Competence-Based Training & Development (page 1 of 2)

Successful organizations today are moving from a "personnel" focus toward a proactive style of HR management in order to add value to the company.

To accomplish this strategic shift, managers, consultants and line personnel need to start focusing on the links between the various functions within the company.

Focusing on these links is important because of the challenges organizations are facing in today's global environment. Some of the most critical challenges include aging workforces, shortages of skilled workers, technological advancements and increasing global competition. Of course, within the region, Nationalization efforts present additional challenges, as we focus on sharing and transferring knowledge from our skilled workforce to new national employees!

How can a company overcome these challenges? Using effective human resource management principles is a good way to start! To accomplish this task we need to design a system that integrates these "various puzzle pieces" such as, career planning, staffing, employee development, succession planning, appraising the workforce, compensation administration, and employee relations. Failure to "build that puzzle" results in tackling problems in isolation and this can lead to a workforce that often performs below their fullest potential.

Putting the puzzle together is even more critical when Nationalization efforts are considered! Before a company can make progress in its goal of developing and preparing new national employees to assume positions within the organization it must understand the link of between strategic manpower planning and other HR processes, such as, recruiting and selection. Successful nationalization programs will need to be based on current and future job requirements, providing the right level of compensation, benefits, and incentives that will help attract and sustain dedicated and motivated national employees.

And why is this shift toward a proactive approach so important? Because if a company fails to react to the sweeping changes taking place around the world today there is a good chance their business will fail. Staying in business means an organization must continually provide a service or product, at an acceptable cost, that fits the needs of its customers!

In order to accomplish this goal we must ensure that we have employees who can safely, effectively and efficiently perform their assigned jobs. And of course that leads us to the original purpose of the article, competence-based training and development, because people are one of an organization's most valuable assets. By having a well designed competence-based training and development program the organization will be able to ensure it has the right people, with the right skills, at the right time, to accomplish their business objectives.

But what is competence? Competence is often defined as a combination of awareness, skills, knowledge and attitude that enables an individual to perform a job to the standards required for successful job performance. In other words, competence deals with "what is expected in the workplace" with the emphasis on performing an actual job and not gaining knowledge or skills for their own sake.

This means that a competence-based program needs to focus on building the knowledge and skills needed in a particular job. Competence-based programs are also used to increase employees' current job performance, prepare them for changing job requirements or introduce new tools or technology in the work place.