Competence Management – An Innovation In Efficiency

Competence management aims at using optimally and developing the
competencies of employees, that is their ability to put in practice
their knowledge, experience, know-how according to the goals of the
corporation they work for. Competence management is relatively new
field in human resources but has been increasingly recognized and
implemented within firms over the past few years and is widely seen as
essential for the achievement of a company's objectives.

To enable competence management, it is important to get the support of
the management, which can be done through management coaching, as they
will be the one in charge of directing the competence management
strategy. They would have to evaluate each of the employee's
competencies but also establish a set of the competencies needed for
every task the company might need to perform. If you don't feel that
your management can handle that task, there are professionals out
there who will do it in your case.

To make use of the employees' abilities and to mobilize sufficient
number of them, you need to first know the competencies required for
carrying out a particular task. One of the aims of business coaching
is to help employees understand the importance of competence
management and enthuse them to become involved in it.

So employees will rapidly understand for what task their competencies
are needed and what knowledge they need to gain to perform other tasks
and get ahead in their careers. The employees will therefore realize
by themselves what kind of training they need to take, and there will
be no more training needs analysis for the management of your human
resources.

Let us suppose you want to know your employees' competencies or you
want to gauge how skilled they are. Before resorting to professional
help, you can deploy some of the other tools available. For example,
you can develop and use a form that lists the capability of each
employee. The details from the forms can be entered into a centralized
database accessible by every one and you can also circulate the
competencies required for ongoing tasks.

Competency management will help you and your company by matching your
employees' knowledge and skill sets to maximize your company's
efficiency. It will provide a tremendous return on its modest cost. It
also keeps your employees actively involved in your company's
operations by allowing them to actively take part in assigning
responsibility for your company's success.

by George Purdy