How Do We Develop Specialized Competencies?

Dear Competencies:

Having a strategy to develop employee competencies improves overall individual and organizational performance. The first step to competency development is making sure all stakeholders — trainers, learners, leaders, HR, L&D — have a solid understanding of the strategic business objectives and mission of the organization so learning investments line up with your goals.

Competency gaps in employees, particularly those requiring technical development, are best focused on an individual basis to develop specific skills required to perform well in certain roles. Compliance and certification needs to be a consideration for some industries, such as banking, insurance and financial services, or construction, building and maintenance.

In our experience, development best occurs through a combination of learning opportunities. This is composed of what is commonly known to most L&D professionals as the 70:20:10 learning model, where 70 percent of learning is derived on the job, 20 percent from people (mostly the boss) and 10 percent from courses and reading.

Learning opportunities shouldtap into mobile-enabled programs and social technologies to allow for more just-in-time collaboration and on-demand learning. The best programs are flexible, scalable and are aligned with the organization’s goals and growth objectives.

SOURCE: Robert G. Smith, Senior Vice President, American Management Association, Aug. 29, 2014