by Jim Hartigan
February 20, 2012
Successful organizations
recognize the importance of customer satisfaction to their own
sustained
business success. Leadership of
innovative organizations knows they need improved selection, training,
and
certification in customer satisfaction skills to produce successful,
customer-contact personnel. Just one
underperforming candidate in the critical, customer-contact role can be
an
expensive error, costing an organization in lost sales and repeat
customers. With the reach of social media, bad “word of
mouth” can be even more damaging!
 For this reason, many
organizations express a desire to become “best in class” in customer
satisfaction and establishment of a competency model is the first step
in this
journey. The framework we use at Orgwide, depicted here,
illustrates the relationship between four sets of interrelated human
resource
activities and the connection to a foundation in established Core
Competencies.
To be clear, driving best-in-class
performance requires development of a number of additional tools beyond
validating each job family’s core competencies, including:
- Interview Guides -
Designed to identify candidates possessing the knowledge, skills, and
abilities required for a particular job family to drive successful
performance
- Job Knowledge Tests
- Assessments should align with validated competencies required to be
successful in that particular job to ensure team members possess the
knowledge necessary to deliver the required business results
- Performance Reviews
- Performance reviews are essential to keeping team members
motivated. To maximize the value of performance reviews, you must
measure team member performance against the certified core competencies
required to be successful in that job.
- Individual Development
Plans - Coaching and the use of Individual Development Plans
(IDP) are best demonstrated practices. But how can you coach
someone when you haven't confirmed the competencies required to be
successful? Align your IDPs with established Competency Models to
improve and grow team member performance over time.
The foundation for all of
these vital management functions is the development of a set of validated
core competencies for each job. At
Orgwide, we follow a proven, five-step process listed below to develop
Competency Models for our clients.
- Identify Top Performers
- Identify incumbents in the position deemed to be most successfully
completing the job family's tasks today.
- Determine Critical Success
Tasks - Develop a list of "tasks" or job duties within the job
family that are completed on a regular basis by incumbents and critical
to overall success in the job.
- Conduct Success Factor
Survey - Conduct a research survey of the successful job
incumbents to rate the task statements by frequency and
importance.
- Factor Analyze Survey
Results - Rank-order the task statements based on the ratings
from the survey. Review and re-write the tasks based on expert
responses.
- Validate and Publish
- Provide a summary report establishing the psychometric properties of
the analyses and publish the finalized competencies.
While organizations can spend into seven
digits to complete this type of task, that level of investment isn’t
necessary. What is recommended is if you plan to use
your competency model to make critical employment decisions, you should
involve
an experienced and reputable partner in the validation and creation of
your
Competency Models to reduce your risk. Once
you have established the proven core competencies of success in a given
job
family, you are on your way to developing the other manpower management
processes to build sustainability into your business. If your
organization is ready to embrace
Competency Models, give us a call or
send us an e-mail
to learn more. Until next time remember,
Take Care of the Customer, Take Care of Each Other, Take Care of
Yourself.
About the
Author:
Jim Hartigan, Chief Business
Development Officer and Partner joined OrgWide Services, a
Training/e-Learning,
Communications, Surveys and Consulting firm in April 2010 after nearly
30 years
experience in the hospitality industry, including the last 18 as a
senior
executive with Hilton Worldwide.
Jim’s last position was that of Senior Vice President
– Global Brand
Services where he provided strategic leadership and business
development and support to the $22B enterprise of 10 brands and more
than 3,400 hotels in 80 countries around the world. His team was
responsible for ensuring excellence in system product quality, customer
satisfaction, market research, brand management, media planning, and
sustainability.
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