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Competency Management News-To-Use
| The Human Capital Management 2005 Study |
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Most HR Professionals See A Critical Need to Evaluate
Talent
Fifty-eight percent of the 96 globally-located HR
professionals who participated in the Human Capital Management
(HCM) 2005 study by Avilar Technologies identified the need to
evaluate talent as critical in their organizations. Over 40
percent identified additional critical needs areas in
identifying training, assessing the impact of losing top
talent, and evaluating the results of hiring people based on
the wrong competencies. Although unmet critical needs are bad,
the good news is 91 percent of HR professionals find self and
manager assessments, the most common measurement mode for
evaluating the above critical needs areas, as somewhat
accurate. Only 9 percent of respondents said they considered
these assessments inaccurate.
Avilar CEO, John Skowlund, is encouraged by the
survey. “Before a need is met it must be identified and the
HCM study clearly shows the HR industry is aware of a talent
evaluation need. All organizations can benefit from talent
evaluation and competency management and as soon as management
realizes this we’ll see a huge turn in the efficiency
utilization of America’s workforce.”
Competency management and the evaluation of talent is
old news to Hal Gerrish, Avilar’s Director of Competency
Management. In 1988 Gerrish founded and presided over Skills
Management International (SMI) and ever since has been on the
forefront of competency management implementation. “Of the 19
years I’ve been implementing competency management this is the
most popular the concept has been,” said Gerrish. “Management
interest also seems to be increasing, but is still lagging
behind the needs of organizations.”
Over half of the surveyed companies cited their top
challenge faced in competency management is developing the
processes, tools and organizational capabilities necessary to
effectively implement and sustain the system. “As Avilar
develops our new web-based Competency Management system,
WebMentor Skills, we deliberately considered how to simplify the
implementation process,” said Gerrish. “If the processes and
tools are readily available, all we need is a commitment and
the program can roll out in only a few weeks.”
Other issues raised by the study include:
- Management buy-in was one of the greatest obstacles in
rolling out EPM improvement programs.
- When asked for the top challenges faced in competency
management, one HR professional wrote, “6 words: Buy in. Buy
in. Buy in!”
- Although every professional surveyed listed critical
employee improvement needs, only 26 percent are currently
utilizing Competency Management software, leaving most
companies relying on paper-based systems which require
calculating reports by hand.
- Seventy-six percent are not planning on purchasing EPM
software, which encompasses all of the critical needs areas
identified by respondents.
- Over fifty-percent of the companies surveyed are not
using 360-degree assessments, some reasons cited were time
consumption and cost.
For the complete study which
includes additional findings and consulting advice from a
Competency Management Solutions Practice Manager, visit:
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| Industry News |
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Technology and Succession Planning: Moving the
Organization Up
“Succession planning and strategic planning go
‘hand in hand.’”
When the 42,000 person firm Well-Point merged with
Anthem the only logical way to assess the competencies in the
workforce was with technology. Many companies are creating a
similar path to Well- Point and Anthem, regardless of their
size. Competency and assessment plans once done on paper are
now measured with software programs and stretch throughout the
organization. Moving the organization up is the priority as
opposed to moving management up. With the comparative expense
of hiring and turnover as opposed to maintaining and growing a
workforce, assessing and developing is being seen as the
intelligent way for a business to continue. Management buy-in
and continued strategic focuses are musts to creating an
effective program.
For
the Full Article...
The Increasing Importance of Analytic-Driven
Decision Making
An article posted by CIO magazine explores the
increase in analytic-driven decision making.
Many successful organizations are now using
statistics as the most important decision-making influence.
Quantitative analysis is used in pricing, identifying
customers, hiring, training and development. Author Tom
Davenport cites many dominant companies such as Wal-Mart,
Harrah’s, Amazon and Yahoo who base decisions on statistics
they collect year-round. However without a method for
collecting data, a company cannot take part in this growing
strategic practice.
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| Avilar Events |
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Avilar will be present at the following conferences:
IHRIM HRM Strategies Conference &
Expo
Washington, DC
April 9-12
ASTD International Conference and Expo
Dallas,
Texas
May 7-10
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Avilar Announcements |
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Latin America Growth
Avilar’s focus on Latin America expansion has paid
off as it has shown a 490 percent revenue growth in the last
five years, locally-positioned consultants and a new office in
Mexico City.
“We saw a need and acted on it,” said Avilar CEO,
John Skowlund. “Many companies hesitate to grow
internationally but we made deliberate strides in that
direction. We found a reason to begin work in Mexico by
actively searching for a regional client and then worked with
Mexico-based consultants to ensure we met the client’s needs
without risking language or cultural misunderstandings.”
Expansion began when Avilar beat out several
competitors in a bid to provide a web-based training and
assessment platform for the Federal Government of Mexico.
Avilar’s WebMentor LMS and WebMentor Skills solutions are used
to measure and improve the technical and professional skills
of employees throughout the government. As part of the ongoing
project, pre-school teachers throughout Mexico will be trained
and certified in childhood development and education.
WebMentor Skills is used to assess the skills needs of the
teachers and prescribe the appropriate learning plan based
upon the difference between the current skills and the
required skills of the teachers. Then, WebMentor LMS provides
the web-based platform where teachers can gain those skills by
taking classes over the internet.
Avilar is preceding this success with a Latin America
regional office in Mexico City and an increase in Mexico
consultants. Additional expansions are planned into other
countries such as India.
Avilar Invited to Deloitte’s Fast 50
Due in part to international growth, Avilar was
selected to Deloitte’s Fast 50 in Maryland and the overall
Fast 500 list for the US. Avilar was ranked 12th on the list
which recognizes high growth revenue over the last five years
among technology companies. Past winners include Google,
WebMethods and Blackboard.
“Avilar’s management team and hard work has led them
to an impressive showing of growth and we are pleased to honor
them,” said Andrew Harris, Principal, Deloitte and Touche LLP
in McLean, Virginia. “To achieve Fast 50 status takes a
long-term vision to develop software that solves business
issues.”
For more Avilar news...
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