Competency framework:
The essential

To start, let's talk about the reality experienced in business: 58% of them have a centralized repository, but only 16% say that it is up to date. This is because these projects are considered cumbersome, and their benefits do not seem, at the beginning, to be worth as much time.

Think again, on the one hand, this tool can be created very quickly, and, on the other hand, as soon as you reach The critical size of 250-300 people it becomes indispensable. For example, here are the words of Marine de Scorbiac, VP Talent, Culture and Learning at Aircall.

I was convinced of the relevance of the skill mesh as a central unit of measurement in our career management.

Thus Marine created 3 different directories: “Universal competencies”, “technical competencies” and “leadership competencies” with 2 main objectives:

• Rationalize and objectify career development and mobility.
• Appreciate recruitments with more pragmatism, which are now based on the skills of candidates.

Let's continue by defining the terminologies used in the framework of the constitution of references.

Job references and skills frameworks

1. Job Repository

What is the definition of a job reference framework?

The job repository lists all the jobs of a company in a way shared between employees. Depending on the level of granularity desired this nomenclature can detail, from the finest to the broadest, the position, the job, the reference job and finally the profession.

It allows everyone to find the key information necessary for the proper execution of their job, such as role and mission descriptions, methodologies, tools used, processes, and best practices. The inventory of professions offers a common vision and facilitates the control of their role and their universe, by providing a common language and resources. This system is always created in advance of the tool below, which details the skills.

The 6 golden rules for a good job repository

A good business framework should reflect the reality on the ground while serving your HR use cases. Here are the 6 key rules that we identified after more than 150 projects carried out with our customers:

1. Choose the right granularity level
   A job brings together coherent and exploitable activities. No need to go right to the task.
2. Use explicit labels
   Prefer titles that everyone can understand. Avoid internal or fuzzy codes.
3. Harmonize the format
   Each job sheet must follow a standardized structure to facilitate reading and comparison.
4. Anchor each activity in reality
   Describe the concrete, observable, and current activities of collaborators.
5. Make navigation intuitive
   Create a clear tree structure: job families > jobs > positions.
6. Adjust it to HR uses
   A good framework lives through GEPP, mobility, staffing and AI.

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2. Competency framework

What is the definition of the competency framework?

A competency framework is a tool that allows group, structure and manage professional skills of a company. In particular, it is used to identify the abilities required for a position, as well as the necessary levels of mastery of the various skills and the individual and collective development programs of employees.

This bookstore can be organized into different categories such as technical, behavioral, cognitive, or sectoral skills. The different types of skills are detailed on our page for this purpose.

The 6 golden rules of a good competency framework

1. Limit the number of skills
   15 skills per job are sufficient in most cases. For uses such as staffing, this can go up to 20.
2. Target high-impact jobs
   Prioritize the 20% of jobs that account for 80% of the organization's added value.
3. Formulate concisely
   Clear titles of 1 to 3 words promote readability and reuse in HR tools.
4. Avoid over-specialization
   A skill should not include context: it is transversal and can be shared.
5. Keep the structure simple
   Too many domains, families, or levels make the repository difficult to use on a daily basis.
6. Adapt it continuously
   Gather feedback from the field to develop skills as the company evolves.‍‍

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What are the current obstacles to the creation of a skills framework?

Let's be transparent: if this tool has not been more democratized, it is because there are many reasons for not initiating the process. Here are the main obstacles that our customers report:

1. Brake number 1 : “Our jobs are evolving too fast, we cannot update them effectively.”
2. Brake number 2 : “Each entity does its job on its own, we do not have a common nomenclature”.
3. Brake number 3 : “Our current information system is not flexible enough but we cannot change it”
4. Brake number 4 : “It's too tedious work for too few results”
5. Brake number 5 : “If managers only used a quarter of what we produce for them...”

Are you wondering if the investment is worth it? Discover The real cost of a competency framework and how AI Agents allow this budget to be divided by 2 to 3.

All these obstacles legitimize a form of inertia. To be exhaustive, here are the benefits experienced by the companies that have initiated this approach:

• Natixis. The French structure increased internal mobility by 60% based on the reference framework in less than 1 year. This bet has been won in a context of talent shortage, especially since the cost of external recruitment is on average €20K and its failure... €50K. See the full success story.

• Sage. In a context of transformation of its activity from “On-Premise” software to Software as a Service, the France structure managed to develop 250 people at first before expanding to a larger scope. Learn about the customer case.

We are going to introduce you best practices to follow in order to federate all the stakeholders and guarantee the sustainable use of this system at the heart of a full mapping.

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Why use a tool that brings together a company's wealth of professional skills?

LThe creation of this tool goes hand in hand with the achievement of several objectives for HR actors: employees, managers and HR teams (HR managers, employment managers, career managers, training managers,...) and social partners.

The rationale behind this talent model for employees:

By describing the environment of the company's jobs, this tool gives a point of reference to talents for better accountability in the management of key competencies.

• A better understanding of its assets and its areas of improvement. The levels of control of expectations offer visibility on the understanding of the employment of employees. The latter thus become being actors in their own development.
• A continuous update of its level of mastery. To assess the levels achieved, the collaborator goes through an initial self-assessment. This can then be supplemented by taking into account the assessment of managers and colleagues, so the employee has a third-party opinion.
• An opportunity to take ownership of internal opportunities. Thanks to the directory of the company's professions, the employee visualizes the unique career paths and career paths towards which he can turn.

The dynamic competency matrix plays a role in guiding internal trajectories for talent.

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The advantages of the dynamic skills directory for managers:

• A performance management tool : the performance of an employee comes from several sources including the good adequacy of the level of qualifications of an individual within a profession. Thus, this internal index makes it possible to explain and manage individual and collective performance.
• Individual adjustment of goals : the manager now focuses on rational performance factors and promotes the development of individual expertise in a targeted manner. The objectives are now adapted to everyone, the result is a better individualization of relationships with each member of the team.
• An internal recruitment tool : all the assets sought after when recruiting are visible in an “Internal Talent Marketplace”. Designed as a catalog of capacities that can be mobilized for projects or sustainable jobs, this platform gives the opportunity to streamline the allocation of resources. Beyond the level of skills, the manager will also be able to visualize the level of appetite of the employee in order to develop the know-how that internal recruitment is the subject of.

The benefits of the competency grid for the HR team:

• A pillar of Job Management and Career Pathways : the qualification base is used to estimate what the company needs to maintain its performance. It thus meets the “description of the economic environment” and impacts on business activities section of GEPP, which our partner Implid describes in his article.”the lever for sustainable performance“. The matrix thus constituted gives a precise diagnosis of the skills mastered and the achievements at risk by profession, population, seniority...
• A source of streamlining training programs : long subject to the sole injunctions of managers, support needs now benefit from reliable indicators. The areas where upskilling and reskilling stand out more clearly, they are then discussed during career committees to establish priorities. Skills mapping and streamlining training are closely intertwined.
• A first step towards Tactical Workforce Planning : short- or medium-term resource planning consists in integrating business scenarios and planning resources not only in terms of quantity but especially in terms of quality.

How do you distinguish between position, job and profession in the reference frame?

Upstream of the Competence library It is a question of defining The index of trades. A certain form of freedom can be used in the level of association of qualifications with the individuals who mobilize them, it is nevertheless a question of reaching an agreement during its development.

Here's how not to confuse the concepts of “position” and “profession”:

• Le Poste : it relates to an individual and therefore defines a work situation specific to a single person. This position is visible on the payslip, there are as many positions as there are employees in a company.
• L'Emploi : It is defined by a set of positions that are similar in terms of their common purposes and activities. Therefore, a job includes positions that require similar skills.
• Le Métier : unlike employment, the job is transversal to several internal organizations or Business Units. Technical mastery and similar purposes make it possible to group reference jobs into a single profession.

What are the areas of expertise to be integrated into your tool?

We recommend including 4 areas of expertise in your inventory:

1. Skills at risk.
2. Skills for the future.
3. Transversal knowledge.
4. Development needs.

How do you develop a competency framework step by step?

Structuring the development process

The establishment of such a system follows 3 initial steps:

• Step 1: First of all, it is important to Define key competencies For each position, we recommend selecting between 12 and 15 qualifications.
  • Businesses are used to conducting this first phase from the angle of construction workshops with various interlocutors. They create, often from scratch, a list or tree structure from the beginning.
  • If we are convinced of the benefits of the exercise, we recommend relying on a existing skill base that Neobrain can generate from basic data and contextualize according to your sector.

• Step 2 : Afterwards, It is appropriate to formulate each item in detail. Our formulation recommendation is as follows:”I am able to + Verb + Context + Object“

For example, “I am able to present an activity report in English at a general meeting.”

• Step 3: Finally, it is crucial to specify the expected levels of mastery. We recommend 4 levels of mastery :

1. Beginner
2. Good notions but no autonomy
3. Complete autonomy
4. The collaborator is able to train on this concept

Once knowledge has been identified and described, it is time to integrate them into a management platform. This system centralizes all of the company's professional skills through a single system whose added value is easy to update. We describe this on our page on the new methods of updating the standards.

It is also possible to create a matrix from an existing model or an architecture called”ontology of competencies“.

What is the definition of “competency ontology”?

A competency ontology is a data structure which represents the qualifications and knowledge required for a set of specific tasks or activities. All of these skills data are linked to each other according to their proximity.

Ultimately, an ontology serves as the basis for the creation of a common nomenclature to carry out various HR operations. For example, it will be the base for link an employee profile to an internal vacancy, or link a training course to an employee's training path. Time savings in creating the repository, strengthening the robustness of the data: read our A comprehensive guide to competency ontology.

Depending on the size of your project, it is also recommended to use a competency taxonomy.

What is the definition of “the competency taxonomy”?

To facilitate the understanding of this concept, Taxonomy is a bit like a library shelf. Do you know when you organize your books in order of difficulty or by theme? It's the same for skills! The HR team classifies the various elements by level of difficulty or by area of expertise.

Example: imagine that you are building a competency framework for an IT developer position.

Here are our tips for breaking down tasks:

1. Evaluate the opportunity to use various existing ontologies, while ensuring that they are in line with your organizational specificities.
2. Present to your stakeholders the competency data included in this ontology in a”Skills Workshop“, in order to validate and refine it.
3. Give users access to your tool As soon as possible in the process in order to confirm, disprove certain skills, add skills.
4. Finalize your repository after new workshops.

Construction of the competency framework by inference

The PwC Consulting Group launched a Talent Marketplace without waiting for a well-established competency framework. We started from existing data on career paths and interests of its collaborators and then we proceeded by inference.

What is competency inference?

Competency inference uses artificial intelligence to analyze data such as work experience, education and interests in order toidentify and infer an individual's skills, even if they are not explicitly mentioned.

We were able to create a efficient system despite imperfect data. This dynamic approach makes it possible to continuously improve our frame of reference and to ensure subsequent matches between talent and opportunities. Daghan Or, People Technology & Innovation Leader testifies to this innovative construction:

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The 4 best practices to structure your skills system

Many stakeholders have to rebuild their nomenclature because its design has not been optimized. Here are 4 best practices to follow:

1. Create your central tool with the right contacts. While the involvement of business sponsors, business experts and managers contributes to the support of the greatest number of people, it is counterproductive to ask for the participation of other functions.
2. Opt for a hybrid approach. Structure the assets of employees both with the project committee made up of HR, business experts, and Business Unit directors, and provide feedback on the skills required to perform the job from the employees themselves.
3. Describe each skill homogeneously. We recommend using an action verb, a context and an object to standardize the approach and manage to create bridges between several professions in the organization.
4. Anticipate emerging expertise. Fighting against the obsolescence of certain faculties and certain professions requires carrying out A watch on the evolution expertise in your sector.

Les Factors influencing jobs and skills the most notable today are artificial intelligence and sustainable development. Neobrain modelled The impact of AI on 100 jobs, we suggest that you examine these changes and draw the consequences for your skills architecture.

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How to include the skills matrix in your GPEC approach?

To create a relevant system, it is important to take into account the specificities of the company and its professions. Thus, a competency framework for a service company will be different from that of an industrial company. The GPEC or GEPP aims to anticipate external transformations in order to maintain the employability of your employees. Also, automation, sustainable development and AI now have a strong impact on your talents and on the emergence of new skills.

At the HR team level, Neobrain provides an HR dashboard designed to manage emerging skills. This can in particular be used as part of your training process.

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How to adapt your instrument to your sectoral reality?

To save time developing your instrument, we recommend that you use the numerous external resources:

• The Operational Directory of Trades and Jobs (ROME): the operational directory of trades and jobs, built by Pôle Emploi, is a valuable source: based on existing jobs within your company, you will find job descriptions and associated qualifications. A new version of this instrument has been developed, the ROME 4.0. This is an invaluable time-saver for you to build your central tool.
• Les Observatories des Métiers : within the branches, observatories are in charge of carrying out studies, business analyses and providing companies with food for thought. We have listed all the business observatories on this file is free to access.
• The OPCOs : skills operators provide job sheets and lists of key qualifications. Do not hesitate to get closer to your Branch OPCO. Explore these resources that complement working with your solution provider.
• The ESCO classification of the European Commission lists around 13,500 skills in 3,000 professions. Here is the link to The ESCO standard
• The partners of the Ministry of Labor are grouped together in a page dedicated to employment resources.

Involve managers in setting up the skills system

Setting up your instrument requires the support of all actors in the company, especially managers. They must be trained to use the deployed system after having been made aware of its benefits for their team. We recommend include them in the identification of competencies necessary for each position and the implementation of an action plan to develop their teams.

The key criterion for the success of the system is based on the use of the catalog at various key moments:

• Evaluating the performance of employees.
• Composition of the succession plan.
• Objectification of mobilities or developments.
• Planning the support journey

That's why ergonomics, ease of adoption of the system are key determinants in choosing your final tool. The user experience matters enormously and allows the HR team to”Score points“with a population of managers renowned for their ability to challenge HR initiatives. We give you some keys to successfully create an engaging UX.

In conclusion, The establishment of a professional skills framework is an essential approach in a context of rapid change in the competitive context. It is only the beginning of a governance process essential for the sustainability of the system.

Neobrain can help you solve the problems of designing and managing your system on a daily basis:

1. Stop the endless workshops to formalize the content of your architecture.
2. Going beyond a static model that does not draw on the new expertise of your environment.
3. Remove duplicate skills that compromise the use of data
4. Create a model that will actually be used and highlighted by the trades.

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