Competency and the Link to Engagement and Performance: If you’re not focused on competency… what ARE you focused on?

Competency and the Link to Engagement and Performance: If you’re not focused on competency… what ARE you focused on?

At WFSI, we’re laser-focused on competency as THE key to organizational performance. And while there are companies who say they have a competency focus, when you scratch a bit below the surface, you find that things aren’t necessarily what they may appear to be. One example we’ve seen repeatedly is in recruiting for “entry-level” positions….

Competency Testing in Recruiting: It’s Probably A LOT Easier Than You Think…

Competency Testing in Recruiting: It’s Probably A LOT Easier Than You Think…

When we talk to companies about testing for competency during recruiting and selection, we often get pushback: “That’s too complicated!” “That’s too expensive!” “That takes too much time!” But does it really? We maintain that the biggest reason that companies don’t do really engage in competency testing is that they really don’t have a proper…

Did Knowledge Work Just Have Its “Pond Half Full” Moment?

Did Knowledge Work Just Have Its “Pond Half Full” Moment?

What do you mean by “Pond Half Full?” For those who haven’t been paying attention, ChatGPT, OpenAI’s generative language chatbot was released for free public use in November of last year. (if you haven’t had a chance to experiment with it yet, you should: https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/ ). The system has been developed and ‘trained’ to hold…

Defining Competency for Professions

Defining Competency for Professions

Jeff Griffiths, FCMC CTDP Profession: An occupation in which a professed knowledge of some subject, field, or science is applied; a vocation or career, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification.  – Oxford English Dictionary Creating competency frameworks and competency models is an evolving field that has gained greater prominence over the…

Implementing Competencies in Your Business: Setting Up a Competency Working Group

Implementing Competencies in Your Business: Setting Up a Competency Working Group

By Peter Andryszewicz Competency Implementation If you’ve been keeping up with our blog, you should now have an understanding of what a competency is, how to organize them, what they can used for, the value of using them and how much detail is needed to make them effective. If these articles have convinced you that…

Competency 101 – Part 4:  SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!!!!

Competency 101 – Part 4: SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!!!!

Jeff Griffiths, FCMC CTDP In my previous article, I mentioned some of the facts supporting the use of competencies. Some of you said “prove it” – so here’s some hard data. In Canada, the ground floor level on competencies is based on the “Essential Skills” – what in other contexts have been called workplace literacy,…

Competency 101 – Part 3 Ok… So What Can I Use These Things For?

Competency 101 – Part 3 Ok… So What Can I Use These Things For?

Jeff Griffiths, FCMC CTDP In the previous two Competency 101 articles, Part 1 and Part 2, I introduced some foundation ideas around competencies. The next question that comes up is “Why should I use them? What makes this better than what I’m doing now?” Well, here’s what we know about traditional hiring practices: The traditional…

COMPETENCY 101 – PART 2  Profiles, Frameworks, Libraries … Huh? Different ways to organize competencies and make them useful.

COMPETENCY 101 – PART 2 Profiles, Frameworks, Libraries … Huh? Different ways to organize competencies and make them useful.

Jeff Griffiths, WorkForce Strategies International  In the first article in this series, we clarified the difference between competencies, tasks and skills. “Ok” I can hear you saying, “So now I know the difference. So what? What do I do with them?” In this second article in the series, we want to expand on competencies, and look at how…

Competency 101 – Part 1 … What the Heck are Competencies?

Competency 101 – Part 1 … What the Heck are Competencies?

Jeff Griffiths, WorkForce Strategies International  The quality movement that caught hold in organizations through the 1980s spawned many different variations on process-based methods for improving organizational performance. Including the various ISO 900x standards in manufacturing, the Capability Maturity Model –Integrated (CMMI: originally created for military software engineering development and integration, but since extended to other sectors), Motorola’s “six-sigma” approach, lean…