What are competencies?

You will find different definitions of competencies in different places. But what is a competency really? A competency is a combination of knowledge, attitude and skills. They are often split into hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills are the technical skills usually tied to a job or role: arithmetic, writing, coding, building websites, welding and so on. Soft skills are the social, personal, emotional and intellectual skills, such as listening, coaching, motivating, selling and negotiating.

How do you move from competency profiles to talent development?

For years, most organisations worked with competency profiles describing the competencies someone needs in order to perform a particular role. Those profiles were the basis for the performance review and the performance appraisal . Every role was given a competency profile, and by the time the profiles and their competencies had been written for every role, they were often already out of date and new competencies were needed. Did you not have the right competencies? Then you were not eligible for the role. A shame, because people who genuinely knew their way around IT, for example, were held back for failing to meet a competency such as 'communication skills'. More and more organisations are now switching to a new way of appraising. Talent development is usually at the heart of it, as a way of continuing to innovate in this fast-changing world.

What is the difference between a competency and a talent?

The difference is that talent is innate and competencies are not. You can have hidden talents, and you can choose not to get everything out of your talent that is in there. Competencies are the ability to do well what is asked of you, or what you want to learn yourself, and you can develop them. So a competency can look like a talent, although it certainly does not have to have started out as one.

How do you develop competencies with software?

Developing competencies still matters. The more they align with your talent, the more you will stand out in your work. Online tools make this straightforward. With an online tool like Treams you give structure to an employee's whole growth and development process. In Treams, 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.

What are examples of competencies?

There are hundreds of competencies. Treams has its own competency handbook of 33 competencies, each with four levels. Customers can use it as it is, or take it as inspiration.

With the Treams platform you not only make the required competencies per job or role visible, you make the competencies of all your people visible too. That way everyone can flourish at full strength and find each other on talent.

Finally, to give you a sense of what competencies can be, here are a few examples:

Adaptability
Ambition
Commitment
Reliability
Coaching
Confronting
Creative
Commercial
Goal-oriented
Perseverance
Courage
Energetic
Flexible
Innovative
Inspiring
Customer-focused
Critical thinking
Loyal
Leadership
Listening
Entrepreneurship
Eye for detail
Organising
Observing
Planning
Presenting
Results orientation
Collaboration
Switching gears quickly
Resilient under pressure
Task-oriented
Tenacious