Why Are Competency Assessments Necessary?

Next-generation performance management OKR offers a methodology that supports many aspects by putting the career development of each employee under the scope. Performance evaluations based on OKR methodology design a success map depending on the determined objectives and key results. However, it does not only assess the current status of employees according to the determined OKRs, i.e., measure what percentage of objectives they have achieved but also apart from OKR success percentage, it provides a more comprehensive perspective by assessing competency.

What do competency assessments shed light on?

OKR approaches that also give importance to competency assessments also measure how the employee’s business acumen develops, how successful he or she is under different sub-titles in terms of soft skills (behavioral skills) and hard skills (technical skills). For example, as a soft skill, how solution-oriented the employee is or the extent to which he is prone to cooperation can be discussed. On the technical side, dominance over software that the employee should know can be questioned. 

As a result of the monitoring after the competency set is determined, competency assessments reveal at which points the employee can be better and what can be done for them, what his or her prominent talent is, whether he or she is willing to improve himself or herself or not, and what kind of position he or she has at the team level. 

How to perform competency assessment?

Assessment criteria are determined and specified in a transparent manner. Thus, competency can be defined. Since you cannot expect the same skills and skill levels from every employee, the competency definition varies by department and level. After different definitions are defined according to the department and level, the assessor is appointed. Depending on the rule set by the company, this assessor can be a manager, a team leader, or the person himself. The self-assessing employee also tries to consider his personal development objectively. The assessor does not have to be a single person, several different assessors can be appointed. If the company allows, employees can choose their own assessors. Besides the competencies determined specifically for everyone, some competencies that are absolutely required from every employee, depending on the core values, culture, industry, or mission of the company, can be integrated into competency assessments.

How to benefit from competency assessment results?

Employees can clearly see where they stand in terms of their skills in the eyes of people who they want them to assess. They will be motivated by knowing that their skills are noticed. Thus, employee loyalty increases. If the employee assesses himself, he will notice what he has contributed to himself on his journey to success over time. On the other hand, he will get ready to act by clearly understanding the aspects that need improvement with constructive feedback. For example, he may decide to enroll in new training for a new technical skill in such a check-in meeting. 

Team leaders find the opportunity to get to know and compare all team members better with competency assessment. They also find another opportunity to show that they appreciate the positive aspects. Various collaborations between individuals may emerge for employees to support each other in their competencies. Besides, they can see what they need to devote more time and effort to. They also notice whether there is a necessity for employee circulation. 

In cases, where employees can perform competency assessments for their managers, managers find the opportunity to discover whether they can become a mentor rather than a manager. While the perception of the manager in the eyes of the employees is very important for companies to retain important talents, the presence of such an analysis with competency assessment is also a great opportunity for managers. 

Performing competency reviews and providing feedback with the competency assessment module of WOKR, a next-generation performance management platform, is both easy and effective. You can request a demo right now.