What Is Competency Based Performance Evaluation ?

First of all, what is competency-based performance appraisal? Competency-based performance appraisal is an approach to assessing an employee’s performance based on their demonstration of specific skills, knowledge, behaviors and attributes that are considered essential for their role in an organization.

The business world is a large arena that has to keep pace with ever-changing dynamics. Traditional performance appraisal methods are no longer able to keep up with this rapid change and respond to the requirements of the business world.

So What Is Competence?

In the ultimate context, competence is used in the sense of distinctive equipment on a business basis. Competences in the field of business are largely learnt later and can be continuously developed through training. One of the most important features of competence is that it is measurable and visible. Competence includes not only technical knowledge but also soft skills such as communication, leadership and problem solving. Although the concept of competence is often used synonymously with outstanding performance, it also has a different usage.

The Types of  COmpetences You Should Include In Your Performance Appraisals

The competencies that should be included in performance appraisal may vary depending on the goals, culture and way of doing business of the organisation. However, in general, we can think of some universal competencies that many organisations in the business world find valuable.

Here are some examples of common competences that should be included in performance appraisal:

Communication Skills:

• • Effective communication
  • Open communication within the team
  • Sharing information and communicating effectively

Leadership Competencies:

• Team management and leadership
• Decision-making ability
• Taking responsibility and fulfilling leadership tasks

Problem Solving

• Creative Thinking
• Solution orientated approach to problems
• Analytical thinking and problem solving skills

Co-operation and Teamwork:

• Interaction and co-operation within the team
• Supporting team members
• Creating a positive impact within the team

Customer Orientation:

• Understanding and meeting customer needs
• Focus on customer satisfaction

Change Management:

• Innovative thinking
• Adapting to change and directing others
• Managing change processes

Business Ethics and Reliability:

• Reliability and integrity
• Ethical behaviour and business ethics

Why Conduct Competency Assessment?

While it is possible to directly measure business results and determine performance, it may sometimes seem unnecessary to focus on the competencies of individuals. However, competency assessment is of indispensable importance for businesses. Competency-oriented performance evaluation focuses on the factors that may have an impact on the result instead of focusing on the result.

This method plays a critical role in determining development targets. This method, which provides the opportunity to determine the deficiencies of the personnel within the enterprise and to provide feedback on these deficiencies, also allows the development plan to be easily created to eliminate these deficiencies.

What Are The Stages of Competency Based Performance Appraisal?

The first stage of competency-based performance appraisal is to identify competences. This involves understanding the knowledge, skills and characteristics required for a particular position or role.

Determining which skills and at what level employees should exhibit will lead to a more effective performance. When creating a competency model, especially behavioural elements should be used more.

The second stage is the determination of performance criteria. Specific criteria are determined for the evaluation of each competence. These criteria will be used to objectively evaluate the performance of the employee.  It should be clearly determined which competences will be taken into account during the performance evaluation process and these competences should be shared with the personnel to be evaluated

The third stage is to analyse and monitor the performance of employees. At this stage, managers should examine the behaviour of the employees under their responsibility and evaluate their competencies. Here, the focus should be on the competences of the people and personal relationships should not be included in this evaluation process. The manager should periodically give feedback to the employees whose behaviours are observed and whose competencies are evaluated, and inform them about their deficiencies in a non-offensive and proper language.

The fourth stage is the evaluation of competences. The observations made in the previous stage are evaluated at the end of the measurement period and analysed to see whether the employee’s competencies are at the desired level. The ultimate goal of this stage is to develop reliable methods to carry out the evaluation process impartially. In this context, 360 performance evaluation comes to the fore. This application, in which more than one person participates, produces more accurate and reliable results compared to evaluations made by a single person.

The fifth and final stage is to review the performance and provide feedback to the employees in order to make necessary improvements. One of the main objectives of the competency-based performance evaluation method is to identify the deficiencies of the personnel and to ensure and maintain development by focusing on them. For this reason, the results of the evaluation should be shared openly with the employee, deficient areas should be highlighted and necessary training programmes should be offered. In addition, the focus should be on closing the so-called “competence gap”, which is the difference between the competences that the employee should have and the existing competences.