What is competency management?

Competency management means recognising, using and further developing your people's competencies . The purpose is for people to grow and develop so they can do their work better and the organisation's goals can be met. Competency management is not only about the knowledge and skills people pick up through training, education and experience, but also about behaviour, motivation and personality. Someone who knows computers, for example, is not automatically a good computer salesperson. To be a salesperson you also need other competencies, such as social skills and the power to persuade.

Why competency management?

The strength of competency management lies in the link between the goals of the organisation and the teams and people within it. If you have a clear view of which competencies you need to reach your business goals, you can take that into account when hiring and training people. Looking at people's qualities also lets you put the right teams together and make sure the right person is in the right place.

How do you get started with competency management?

From competency profiles to talent development For years, many organisations focused on training their people's skills. Every role was given a competency profile setting out the competencies needed to fill it. Writing those profiles was weeks or months of work, and by the time they were finished, new competencies were already needed. On top of that, you were assessed on whether you had all the competencies in the profile. If not, you were not eligible for the role. To link that back to the computer enthusiast above: this person would have been ruled out as a computer salesperson because he perhaps did not meet the competency 'communication skills', even though his heart was in the job. In more and more organisations, competency profiles are now a thing of the past, replaced by talent development. It is a way of continuing to innovate in this fast-changing world, giving you more satisfied people and a better return.

How can software help with competency management?

With competency management, it is of course also important to keep developing competencies. An online tool like Treams gives structure to an employee's whole growth and development process. In our platform, someone can set out the growth step they want to take and which competencies they need to get there. As a manager, one click also tells you which talents and competencies your team has.