Truly understand competencies to undertake competency management the right way

CANBERRA, Australia - Feb. 7, 2023 - PRLog -- In their ever-growing collection of capability articles, the Acorn subject matter experts have been quick to clear up confusion between capabilities and competencies. A competency is not a collection of skills, behaviours and knowledge. That's a capability. A competency is a measure of how a capability is performed. Competency management identifies what level of competence employees possess through continuous capability assessments and development. The Acorn experts' latest article dives into why it matters and how to do it right in the workplace.

Competency management is key for aligning employee behaviour with a fixed performance standard, as is central to performance and talent management. It also offers benefits for employees such as autonomy, more personalised learning, internal benchmarking, a universal language for performance standards and more accurate L&D outcomes.

"The thing that will make your capability initiatives really shine is competency management," said Blake Proberts (CEO and Co-Founder). "Consistent analysis of workforce performance helps you understand areas of strategic weakness, thereby strengthening organisational performance and increasing the chance of future success."

The competency management process plays out in a structured way, aiming for capability development through performance improvement. Start by defining a competency framework, follow this by conducting a competency assessment, and once the assessment has been completed, the last step is to identify development needs.

Competency management practices can be automated with the use of management systems or software, which offer powerful data collection and analysis. It's important to market the changes internally and provide user guides to help with the transition. Keep the competencies simple and review them regularly to ensure they align with the current business landscape and workforce plans.

You can read the Acorn experts' full article about competency management on Acorn Labs: https://hubs.ly/Q01ycwwX0

Pursuit Technology is one of Australia's fastest growing HR technology companies. Pursuit, via Acorn LMS, takes a different view to strategically enabling HR and L&D teams compared to traditional providers. Rather than focusing on analytics after learning experience, their products use workforce planning and capability frameworks prior to any learning. By linking to a company's strategy, Pursuit products can inform organisational capability gaps and suggest education, deliver this education, then measure the impact – proving business impact by the HR and L&D team in a quantifiable way.