Competencies are observable abilities, skills, knowledge or traits defined in terms of the behaviours required for an employee to excel in his or her job profile.

When applied to an organisation’s learning and development programme, competence-based development can lead to more effective and efficient personal development.  

Step 1

Self assessment to understand job profile requirements and to maintain personal effectiveness

• Continually self-assess and seek feedback from others to identify strengths and limitations.

• Pursue training and development opportunities. 

Step 2

Seek to develop personal competencies to fit current job profiles

• Try new approaches to maximise learning in current situation.

• Take advantage of internal learning opportunities.

• Integrate new learning into work methods.

Step 3

Seek development opportunities beyond current job profile competency requirements

• Set personal and professional goals and targets for self in view of growth beyond current job.

• Actively pursue self-development on an ongoing basis (technically and personally).

• Pursue projects designed to challenge personal abilities.

Step 4

Align personal competence development with organisation objectives and goals

• Design personal learning objectives based on evolving needs of the portfolio or business unit.

• Use organisational change as an opportunity to develop new competencies.

Step 5

Align personal learning with anticipated change in organisational strategy

• Identify future competencies required by the organisation and develop and pursue learning plans accordingly.

• Continuously scan the environment to keep abreast of emerging developments in the broader business context.

With S$5.5 billion committed over the next five years to raise productivity, the government is taking bold steps to achieve its goal of 2% to 3% productivity growth over the next decade.

A key measure highlighted to increase productivity involves raising the skills and creative potential of every worker. 

"We will progressively build up a first-class system for Continuing Education and Training (CET) over the next decade. This will be a major investment in our people, up and down the skills ladder.

“Our employers must also empower their people to find new ways to create value, and help unlock every worker’s potential. The best companies already do this; we must spread this enabling culture across all businesses,” said Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

CET and investment in development of the workforce is now more important than ever. At Comaea, we fiercely believe in making human capital work. A competence-based training and development programme can make the difference between a run of the mill and a value adding, strategic based development programme.

A competence-based development programme lets you define employee job profiles that are specific, comprehensive and consistent throughout the organisation. This helps to ascertain if employees possess the required competencies for each job profile he or she is involved in. 

By applying this framework, strategic development decisions that are backed by facts can be made. Increase productivity today by developing a job profile specific competent workforce. 

Comaea Singapore has just released a new package customised for Executive Search firms. Using the Comaea model of competency based screening, search consultants are empowered with value-adding features, greater efficiency, more accurate matching with more reliability and clarity. 

1. Understanding clients' needs: Have an effective and precise communication channel to understand your clients' job profile requirements. Using Comaea's job profile competency model, search consultants are able to have a comprehensive and meticulous understanding of the requirements of your clients.

2. Insight of your talent pool: Obtain a detailed competency profile of your talent based on your clients' requirements. These profiles can be viewed easily using Comaea's web-based software.

3. Screen and shortlist: Accurately identify a pool of suitable candidates using the advanced search and filter tool, follow up with fact-based analysis outputs in the form of reports and graphs.

Ensure client satisfaction with quality competency-based matches, Comaea style. Contact us today for a demo!

"Most companies only use one third of their employees' skills," says Per Palmer, Founder of Comaea. 

Resource management software is finding its way into mainstream businesses and helping HR to utilise the talents in their organisations. More specifically, allocating the right staff to the right projects can in fact help companies to maximise its human capital potential. Comaea's web-based competence management tool allows companies to to create searchable databases of their talents that allow companies to look internally for for the skills they need. Read more 

Hay Group had found that 29 per cent of employees in Singapore feel frustrated in their jobs while 35 per cent feel detached. In the current climate of slow yet cautious recovery, it is imperative that firms have a satisfied and motivated workforce.

This, however, is easier said than done. Tight budgets and cash flows suggest that the year-end variable performance bonuses will be kept to a minimum. How then can firms keep their employees motivated and happy? Speak with any HR practitioner or coach and words like respect, incentives, recognition and communication will without doubt be brought up.
What is truly important though, is the understanding by employees that they are significantly contributing to the success of the organisation. This is followed up with due recognition and is based upon constant two way communication.

Due recognition: Recognition not only comes in the form of financial benefits. In fact, most of the top executives studied in Jim Collins’ book Good to Great found that there were no correlations between the types of financial compensation packages with the success of these management executive teams. There are many suggestions on how to confer recognition such as thank you notes and public recognition but generally, a sincere and genuine show of appreciation by a superior would suffice.

Two way communication: Communication is an often harked, yet highly unheralded value. This goes beyond the usual contrived annual performance management review. The true value of communication often comes from places outside the office: a meal in a restaurant, after dinner drinks or even at the bi-annual department outing. A constant and continuous form of dialogue over the work year also shows employees that their manager is actually interested in them, instead of simply going through the motions.

Employee contribution and empowerment: The single greatest element of keeping employees motivated is to assign to them responsibilities that have an actual effect on the organisation’s bottom line. With the right form of empowerment, a positive work environment can be created where employees are motivated by their actions which they know directly impacts the organisation, rather than a punitive work environment where work is purely done to avoid punishment.

Where does Comaea come into this picture of keeping employees motivated? With a complete and proper competence profile of your department, it is easy to see which areas your employees are excelling in and which areas they would need some development and training. By managing each and every one of your employees as human capital or actual resources, you allow them to feel like they matter and that their skills are being strategically aligned and deployed according to the organisation’s needs. In addition, Comaea is web-based and removes large chunks of paper based administrative tasks, leaving more time and energy for communication between line manager and employees.

Do consider the effects the past year has had on your employees and ask yourself the critical question of how your em
ployees are feeling right now; are they ready to work together with you to ride the wave of recovery. Give us a call if you think you need help.