “the performance management
market is going to grow rapidly and have significant business
impact in the coming year.” Bersin reported that fifty percent
of respondents consider skills and competency management
critical to their business goals.
Hal Gerrish, Avilar’s Director of Competency
Management and contributor to the new release, has been
working on competency management implementation and analysis
for 20 years and says Avilar’s timing couldn’t be better. “I’m
most proud of our team’s ability to add advantageous features,
such as Team Builder, while maintaining Avilar’s
individualized approach,” said Gerrish. “We are able to grow,
continue to provide focused customer attention, and are
willing to customize the product to the unique needs of
individual customers, all while staying ahead of the user-base
curve.”
Several new WebMentor Skills features include:
Competency Model Builder - Allows an organization to
participate in creating or editing a competency model to
closely match its unique profile. Also permits organizations
to build a model from the ground up, import existing
competency descriptions or import third-party competency
dictionaries.
Skills Gap Analysis – Gives organizations the ability to
assess skills, knowledge and behaviors through the built-in
survey and compare this data to the defined job standards to
determine individual, department and company skills gaps.
Individual Development Plan – With IDP functionality,
individuals can develop a training plan based on their
measured needs and organizational requirements. The IDP
feature can also automatically analyze an individual’s profile
and make appropriate training recommendations.
Skills Search/Team Builder – WebMentor Skills competency surveys
enables organizations to develop a valuable inventory of
workforce skills and knowledge. The inventory can be searched
to find an individual or a group of employees with the right
skills for a project assignment.
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