Identifying Performance Competencies

Performance Management | Business

Once organisational goals are established, supervisors should identify their employees’ key competencies. In order to ensure that performance evaluations are effectively conducted, supervisors also should specify how expectations may differ according to an employee’s position.

​This procedure would inform employees about the responsibilities that are associated with their respective positions, and would establish a set of reasonable expectations for supervisors to assess their employees with. [1]

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Constructing Competency Models

Organizations may define their employees’ performance competencies by constructing competency models, which define fundamental information and skillsets that allow employees to generate positive results.

These models may also draw information for performance evaluations, and may be obtained from supervisors, employees, and an organisation’s reports or customers. They should consider which sources may provide valuable information for performance evaluations, and how such information will be obtained and utilised. These models would also enable managers to identify important competencies through a series of job analysis techniques, such as job observations, interviews, focus groups and surveys.

Competency models consider factors that lead to an organisation’s success, such as job technicalities, how management is structured, and interpersonal relationships between supervisors and employees. Furthermore, competency models allow an organisation to develop interconnected human resource systems. As such, competency models may facilitate key processes across multiple divisions within an organisation, such as employee training and administration. [2]

Evaluating Results

Managers should evaluate their employees’ key competencies in order to increase their division’s productivity.

In order to generate accurate results, managers should base their evaluations on criteria that considers their employees’ respective tasks and objectives. For instance, employees may be assessed according to their:

• Production or sales results;
• Ability to develop and implement new programs or systems;
• Levels of customer satisfaction results; and/or
• Employee development or leadership results.

Evaluation Models

1. Use of KPIs

Managers may track these objectives using key performance indicators, which may measure relatively subjective criteria (e.g. customer satisfaction results) according to quantifiable indicators (e.g. Customer retention rate, which is generated according to quantifiable metrics obtained from customer surveys).
For more information, you may refer to our previous article for tips on identifying relevant Key Performance Indicators.

2. Numerical Scale

Managers may also choose to establish a numerical scale, with which employees may be ranked according to high, average and low performance metrics. The SHRM Foundation (2004) recommends a five-point scale, as it provides sufficient rating points to monitor employee performance. These performance standards may outline expectations for three different job levels (e.g. entry-level employee, experienced employee, and first-level manager). In addition, it may establish distinctive performance standards within each job level, (e.g. “Below Expectations,” “Meets Expectations” and “Above expectations”).

The SHRM Foundation suggests that employees should be assessed according to the following five-point scale: [3]
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Rating: 5

• Evaluation Standard: Most of the time, the employee performs “Above Expectations” for a specific task.

Rating: 4

• Evaluation Standard: The employee may perform “Above Expectations”, or may sometimes “Meet Expectations” for a specific task.

Rating: 3

• Evaluation Standard: Most of the time, the employee “Meets Expectations” for a specific task.

Rating: 2

• Evaluation Standard: The employee may “Meet Expectations”, or may sometimes perform “Below Expectations” for a specific task.

Rating: ​1

• Evaluation Standard: Most of the time, the employee performs “Below Expectations” for a specific task.

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References

​[1] Performance Management_Pulakos  pp.15
[2] Pulakos, E.D. (2004). Performance Management. VA, USA: SHRM Foundation. pp.9-19
[3] Pulakos, E.D. (2004). Performance Management. VA, USA: SHRM Foundation. pp.9-19