TALENTS AND COMPETENCY MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR PUBLIC SECTOR PERFORMANCE: INSTRUMENTS AND METHODS.

BY

UKERTOR GABRIEL MOTI (Ph.D) UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA

INTRODUCTION The changing global economy, dramatic technological change, and increased expectations for government performance demand new attention to the complex set of public skills and capacity. Public servants are experiencing great pressures emanating from increasing global integration-economic, political, social and cultural. New technology, new ways of organizing work, new means of delivering services and an increasing reliance on temporary employment have redefined the nature of public service. Meeting all these challenges requires a unique combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes and effective human resource development policies and strategies to nurture those competencies. Public sector performance aims to move public management beyond bureaucracy and promote greater economy, efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery.
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DEFINITION The competency movement has taken hold in a number of countries, among them, Australia, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States of America and the Scandinavian countries. It was tightly linked with the efforts of companies to create a setting for the empowerment of their workforce in order to increase competitive advantage and effectiveness (Houtzagers, 1999). Competency approaches were expected to help identify the skills, knowledge, behaviours and capabilities needed to meet current and future personal selection needs, in alignment with variations in strategies and organizational priorities and to focus the individual and group development plans to eliminate the gap between the competencies requested by a project, job role, or enterprise strategy and those available (Draganadis and Mentzas, 2006). Richard Boyatzis adopted the term competency and described it as an underlying characteristic of an individual that is causally related to effective or superior performance in a job. According to ASTD (American Society for Training and Development), competencies are areas of personal capability that enable people to perform successfully in their jobs by achieving outcomes or completing tasks effectively. A competency can be knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, or personal characteristics. For example the position of government pharmaceutical agency sales manager requires the following competency levels. Competency Knowledge of Business ethics Knowledge of local physician market Selling Skills Communication Skills Group Presentation Skills Leadership Skills
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Level Intermediate Advanced Advanced Basic Intermediate Intermediate

Negotiations Skills

Expert

Once we define competencies for this position, it is much easier to identify and evaluate individuals who can effectively fill it. Likewise, when we know what competencies individuals possess, we can then determine their levels of proficiency for that competency, and more easily determine who qualifies for this or another position. TYPES OF COMPETENCY There are two types of competencies: Technical competency and Behavioural competency. Technical competency: These are specific knowledge and skills needed to be able to perform ones job effectively. They are job specific and relate to success in a given job or job family, and also focus on job. They are specific to a given function. Example, knowledge of accounting principles, knowledge of human resource law and practice relate to Accounting and Administration Positions. Behavioural competency: Known also as Generic competency, these refer to behavioural, knowledge, skills, attitudes, abilities, and other characteristics that contribute to individual success in the organization. They apply to all jobs and focus on the person. Examples include teamwork, cooperation and communication. Margaret Butteriss has likened competencies to an iceberg, saying that most organizations focus on technical competencies, the ones most visible and easily assessed. However, experience shows that it is the competencies below the waterline that differentiate between average and superior performers. This means that while technical competencies (skills, knowledge) can be trained, the behavioural competencies are more difficult to develop. COMPETENCY MANAGEMENT Competency management is central to every organizations ability to maintain and enhance its human resources. This approach is directly linked to improving competitiveness. Organizations need to stay at the forefront of technology, starting with the development of this human capital. Competency-based management
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therefore focuses on identifying the necessary technical skills and developing those competencies that will produce superior results. Competency management supports other components of talent management in the following ways: Performance management: Competencies help provide the level of knowledge, the skills, and the types of behaviours expected from the employee who fills each position. Career development: As employees map out their future goals and desired positions, they can view the specific competencies required to achieve them. Succession planning: Managers who seek candidates for succession of a position can compare the competencies requirements of that position, and seek candidates who meet those requirements. Learning management: To improve competencies and to meet performance, career development, or succession goals, employees engage in learning activities that are tied to those competencies. Compensation management: Helps managers perform compensation planning for their organization. Many times, bonuses and merit increases are tied directly to individual competency ratings. This may be difficult in an inflexible public sector environment. Workforce acquisition: Competencies set the right expectations for each position, and ensure that job descriptions result in more effective and successful recruiting efforts. OTHER BENEFITS OF COMPETENCY MANAGEMENT Smooth the transition of retirees by grooming their successors in advance, based on the competency requirements of the position. Motivate and reward employees by giving them the tools to model their career goals toward the talent needs of the organization. Meet performance targets and support career goals by providing learning and development opportunities that are directly tied to improving needed competencies.
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 Capitalize on existing talent before recruiting, using up-to-date competency profiles on existing employees. Improve overall stability by lengthening employing tenure. RATIONALE FOR INTRODUCTION OF COMPETENCY MANAGEMENT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR Competency needs a well-developed human resource function to be in place to lead and support the implementation of human resources policies. Traditional human resource organizations have focused on administrative tasks and the enforcement of rules and regulations. The new role of the human resource professional is to act as an internal consultant to line managers on a wide range of organizational issues. Also, human resource managers should become members of the strategic management teams and play a crucial role in linking human resource policy with strategic goals of the agency. Furthermore, competency management allows more flexible personnel policies, essential for public servants to become more responsive and effective. It is seen as a strategic instrument of human resource management, which can help to identify the skills, knowledge, behaviours and capabilities needed to meet current and future personnel selection needs. COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK Competency frameworks are a method of describing the underpinning values that shape and define the culture of an organization. They provide clear focus to support the development of staff in order to deliver the best possible services. Competency framework serves several purposes such as: 1. Informs prospective recruits what is expected of them.
2.

Informs staff of the sort of attitudes and behaviours that the organization encourages when carrying out their duties.

3. Informs staff of what they can expect from their managers.

4. Shapes and defines a culture based around strong principles such as partnership, continuous improvement, constructive challenge, and being citizen centred. 5. Supports staff at all levels in their development in order to maximize their potential. METHODS OF ESTABLISHING COMPETENCY MANAGEMENT Methods here refer to ways an organization can establish an organizational structure to implement competency management. One such method is the Competency Modeling Process. Steps in the Competency Modeling Process are:
1. 2. 3. 4.

Define your competencies. Assign competencies to positions. Assess individuals according to their competencies. Analyze gaps between individuals (Required and Actual competency levels). Remediate through learning activities. Track progress. Refine the process.

5. 6. 7.

ANALY ZE DEFINE ASSIGN ASSESS GABS

Competency Development Process

REFINE

TRACK

REMEDI ATE

BEHAVIOURAL AND COGNITIVE COMPETENCY MODEL This model attempts to connect Corporate identity competencies with Actions, Relations and Cognitions. Corporate Identity: (Seeing) Integrity Ambassadorship Self motivation and discipline Cross cultural sensitivity Actions: (Doing) Results orientation Planning and organization Customer focus Responsible risk-taking and decision-making Relations: (Interacting) Communication Lead and motivate others

 Relationship and management Team work Cognition: (Thinking) Continuous learning Systems and strategic thinking Innovation and creativity Problem solving

BEST PRACTICES OF COMPETENCY MANAGEMENT Ensuring your staff have the proper skills and competencies to consistently perform the tasks required of them is sometimes a daunting challenge. Managing and tracking individual skills levels in a regulated environment (like the public sector) is a continuous process. It requires the following steps: 1. Integrate competencies into training and development programmes. 2. Reengineer performance management processes with competencies that account for the highest performance variance. 3. Determine the return-on-investment or economic value of competency initiatives. 4. Assess and build team competencies. 5. Implement competency-based organizational transformation and change strategies.

6. Assess and develop leadership competencies. 7. Recruit and select top performers. 8. Implement succession planning and executive development processes. 9. Strengthen functional or technical competencies. 10.Link individual or team-based competencies with core competencies and strategic intent. 11.Design and implement a comprehensive competency-based system architecture and process. PRECONDITIONS FOR THE INTRODUCTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPETENCY MANAGEMENT The preconditions which need to be taken into account in order to introduce competency management needs to be explored and analyzed. Firstly, the competency management approach cannot be introduced in a standalone fashion; it needs to be part of the public administration reform strategy and to complement human resource policies. This implies that the legal framework defining the model and functioning of the public service including human resource policy should be in place. Secondly, competency approach should be well understood and appreciated by the political leadership and public servants. Experience in other places proves that very often different reform strategies and tools are introduced without paying sufficient attention to the training and awareness raising needs. The lack of understanding and knowledge about the usefulness and impact which the competency management is going to have on career development and daily duties of public servants can generate resistance among public servants, which is very difficult to overcome in the course of the reform. Thirdly, a successful introduction of competency management requires very strong leadership support by human resource managers in public institutions. However, in Nigeria, human resources offices are weak and their activities are mainly limited to the management of personnel issues, Extensive training and consultation
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programmes are needed to develop the required capacities and to introduce necessary changes in the roles and responsibility of human resource managers. Finally, an introduction of the competency management requires extensive capacity building effort, it is extremely important that the training activities are of the highest quality and targeted to priority groups of government employees, such as top civil servants, human resource managers and heads of departments. A comprehensive training strategy needs to be developed to support the implementation of competency approach. CONCLUSION Based on the discussion above, it can be concluded that competency management can be instrumental to enhance policy coherence and facilitate a change in culture. Also, it can be a strategic instrument for improving the performance of the whole government, its agencies and individual public servants and make them more responsive to citizens needs. However, it should be noted that the introduction and implementation of competency management requires strong political will and commitment. Sufficient skills and knowledge within government administration are required to develop and to implement the strategy. This calls for a very comprehensive assessment to analyze the existing pre-conditions for the successful introduction and implementation of competency-based management.

REFERENCES Butteriss, M. (1999), Reinventing HR.Changing Roles to Create the High Performance Organizations. John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd. Draganadis, F.; and Mentzas, G. (2005), Competency Based Management: A Review of Systems and Approaches. Information Management and Computer Security, 14 (1), 51-64. Garavan, T.N.; and McGuire, D. (2001), Competencies and Workplace Learning: Some Reflections on the Rhetoric and the Reality. Journal of Workplace Learning, 13 (4), 144-163.

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Horton, S. (2000), Competency Management in the British Civil Service. The International Journal of Public Sector Management, 13 (4), 354-368. Houtzagers, G. (1999), Empowerment, Using Skills and Competence Management. Participation and Empowerment: An International Journal, 7 (2), 27-32. Rothwell, W.J.; and Lindholm, J.E. (1999), Competency Identification, Modeling and Assessment in the USA. International Journal of Training and Development, 3 (2), 90-105.

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