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Best
Practices in Using an Automated Competency
Management System - Part 3 of 3
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This is the final installment of
this series and in February we'll be
returning to our Competency Management Q & A
article. If you have a competency management
related question you'd like answered, Submit your question today and
it may be featured in next month's
eNews.
In part 2 of this series, we
talked about how to make sure your competency
management project has the best possible
content. This month, we'll complete the
series by focusing on how the best organizations
make it easy for their users to participate in
competency assessments and planning
activities.
- Set up your interface for ease of use by
employees and managers. It's easy for a
project team to get caught up in the big picture
and forget that the majority of employees and
managers are likely to have a limited
understanding of how the system works.
- Access should be simple - perhaps a link on
the organization's intranet, or from a program
employees are likely to use daily.
- It should be obvious what employees are
expected to do as soon as they log in.
- Menus should be clean, uncluttered, and well
organized. You should be able to customize
what each employee or manager sees based on
their system privileges and need to enter
information or review data.
- The best way to ensure your system is user
friendly is to do user testing early in the
setup process. We recommend setting up a
test department with test users of all access
privilege types as soon as your program is
installed. That way, you can test the
impact of any design or content changes on all
types of users. We also recommend rounding
up a group of testers even before launching a
pilot so you can catch any user problems
early. It's helpful to have observers
watch these test users to uncover any areas of
uncertainty.
- Begin with the end in mind. Before you
start collecting competency data from your
workforce, it's important to anticipate data
needs for individual managers and the
organization as a whole. Don't waste anyone's
time collecting information you're not prepared
to use. On the other hand, if there's a
potential need for data before the next
assessment, it might be cost effective to
include it. For example, a recent client,
anticipating the launch of a succession
management program within 18 months decided to
add "Projected Retirement Date" to a survey to
obtain some preliminary data to support their
succession initiative. Prior to any
competency assessment, it's important to ask
several questions. What is your primary
purpose for the assessment? What secondary
purposes might be served by the data you collect
in this assessment? How long do you think
the data collected in this assessment will be
valid?
- Provide several types of communication and
training resources for users. For most
organizations launching a competency initiative
for the first time, you can't provide too much
communication and training for users. It's
important not to overload people with
information; it's often best to "chunk"
information into a series of digestible messages
rather than send out one 5-page document.
Some of the most successful communication and
training resources we've seen include:
- An initial announcement that clearly states
both the desired organizational impact and the
WIIFM (what's in it for me) impact on employees
and managers.
- Frequently asked questions that start with
the questions that project team members and
initial testers have and add real questions from
real users as they arise. For this, you'll
need some method for users to communicate with
the team; a special email address often works
well for this.
- Quick reference guides that take up no more
than one piece of paper. Include diagrams,
screen shots and bulleted lists, but avoid too
much detail. The operative word is
"Quick."
- Customized online help screens that include
any special organizational terminology or
instructions is very
helpful.
We've presented nine
brief best practices in this 3 part series of
articles. Click here for the previous 6 best
practices in the Nov and Oct eNewsletters. We
expect to identify many more in the coming months,
and as we do we'll continue to share them.
Best wishes in your own efforts!
Remember:
Make it easy for your users!
- Set up your user interface to make
assessments and development planning as simple
as possible for employees.
- Begin with the end in mind; anticipate data
needs for managers and the organization before
collecting data.
- Provide several types of communication and
training resources for users.
Cheers!
Chris
Hipple
Director of Workforce Development
Solutions
hipple@avilar.com
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Trouble
with your Competency Model?
|
Avilar
works with organizations to help them develop
competency models and implement competency
management programs that align workforce potential
with business goals.
Avilar can help
you:
Want to speak with someone who's
been working with competency models and competency
management programs for years? Email us today.
Or,
visit our website for a more detailed description
of our Competency Model Development
Services.
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Upcoming
Workshop
|
Workshop: Putting Competency
Management to WORK for your
Organization
This one-day workshop is
designed for individuals who are undertaking
competency management initiatives and are looking
to expand their understanding of competency
management.
Participants will learn
about:
- tools and methods that can streamline the
process
- several different approaches real
organizations have taken to make significant
impact
The workshop is interactive,
fast-paced and flexible based on participant's
needs. All exercises are contained in a 100-page
workshop manual that can be used as a
post-workshop reference tool. See the Table of
Contents.
Next scheduled
date: Feb. 9, 2010
Avilar
Headquarters
Columbia, MD
REGISTER TODAY!
Avilar
can also provide 1-day & 2-day workshops at your location and
a range of online workshops (called WebShops) to educate and
consult with organizations on all things
"competency
management."
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About
Avilar |
Avilar
provides web-based competency management and
eLearning solutions to small and mid-sized
organizations in a range of industries and
disciplines.
Formed in 1997, Avilar was a
pioneer in the  e-learning marketplace and
quickly learned that a competency based approach
to workforce development was the most effective
way to deliver results.
Since its
inception, Avilar has been using its expertise in
developing information technology to improve
organizations through managing workforce
competencies. Avilar brings leading human capital
management and business intelligence professionals
together with a state-of-the-art workforce
management system to solve the complex issues
facing managers of global workforces in the 21st
Century.
Avilar offers much more than a
leading software platform to support competency
management. With competency management and
eLearning consultants on staff, we provide the
consulting skills and experience necessary to
ensure your project has a meaningful impact on
your organization. Avilar's management team,
located in the Washington, DC area, believes our
mission to improve organizational competencies
will lead to higher value for our clients and
partners.
Contact us today to explore the
possibilities.
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