Career Planning & Development Software, Part 2

Part 11 of 11 of the CompetencyCore^TM Guide to Career Planning & Development 

This is the tenth in an eleven part series that looks at:

1. Making the Case for Competency-based Career Planning & Development
2. Facts, Figures & Findings
3. Career Planning & Development Defined
4. Key Definitions of Career Planning & Development
5. Framework for Competency-based Career Planning & Development
6. Best Practice Tools & Processes
7. Implementing Career Planning & Development – Part 1
8. Implementing Career Planning & Development – Part 2
9. Implementing Career Planning & Development – Part 3
10. Key Considerations for Software, Part 1
11. Key Considerations for Software, Part 2

Career planning and development can be a complex process typically involving multiple elements that are best supported through on an online system.  In the previous post, we looked at 3 key elements for consideration when selecting a Talent Management system.  In today’s post, we will delve into the remaining 5 key questions.

1. Can you build learning plans to address competency gaps identified during the assessments?
2. Does the tool have the ability to build employee competency and skill inventories?
3. What are the capabilities to match employee competencies with the job competency requirements
4. What is the reporting functionality?
5. What additional information can be communicated to employees?

Learning Plans and Learning Resources
A natural next step once you have looked at managing your competency data, how that data is structured and whether you can perform competency assessments is to determine whether the system in question will support employees in developing and implementing Individual Learning Plans.  In the case of CompetencyCore 5, this platform allows employees to automatically build a Learning Plan to address the competency and skill gaps identified during an assessment.  The employee can chose to either keep this information private and work independently on their plan, or share it with others, such as their supervisors or mentor / coach for support in defining a career development plan best suited to the employee.

As part of the Learning Planning process it is also useful to have catalogued learning resources organized by competencies in the Competency Library.  These resources can be specific to the organization (e.g., in-house or approved course offerings) or generic in nature (e.g., list of reference reading materials; etc.).  Regardless, the functionality in the software should allow the organization to map the resources to the competencies in the library, thereby providing accessible tools to employees that support planning for learning and career development. 

Employee Competency and Skills Inventories
Another important element that must be incorporated in the software functionality is the ability to record and manage information on employee skills, competencies and other important career-related information (e.g., geographic mobility; interest in advancement / promotion; etc.).  It is important for employees to be able to list and publish all of the validated competencies, skills and other qualifications they possess; not only those being used and displayed in the employee’s current job, but also those that the employee has accumulated during their career and may be required for other jobs in the organization.  However, there must some means built into the system to indicate that the published skills / competencies are valid – in other words, it has been determined through some objective means that the employee possesses the skill / competency (e.g., test results; successful course completion; a supervisor or other expert assessment; certificate from a regulatory body; etc.)

Such inventories are important for the implementation of effective career development initiatives and to support movement across chosen career paths.  They also allow managers and supervisors to gain an appreciation of who within the organization might have the skills and capabilities needed to fill current or future position vacancies.  These inventories are also extremely important for HR planning.  Compiled information on current strengths and gaps within the workforce allows the organization to plan and put in place career development programs to address high need / high risk job groups.

Employee / Job Competency Matching Tools
Assuming that the software incorporates a competency inventory function, it then becomes possible to match employee competencies with the job competency requirements.  This can be done in a couple of ways:

• From the employee’s perspective, they are interested in finding out about the jobs within the organization that best match their competencies and career interests.  The tool should allow employees to search all or some jobs in the organization that best match their existing competencies, and identify where competency gaps exist.
• From the organization’s perspective, the tool should allow managers to search the Employee Competency Inventory for those employees who best match a particular set of competency requirements.  This could be the competency profile for a particular job, or for example, competencies needed to ensure that a work team has the breadth of skills / competencies needed to meet a work demand. 

Reporting Functionality
It goes without saying that various reporting capabilities should be built into the software to allow for effective planning and decision-making.  This reporting capability should support not only individual managers in understanding the gaps and strengths on their team, but also broad-scale HR Planning to ensure that the organization has the necessary talent onboard to achieve its strategic vision and business goals.

Career Information, Guides and Manuals
Finally, an effective software system should support and communicate information about career development and career options within the organization.  This could include guides and manuals to support employees and managers as they undertake Career Planning and Development (e.g., self-help guides and tips on coaching for career development).  It could also include information on job opportunities and typical career paths and programs available to employees.  More advanced systems also incorporate social networking and knowledge management tools and processes to support collaborative learning and innovation with the workplace. 

The options are many, but the important thing is that the information available should be easy to access, user friendly and follow good principles for organizing and accessing this type of information consistent with best practices in web design.

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HRSG is a leader in Competency-based Career Planning and Development solutions. Contact us today to find out how we can help you.

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Want to learn more? Competency-based Talent Management, or CbTM, is the best practice for defining job requirements and building effective HR programs to develop skilled, engaged and productive workforces. Download this Best Practice Guide to learn how competencies can increase workforce effectiveness and improve business practices.

Career Planning & Development Software, Part 1

Part 10 of 11 of the CompetencyCore^TM Guide to Career Planning & Development 

This is the tenth in an eleven part series that looks at:

1. Making the Case for Competency-based Career Planning & Development
2. Facts, Figures & Findings
3. Career Planning & Development Defined
4. Key Definitions of Career Planning & Development
5. Framework for Competency-based Career Planning & Development
6. Best Practice Tools & Processes
7. Implementing Career Planning & Development – Part 1
8. Implementing Career Planning & Development – Part 2
9. Implementing Career Planning & Development – Part 3
10. Key Considerations for Software, Part 1
11. Key Considerations for Software, Part 2

Career Development – An Integrated Talent Management Process

Career Planning & Development is a complex process that builds on, and integrates with a number of other key talent management processes.  In fact, Career Development is an integral element of the whole talent management cycle from acquiring new talent, to developing resources, as well as to ensuring your talent is performing to the standard needed by the organization.  Competencies provide the fundamental building blocks for doing this.

From an organizational perspective, it makes sense to design and implement tools and processes to support employee Career Development and advancement.  It empowers and encourages employees to develop themselves in line with organizational needs, providing a pool of qualified and motivated staff willing and interested in filling jobs and roles as they become vacant.  Performance Management and Learning processes also support Career Development, enabling employees learn and understand their strengths and areas for development, and can take actions to close gaps. 

Because of its complexity and links to other Talent Management processes, Career Planning & Development can be facilitated greatly by having well-defined and integrated online Talent Management software.

What to look for in Software

Career Development typically involves multiple elements that are best supported through on an online system.  As noted in the previous post in this series, best practice organizations most often have a talent management system that stores and reports information on employee competencies.  These systems enable some or all parts of the Career Development process.  There are some key elements that should be looked at when considering a Talent Management system to address your Career Planning & Development needs.

1. Does the software provide competency management tools?
2. How is the individual and organization’s information structured?
3. Does the tool have the capabilities to run competency assessments?
4. Can you build learning plans to address competency gaps identified during the assessments?
5. Does the tool have the ability to build employee competency and skill inventories?
6. What are the capabilities to match employee competencies with the job competency requirements
7. What is the reporting functionality?
8. What additional information can be communicated to employees?

Over the next two blog posts, we will examine these questions and considerations in detail, starting with questions 1-3 below, and the remaining ones in the final post in this series. 

Competency Management Tools

Accommodating competency scales and proficiency levels
Most talent management systems come with a library or dictionary tool that stores your information on competencies.  But most are not flexible enough to store libraries of competencies that incorporate multi-level proficiency scales.  One-level competencies – i.e., competency name, definition and performance indicators - are fine when managing talent within positions or jobs (e.g., hiring into jobs, learning and development within jobs, performance management within jobs, etc.), but do not work that well when the organization or the employee is trying to draw relationships across jobs, such as would be the case for determining potential career ladders and paths within the organization. 

To illustrate from an example presented in a previous post in this series, a server in a restaurant might be expected to perform at Level 1 of Customer Focus -“Responding to immediate client needs”, whereas an executive in the restaurant chain may be responsible for “Ensuring continued service excellence” (Level 5 proficiency).  In this way, jobs can be mapped to the competency proficiency level needed and progression in proficiency can be established across different jobs and levels in the organization.  This type of competency scale helps in defining logical career paths and ladders across jobs, and thus supports Career Planning and Development.  The software that you select should be able to accommodate competency scales at the number of proficiency levels that have been adopted by your organization.

Building Competency-based Job Profiles
The competency management tool should also allow you to build job competency profiles and store this information in a format that is best for your organization.  CompetencyCore 5, for example, allows organizations to build comprehensive job profiles that incorporate:

• the job title,
• the main tasks or duties of the job,
• the key competencies at the proficiency level needed for success in the job,
• plus other key attributes or requirements the organization may wish to incorporate (e.g., educational / certificate requirements; key performance indicators; etc.). 

A good system should allow the organization to tailor the job profiles to meet its own needs, incorporating those elements that work best for it.  Such a tool also allows the organization to standardize job descriptions across the organization, a function that is particularly important in a multi-location or global organization.

Create Databases of Related Information
In addition, the Competency Management tool should organize and store databases of information mapped to the competencies in the library, for example, learning resources (e.g., on-job activities; courses and e-learning information; etc.) which allow both the employee and manager to plan for learning and career advancement based on the employee’s interests and learning style.

Organizational Structure Information
Surprisingly, many Talent Management software tools do not separate out employee competency information from competency requirements for positions within the organization.  It is important to be able to do this in order to determine potential career paths within the organizational structure independent of the individual employees filling the positions.  In this way, options for typical career paths and ladders within the organization can be mapped and displayed for employee reference.   As well, the organization can use this information to plan and develop career programs for high need / high risk job groups within the organization.

Competency Assessments
A key component for career development is being able to compare employee competencies against the competency requirements for jobs within the organization.  To do this, a competency assessment tool is essential.  These can take many forms, but a typical tool allows employees to self-assess against the competencies needed for various jobs within the organization using a survey with a rating a scale.  The output is a list of the competency strengths and gaps the employee possesses against the competency requirements for the job the employee is considering. 

Such tools should also allow for two-party assessment, for example between an employee and supervisor, or employee and mentor or coach.  This process could also be expanded to incorporate other input points, for example peers, subordinates, and even clients or customers, as would be the case with 360 or multi-source assessments.  By incorporating others in the assessment process, the employee gains another perspective on the competencies that he or she has, or needs to develop.

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The next blog in this series focused on the remaining key questions and considerations for selecting career development software. Sign up to our blog’s mailing list through the form on the right-hand side to receive the rest of the series in your inbox.

HRSG is a leader in Competency-based Career Planning and Development solutions. Contact us today to find out how we can help you.

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Want to learn more? Competency-based Talent Management, or CbTM, is the best practice for defining job requirements and building effective HR programs to develop skilled, engaged and productive workforces. Download this Best Practice Guide to learn how competencies can increase workforce effectiveness and improve business practices.

Implementing Career Planning & Development, Part 3

Part 9 of 11 of the CompetencyCore^TM Guide to Career Planning & Development 

This is the ninth in an eleven part series that looks at:

1. Making the Case for Competency-based Career Planning & Development
2. Facts, Figures & Findings
3. Career Planning & Development Defined
4. Key Definitions of Career Planning & Development
5. Framework for Competency-based Career Planning & Development
6. Best Practice Tools & Processes
7. Implementing Career Planning & Development – Part 1
8. Implementing Career Planning & Development – Part 2
9. Implementing Career Planning & Development – Part 3
10. Key Considerations for Software, Part 1
11. Key Considerations for Software, Part 2

Determine the infrastructure and systems required to Support Career Development
Career Development is a complex process that typically involves multiple elements that are best supported through on an online system.  As noted in our previous blog, best practice organizations most often have a talent management software system that stores and reports information on employee competencies.  These systems enable some or all parts of the Career Development process, for example:

• Employee / superior / multi-source competency assessment
• Learning plan development and management
• Catalogued learning resources categorized by competency and proficiency level
• On-line registration for courses / programs
• Job / role matching that compares employee competencies against targeted role / job requirements, and provides job best match list for employees based on their inventory of skills and competencies
• Various reporting capabilities that support developmental programs and succession (e.g., lists of employees ready for targeted positions / role) as well as broader HR Planning, as well as
• Guides and manuals to support employees and managers as they undertake Career Planning and Development (e.g., self-help guides and tips on coaching for career development)

Having defined your Career Development principles and philosophy as well as the fundamental tools and processes you wish to support through Career Development, it then becomes possible to evaluate and implement on-line systems and tools consistent with your requirements.

Build and incorporate basic competency-based elements to address broad organizational needs
No matter what system you choose, you will either need to configure it to meet your requirements (i.e., implement system settings that address your organization’s needs) and / or develop material to support employees and managers in undertaking effective career planning and development (e.g., Career Guidebooks; Coaching / Mentoring Guides; Learning Resources organized by competency; etc.).

Talent Management systems typically include elements that will support Career Development as noted above.  It is just a matter of configuring them to meet your specific organization’s needs

Develop and implement programs for high risk / high need job groups
Generally, organizations can implement tools and processes that will support most Job Group / Family needs; however, there are often high need / high risk groups that need extra attention.  It may be that programs have to be put in place to accelerate the development of employees in groups where there is, or will be a high turnover rate, such as might be the case with an aging workforce (e.g., baby boomer exodus).  In this case, organizations will often develop and implement special programs to address these challenges, which build on the basic tools and processes that are in place for the whole organization (e.g., competency assessment tools; career and job ladder information; etc.) as well as incorporate special elements to accelerate or focus development (e.g., target learning programs; planned and progressive developmental job moves; on-job assignments; specialized coaching / mentoring).  This is often the case for leadership levels within the organization, and I have also seen this approach employed when there is a significant challenge in ensuring that there is enough talent available to carry out a key function within an organization.  I have seen it used, for example, in a situation where Procurement Officers were in short supply within a governmental organization and the procurement processes could not tolerate any delays.

To summarize, Career Development is a complex process that builds on and integrates with a number of other talent management processes such as competency assessment, learning planning and needs analysis, performance feedback and management, promotional processes, to name just a few.  Because of its complexity and links to other Talent Management processes, it can be facilitated greatly by having well-defined and integrated online Talent Management software. 

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The next blog in this series reviews the links between Career Planning and Development and other important Talent Management processes, as well as some of the things that you should be looking for in software to support Career Development. . Sign up to our blog’s mailing list through the form on the right-hand side to receive the rest of the series in your inbox.

HRSG is a leader in Competency-based Career Planning and Development solutions. Contact us today to find out how we can help you.

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Want to learn more? Competency-based Talent Management, or CbTM, is the best practice for defining job requirements and building effective HR programs to develop skilled, engaged and productive workforces. Download this Best Practice Guide to learn how competencies can increase workforce effectiveness and improve business practices.

Implementing Career Planning & Development, Part 2

Part 8 of 11 of the CompetencyCore^TM Guide to Career Planning & Development 

This is the eighth in an eleven part series that looks at:

1. Making the Case for Competency-based Career Planning & Development
2. Facts, Figures & Findings
3. Career Planning & Development Defined
4. Key Definitions of Career Planning & Development
5. Framework for Competency-based Career Planning & Development
6. Best Practice Tools & Processes
7. Implementing Career Planning & Development – Part 1
8. Implementing Career Planning & Development – Part 2
9. Implementing Career Planning & Development – Part 3
10. Key Considerations for Software, Part 1
11. Key Considerations for Software, Part 2

Once you have determined the underlying foundation of your Career Development program, the first two best practice stages to follow include establishing an architecture and competency dictionary, and developing your high level implementation plan.

Establish an Architecture and Competency Dictionary to support Career Development.
As noted in the fourth and fifth blogs in this series, fundamental to effective Competency-based Career Planning & Development is a competency architecture that allows employees and managers to compare and contrast competency requirements across roles and levels within or across job groups.

Having Competencies available that are scaled according to proficiency levels, make the job of defining logical career paths and ladders within the organization that much easier.  Both employees and the organization can see how jobs relate one to the other both in terms of the competencies and proficiency levels needed for successful job performance.

So often, we have seen organizations adopt one-level competency dictionaries that do not allow for logical links to be drawn between jobs.  Having these types of competencies will work well when developing employees within their current jobs, but what about situations in which the organization is attempting to guide employees along career paths that make sense from a competency development perspective.  Having scaled competencies starting at a basic level of proficiency and to the highest level of proficiency typically needed within organizations allows the organization and employees to draw relationships in terms of the level of proficiency needed across jobs within the organization.  As an example, perhaps a server in a restaurant might be expected to perform at Level 1 of Customer Focus -“Responding to immediate client needs”, whereas an executive in the restaurant chain may be responsible for “Ensuring continued service excellence” (Level 5 proficiency).  In this way, jobs can be mapped to the competency proficiency level needed and progression in proficiency can be established across different jobs and levels in the organization.  This type of competency scale helps in defining logical career paths and ladders across jobs, and thus supports Career Planning and Development.

Similarly, defining Job Groups / Job Families – i.e., groups of jobs that tend to have common functions / duties and form a logical group for acquiring resources and managing careers (e.g., Finance; Sales; Information Technology; etc.) - also serves to support well-defined Career Development programs within organizations.  While career progression can occur in a variety of ways, generally speaking career development is typically planned and occurs within job families.  Thus, it is more likely that people with an interest and training in a particular functional area will seek career opportunities within the job family as compared with other job families.

Finally, developing Competency Profiles for typical roles within Job Families provide the foundation for determining potential career paths or streams.  This allows both supervisors and employees to see how progression typically occurs.  It also allows the organization to develop programs, tools and processes that support progression.

Develop a high-level plan for implementation
Most medium to large organizations cannot implement Competency-based Career Development for all employees at all levels at the same time.  This is in part due to the fact that organizations typically tackle the development of competency models / profiles in order of priority within higher need areas (e.g., Leadership levels; targeted at risk Job Groups; etc.).  You also have to determine the fundamental building blocks that need to be in place right away – for example, a competency-based assessment process for determining key strengths and gaps, Individual Develop Planning processes; etc.

Having established the priority groups and the fundamental building block tools and processes, it then becomes possible to design and implement career development processes based on priority needs and the key competency areas that need to be addressed within each group.

Part of this decision-making process may include considerations related to creating some “quick wins”. In this case, organizations will often look for high need areas in which to start as well as a key champion who recognizes this need.  This serves two purposes:

• It addresses the immediate organizational need; and,
• It demonstrates that value of a competency-based approach to career development.

Hopefully, the leader for the group or area involved will broadly communicate the success of the initiative and convince others of the impact and value to the organization, which in turn will pave the way for others to accept this new way of managing careers.

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The next blog in this series covers Part 3 of Implementing Competency-based Career Development. Sign up to our blog’s mailing list through the form on the right-hand side to receive the rest of the series in your inbox.

HRSG is a leader in Competency-based Career Planning and Development solutions. Contact us today to find out how we can help you.

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Want to learn more? Competency-based Talent Management, or CbTM, is the best practice for defining job requirements and building effective HR programs to develop skilled, engaged and productive workforces. Download this Best Practice Guide to learn how competencies can increase workforce effectiveness and improve business practices.