Shift From a Competency Model to a Skills Model in 5 Steps | Degreed Blog

For many organizations, competency models have been a cornerstone of legacy HR practices. And while these models have been effective in a business environment of stability, they have been criticized for being cumbersome and less useful in climates of frequent change and disruption. This article suggests that skills should provide the common language for talking about worker growth and development and even workforce planning. It starts with the premise that competencies tend to focus on individual behaviors and knowledge in particular roles, whereas skills are based on expertise that can be transferred across areas. And as firms shift more towards fueling internal mobility and skill-based workforce planning, they can benefit from articulating their company-wide skill structure. Examples are provided on decomposing a competency (e.g., Business Acumen”) into skills (e.g., competitive analysis, business growth, etc.) By using skills, the authors submit that they can be tracked and developed across any role. The article also provides a measurement scale for determining skill proficiency.