Competency mapping is a strategic HR process that identifies and outlines the specific skills, knowledge, and attributes required to perform a particular job within an organization successfully.
In this article, you'll get a step-by-step guide to performing an effective competency mapping process, as well as expert solutions to the most common challenges of the process.
Understanding the organization’s strategic goals provides a foundation for competency mapping.
The process starts with human resources establishing clear goals for the competency mapping exercise. Some examples include:
The next step is defining the scope of the mapping process. Are you focusing on a specific department, role, or level within the organization, or are you mapping competencies for the entire organization?
Once you've determined the scope, identify the key stakeholders who will contribute to the project, such as department heads and senior management. They will work alongside the HR team during this process.
This step is critical for gathering relevant expertise to develop a robust and relevant competency framework and for gaining buy-in during the implementation process.
Create a list of the specific roles for which you need to map competencies, keeping the project’s scope in mind. Ideally, you would conduct competency mapping for every department or career path in the organization. However, for smaller organizations, this might not be necessary.
The next step is conducting a job analysis to capture information about each role:
Identifying and defining competencies is critical to aligning your organization’s workforce capabilities with its strategic goals. This step involves determining the core competencies that are essential for all employees, as well as the functional, technical, and leadership competencies specific to certain roles or levels within the organization.
Core competencies are fundamental skills and behaviors that apply to all employees in an organization. They align with the company’s mission, vision, and values and are critical to its success.
Example: Creativity and innovation are core competencies for a company like Apple because they are integral to its identity and success.
Tip: Engage senior leadership and C-suite teams to define these competencies.
Here are some sample questions to ask:
Outcome: Identify 7-8 core competencies.
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Functional competencies are specific to particular functions or departments within the organization. They align with the tasks and responsibilities of specific roles.
Example: For a marketing department, functional competencies include market analysis, digital marketing, and brand management.
Technical competencies are specialized skills and knowledge required for specific technical roles. These competencies are often role-specific and critical for performing particular tasks.
Example: For IT roles, functional competencies include programming, network security, and database management.
Tip: Engage department heads, functional managers, and subject matter experts to define these competencies.
Here are some sample questions to ask:
Outcome: Identify 7-8 functional and technical competencies.
Note: Different roles might require different weights of competency types. For example, highly technical industries require a greater emphasis on technical competencies.
Download our competency framework template and select the most relevant competencies from over 140 core, functional, and technical competencies across five mastery levels.
Leadership competencies are essential for managerial and leadership positions within the organization. They focus on skills required to lead teams, make strategic decisions, and drive organizational success.
Example: Leadership competencies include strategic thinking, decision-making, people management, and change management.
Tip: Engage senior leaders and executives to define these competencies.
Here are some sample questions to ask:
Outcome: Identify 5-6 leadership competencies that apply to the organization.
Note: Leadership roles can have a higher proportion of leadership competencies.
Our leadership competency framework template includes 25 leadership competencies, along with hundreds behavioral indicators and performance metrics. Download it now and start empowering your future leaders.
Use the answers from the stakeholder consultations to gather valuable insights into the competencies required across the entire organization and for specific roles:
Based on the feedback, finalize the list of competencies. For department-wide competency models, aim for:
By maintaining a balanced ratio of core, functional, technical, and leadership competencies, organizations can create a robust competency model that supports diverse roles and strategic goals, ensuring a comprehensive approach to talent management.
Now that you have a comprehensive list of core, functional, technical, and leadership competencies, it is time to map competencies to roles.
Create a list of the tasks associated with each role. Rate each task between 1 and 3 depending on how relevant it is to the role's defined competencies—1 being Not relevant and 3 being Very relevant. Calculate an average relevance score for each competency and sort the scores from the highest to lowest.
If you use our competency mapping template, it will automatically calculate an average score for each competency. Once the users input how many competencies they want to define at the end of the mapping exercise, the template will automatically use the scores to highlight the most relevant competencies for the role or department and populate a “Top competencies” table.
Let’s consider an example of a content marketing manager.
At the beginning of the competency mapping exercise, the HR team, together with the marketing leaders, identified eight technical and functional competencies relevant to the marketing department:
Additionally, the company has eight core competencies and four leadership competencies that apply to the entire organization.
Core competencies:
Leadership competencies:
Through job analysis, HR identified the following key tasks for the role:
HR and departmental leaders mapped the tasks to the competencies and created a competency model with the following competencies:
Additionally, for leadership roles, they included the following leadership competencies:
You are now close to the ideal competency matrix. The next step is collating all the details gathered in the previous three steps.
Organize the identified competencies into a structured framework that categorizes them into core, functional, and technical competencies.
Create definitions for each competency and establish clear and measurable proficiency levels for each competency, such as beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert.
Finally, define specific behaviors and performance metrics for each proficiency level to ensure clarity and consistency.
Here is an example relevant to the content marketing manager role:
Competency name: Content creation
Definition: The ability to produce high-quality, engaging, and relevant content that aligns with the organization’s brand and strategic goals. This includes writing, editing, and curating content for various platforms and understanding the target audience.
Proficiency levels:
Performance metrics:
Share the draft competency model with stakeholders for feedback and validation. Incorporate their feedback and make necessary revisions to the competency model.
Introduce the competency model to the organization through communication channels such as meetings, emails, and training sessions.
Embed the competency model into existing HR processes, including recruitment, performance management, and training programs.
