Competency Mapping

Competency mapping is a process an individual uses to identify and describe competencies that are the most critical to success in a work situation or work role. Competency mapping is a process through which one assesses and determines one’s strengths as an individual worker and in some cases, as part of an organization. It generally examines two areas: emotional intelligence or emotional quotient (EQ), and strengths of the individual in areas like team structure, leadership, and decision-making. Large organizations frequently employ some form of competency mapping to understand how to most effectively employ the competencies of strengths of workers. They may also use competency mapping to analyze the combination of strengths in different workers to produce the most effective teams and the highest quality work.
Competency mapping is a process of identifying key competencies for a particular position in an organisation, and then using it for job-evaluation, recruitment, training and development, performance management, succession planning, etc. "The competency framework serves as the bedrock for all HR applications. As a result of competency mapping, all the HR processes like talent induction, management development, appraisals and training yield much better results," states well-known HR consultant Ullhas Pagey. He however points out that the competency movement has caught on much better in the non-IT sector than the IT sector. Only a few IT organizations which are at the higher end of the HR value chain are known to be doing some work in this area; most are more busy handling recruitment and compensation-related matters. "Unless managements and HR heads have holistic expectations from their HR departments, the competency movement is unlikely to succeed as it requires lot of time, dedication and money," he adds, pointing out that before an organization embarks on this journey it has to be very clear about the business goals, capability-building imperatives and core competencies of the organization. The competency mapping process needs to be strongly integrated with these aspects.