I was chatting with a HR Director at a FTSE100 business the other day (let’s call him Geoff) and he said, “OK Simon, I get that I need to understand someone’s intellect, values and motivations” (I had been banging on at him about that for a while!), “but why behaviours and not competences? Surely I have to know what this person is capable of?”
A pretty reasonable point I think you would agree. So my first stunning piece of insight in answer to his question was …
“Yes … possibly!”
You see, knowing that someone can do something, is not the same as knowing that someone will do something. This is the difference between competencies and behaviours. There is just no guarantee that someone will ever use a competence.
I have got to admit, I don’t really like competencies. Not the idea, the idea is fine, in fact the idea is brilliant. Of course we all need to know what people are capable of. But, what I don’t like is the way that competencies are used in organisations. They are used to allegedly tell us how good someone is, how effective they are, what they can do and can’t and worse still, what they could do. WRONG!
So here is what I said to the Geoff. Think of it this way. I am competent in dieting. I have read the books, watched the DVDs and my wife has told me everything there is to know about dieting. Truth is, I could do with losing a bit of weight (erm, he sniggered at that point). I could tell you all about how to diet and the benefits of dieting. So I am competent.
In fact, if you asked me in an interview “Simon, could you describe a time when you have lost weight through dieting?” I could. I lost a stone last March. The way that question is phrased is how all good competency questions are phrased. Tick, Simon is competent in dieting.
The problem is that I don’t value dieting. I am not motivated enough by losing a few pounds. So although I am competent, you know what? I will never diet. I won’t develop the habits. I won’t turn my competence in to a behaviour. A behaviour is the continued use of a competence – often and for ever. And unless you investigate my behaviours you have no idea if I will ever use the competence I so beautifully described.
Replace dieting with creating ambitious
plans, good commercial judgement, influencing senior managers, challenging the
business to do better etc. And I think you get the idea.
Either that, or this blog has been totally incompetent!! ;-0
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