Competency Frameworks – Why they are even more vital now.

In a previous article Jo Potter and Nick Cotter wrote about the use of competency frameworks and their role particularly in driving up performance and enabling recruitment and retention - http://www.oakleigh.co.uk/page/4018/News/Articles/Getting-the-Most-out-of-a-Competency-Framework---an-article-by-Jo-Potter

In this article, we explain why competency frameworks are even more important in the current economic climate. A climate that now expects managers to make best use of their limited resources in the face of ongoing reductions and where flexibility, cross boundary working and collaboration are imperative to success.

The Current Climate

The scale of the planned changes for the public sector over the next 4 years has been widely reported. It is evident that very few public sector organisations will escape from the need to make efficiencies. Significant reductions in staff numbers, the growing trend of merging and combining to realise savings and difficult decisions on service provision are all high on the efficiency agenda

This follows several years of restructurings, lean management, performance management, collaborative working and a whole host of related initiatives and interventions.

For many organisations, the impact of the current economic climate will result in different ways of working as well as joint-working with others. There will be a need to enable and encourage staff from different professional backgrounds and from different working cultures to work together and be highly productive.

Merger of organisations, internally and externally, always takes time to bed in and one of the key issues is developing a common culture and way of working for the new organisation. This can also include the need to break down existing professional boundaries and to encourage more flexible cross boundary working.

So we might well ask the question,

“What can a competency framework possibly offer me when I am facing real staff reductions?

The Potential Benefits of Competency Frameworks

Competencies are a signal from the organisation to the individual of the areas and levels of performance that the organisation expects. They provide the individual with a map of the behaviours as well as the skills that will be valued, recognised and rewarded. In the current climate, individuals are now seeking clarity, direction and support more than ever. Competency frameworks provide this, however they are also an important management tool. Applied intelligently, competency frameworks can be used to drive up performance, retain valuable resources and inform restructuring in an organisation that will positively impact outcomes. They provide incisive, informed management in the face of uncertain times.

Some of their most important benefits are:

Developing employees in a structured way whilst responding to changes in structures and ways of working.
Assisting with workforce planning and succession planning – identifying the requirements for a job and how staff can develop to move up within an organisation.
Helping to attract and retain staff, particularly when linked to career progression.
Targeting scarce training and development resources more effectively and encouraging individuals to take more responsibility for their own development.
Providing a pragmatic vehicle for open dialogue between management and employees, based on mutual objectives.
The formation of agreed performance management criteria – clarity of expectation, accountability and responsibility.

Why Competency Frameworks are vital in the current environment

In the current climate of spending cuts and staff reductions, competency frameworks have an increasingly important contribution to make. They are a highly cost effective management tool enabling organisations and managers to focus limited staff resources on the most important objectives.

So in this context they can be used to:

Link organisational and personal objectives and ensure that employees are clear about how they are expected to perform in their jobs
Ensure that the organisation’s expectations of its staff are clearly articulated and that staff development focuses on achieving these, making the most effective use of staff development budgets.
Provide focus so that the staff who remain are clear about the key priorities they need to work to and focus their efforts on the things that really matter
Communicate the overall priorities of the organisation / department to every employee, ensuring involvement, engagement and buy in.

Merging Organisations

Mergers of organisations, internally and externally, always takes time to “bed in”, with one of the key issues being the development of a common culture and way of working for the new organisation. This can also include the need to break down existing professional boundaries and to encourage more flexible cross boundary working.

The role of the competency framework in this scenario is key and some of its benefits include:

Enabling staff from different work cultures to be clear about what is expected of them, not just in terms of targets and priorities but also in terms of their way of working and the attitudes and approaches that are expected of them. This might relate to customer service, partnership working, or team working and supporting colleagues. This helps to define the culture of an organisation and enable staff to develop and grow into the new culture more effectively.
Helping to make a new or existing organisation more efficient and cohesive by breaking down traditional professional boundaries and developing more flexibility between jobs. For example, links can be established between different professions that share similar competencies enabling more efficient and effective working across traditional boundaries (e.g. licensing, environmental health and trading standards in Local Government or nursing and social care in the Adult Health and Social Care Sector).

Thus the competency framework can be highly effective in helping to develop the new leaner fitter organisations that will be required over the coming years.

Summary

The next 4 years will require organisations and managers to find ways of doing yet more with even fewer staff. They will need to find ways of getting staff to focus on the key issues and to work efficiently and effectively.

Organisations will need to get up to speed quickly with staff who buy into the new culture and are willing and able to work flexibly. In this environment, competency frameworks helping organisations to plan, and to manage and develop staff..

Oakleigh have developed a model of developing and using competency frameworks that can be adapted for most public sector organisations in a very cost effective way by minimising consultant time.

If you would like more information please email Pat Coulter, Director, Oakleigh Consulting: patcoulter@oakleigh.co.uk or telephone: 0161 835 4100.