High Performance can be achieved when an individual’s ability meets the demands of the job and is a complement to the organization’s culture.
What is an ability? One definition is:
A characteristic or skill that enables someone to perform specific tasks that are appropriate to the requirements of an environment with a higher degree of efficiency.
Competency Approach Competency Approach can assist in creating the potential of employees by communicating norms of performance that are superior, and backed by the manner of management that is most likely to lead to success.
Increased competition and the expenses that go with it have led to an explosion of trait theories and psychological tests on one hand and an reliance on the expertise of experienced managers on other. Most likely, the most effective outcomes have been obtained through the combination of both.
The most significant changes in this field took place when researchers started to research the actions of successful managers and then created profiles by observing successful behavior – what people did.
The most impressive work was done by Prof. David McClelland who researched for 20 years to discover the common traits of top performers, which led to the phrase “The Search for Excellence”. His work proved that everybody has the potential for accomplishment and that the best way to gauge the potential of a person is to study their behavior in a range of different situations.
This groundbreaking work done by McClelland (and professor Klemp) is being enlarged and tested by a variety of experts within the field. In the end, the American Management Association funded the most thorough and comprehensive research to date about what makes a good management behavior. Under the direction by Professor Richard Boyatzis, with McClelland and Klemp with over 2000 managers in observing across a broad spectrum of management positions in a range of different organizations.
Three areas have been identified that can achieve High Performance
- Organization:It is necessary to find the traits that ensure the success of the business. This is done by preparing an inventory of skills that aren’t just considered to be relevant in the present, but may be desirable in the near future. This could be the foundation of the motivation to tackle the changing needs and challenges of the coming years.
- Personal ProfilesAn personal profile may be extended beyond the confines of their current position to show their potential for the future. This is especially useful to encourage individuals to develop themselves according to the requirements of the company.
- Job Requirements:This is a description of essential demands written in terms of behavioural. Utilizing an approach called the Competency Analysis approach managers, with a thorough understanding of the needs of the job, make a decision on the skills and behaviors they believe are essential in order to get the job executed with a high degree of excellence. These are then prioritized into profiles and so a potential candidate or current employee is able to see clearly the abilities and behaviors needed to perform at a high level in the job.
N.B. It is rare for anyone to have all abilities that are identified as equal and very few jobs or organizations need them all. Therefore, an effective rating method should be recognized.
e.g.
- Level 1 Foundation
- Level 2 Supporting
- Level 3 Managing
- Level 4 Directional
Organizations are encouraged to create their own version of what constitutes acceptable behaviour in their company and it must reflect the culture of the company.
The Challenge
- Does our company have the capacity to place the right people into the right positions quickly enough?
- Are our people developing to the maximum potential they can be in their current jobs?
- Do we have benchmarks of excellence for each stage of management?
- Do we have an environment that inspires individuals to seek out new opportunities as they adapt and grow and to constantly seek out new possibilities within the organization?
- Does our leadership stand out? Do we have a dependable method of measuring this?
Utilize as a Competency Approach for:
- Predict Potential
- Succession Planning
- Selection
- Performance Appraisal
- Management Development
- Organisational Development
7 Steps to Beginning:
- Find out what your top performers have in common with other people in objective behavioral terms.
It is not who a person is, but rather what he or she is doing .
A competency analysis concentrates on the most effective behaviors in an organization and helps to create an common understanding for high performance and a positive outlook.
- Know what is it that makes exceptional people do.
- Define what is “successful performance” in key tasks
2. Utilize descriptions of competences and modify them to align with the consistent behaviour you’ve identified within your company.
3. Be sure your selection process is based on knowing the exact actions required for the task to be completed correctly and will be able to identify what you’re seeking.
4. Create questions that are aimed at revealing previous performance evidence in order to act as clear indicators of performance.
e.g. Goal-Oriented (for the management level):
- Please provide some examples of goals for yourself and how you’ve achieved them?
- How do you gauge how well your employees perform? What are the characteristics that distinguish good from average performance?
- What have you recently done to improve the standards of your area or department?
- Can you provide the example of a task you agreed to that started to appear risky? What was your response?
- Do you have a story to share about any recent actions you’ve taken that made your work more challenging, interesting or rewarding, either for you, or other people?
5. Define the essential competencies needed for top performance in work which will enable you to take advantage of the process of appraisal for performance as a significant development opportunity.
6 Include rating scales for the most important capabilities to act as an objective standard for excellence . This will allow the development process to be recognized.
7. Let you and your employees by developing Self Development programs Based on the feedback received from Competency profiles
Follow these seven steps to make sure that you have the right people performing the right tasks and at the right time to attain high-performance and business success , even in the current economic environment!
