Luke Marson

Earlier this year Hula Partners commissioned research on competency management. Over 100 executives and HR professionals from organizations with over 2,500 employees within the United States took part, with the results highlighting a stark picture of the lack of insight that organizations have into competencies.

What is a competency?

Before we take a look at some of the findings, it is first worth discussing what a competency is. Often people think of competencies in the context of talent management, but operational competencies are critical to compliance, health and safety, and government regulation. These competencies can be qualifications, behaviors, or any other KSAOC (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics). While talent management competencies are important for organizational development, that fades into comparison when looking at competencies that ensure work gets done safely and gets done within the rules and regulations required.

Why use competencies?

Competencies are crucial to ensuring that organizations get the right people in the right roles at the right time. Although this sounds like a buzz phrase, the realities show how important this is. Would you want someone without the right licenses, qualifications, or credentials driving a high speed train or operating drilling equipment? Would you want the lives of ordinary citizens put in jeopardy because someone doesn’t have the right training or hasn’t had the appropriate assessments to work with large, complex machinery? I can’t think of a single person that wouldn’t answer “No” to those type of questions.

So who took part in the survey?

There was a solid mix of organizations ranging from 2,500 employees to over 100,000 employees across industry-based sectors, public sector, and professional services.

Some alarming home truths
The competency management report paints a worrying picture and just goes to show how organizations are struggling because of a lack of sufficient capabilities within existing HR software. It also highlights why we had such demand from our customers for a solutions like Kahuna to cater for these needs. The research explored the use of competency management by the respondent’s organization to better manage talent, learning and development, and operational risk.

The bottom line is clear: a lack of solid competency management programs and software is a danger to health and safety (read: people’s lives), compliance, and ultimately company finances and ability to trade.

So what can we do about this?

Clearly with so much at stage it is worth investing in a competency management solution that can help your organization manage competencies, perform deep assessments, identify competency and asses gaps, view geographical disparities, and alert you of non-compliance. Hula Partners’ Kahuna competency management solution is the only solution available in the marketplace that actually does this. Leading analyst Holger Mueller described Kahuna as “reinventing competency management.” Why don’t you reinvent competency management and better protect your employees, your company, and your future?



Visit www.hulapartners.com/kahuna for more information or send me an email at luke.marson@hulapartners.com.

To see the full blog with infographics - visit: http://www.hulapartners.com/create-compliance-with-clear-cut-competency-management/