International opinion
By Jennifer Naughton, Patty Davis and William Rothwell (May 2004 Issue)
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Are you ready for the next generation of the profession formerly known as training? For the past two decades, the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) has produced landmark competency studies that define the landscape of the training and development profession for the US. ASTD recently commissioned a new competency study, which was completed early in 2004. One outcome of that study was a new competency model. This article provides several high level examples from that model.
As members of the training and development profession we have the power to reinvent ourselves. But the question is: what will it take for each of us to excel and make a difference in our field? A tough question – and one that ASTD tried to answer – by embarking on its most recent competency study, ‘Mapping the future: shaping new workplace learning and performance competencies’.
The resulting competency model was designed to be progressive and enable practitioners to provide organisations with an even higher level of value and service. It attempts to balance the strategic contribution to performance with the humanistic perspective. It also tries to balance financial and business goals of institutions with employee welfare.
The model was built using a data-driven approach, with the content validated by thousands of learning and performance professionals.
The competencies include clusters of knowledge, skills and behaviours that are required for job success across the workplace learning and performance profession. The new competency model contains three tiers: foundational competencies, areas of expertise and roles.
FOUNDATIONAL COMPETENCIES
Foundational competencies anchor the model and are desirable regardless of an individual’s area of expertise (specialisation) or role, though to what degree individual practitioners needs will vary. They are organised into three clusters: interpersonal, business/management and personal. What follows are examples of the foundational competencies from the model.
* Interpersonal competencies: networking and partnering – developing and using a network of collaborative relationships with internal and external contacts to leverage the workplace learning and performance strategy in a way that facilitates the accomplishment of business results.
* Business/management competencies: applying business acumen – understanding the organisation’s business model and financial goals; utilising economic, financial and organisational data to build and document the business case for investing in workplace learning and performance solutions, using business terminology when communicating with others.
* Personal competencies: modelling personal development – actively identifying new areas for one’s own personal learning; regularly creating and taking advantage of learning opportunities; applying newly gained knowledge and skill on the job.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
The second tier of the model contains Areas of Expertise (AOEs). AOEs are the specific technical and professional areas required for success across jobs in the workplace learning and performance field. The AOEs build and rely on the focused application of the underlying foundational competencies. Further, they are supported by and leverage specialised learning technologies, and are embedded in each AOE. The following are a subset of AOE definitions.
* Delivering training – delivering learning solutions (for example, courses, guided experience) in a manner that both engages the learner and produces desired outcomes; managing and responding to learner needs; ensuring that the learning solution is made available or delivered in a timely and effective manner.
* Designing learning – designing, creating and developing learning interventions to meet needs; analysing and selecting the most appropriate strategy, methodologies and technologies to maximise the learning experience and impact.
* Improving human performance – applying a systematic process of discovering and analysing human performance gaps; planning for future improvements in human performance; designing and developing cost-effective and ethically justifiable solutions to close performance gaps; partnering with the customer when identifying the opportunity and the solution; implementing the solution; monitoring the change; evaluating the results.
ROLES
Roles are broad areas of responsibility that people assume. They require a subset of competencies and AOEs to be performed effectively. Roles are not the same as job titles; they are much more fluid. Playing different roles is like wearing different hats: one can slip them on and off depending on the situation. Roles are depicted at the top of the pyramid because the underlying content supports their execution. Here is an example of a role from the model.
Business partner – applies business and industry knowledge to partner with the client in identifying workplace performance-improvement opportunities; evaluates possible solutions and recommends solutions that will have a positive impact on performance; gains client agreement and commitment to the proposed solutions and collaboratively develops an overall implementation strategy that includes evaluating impact on business performance; uses appropriate interpersonal styles and communication methods to build effective long-term relationships with the client.
THE PROOF
This article provides examples from the new ASTD competency model that pinpoints what is required for learning and performance professionals to succeed in the US. The true value of the model is realised in its application. It’s up to each one of us to assess our strengths and improvement needs, and chart our own course for professional development.
Competency study updates can be found at www.astd.org under the research menu. Comments should be sent to competencystudy@astd.org
Jennifer Naughton can be contacted at jnaughton@astd.org
Patty Davis can be contacted at patty.davis@ddiworld.com
William Rothwell can be contacted at www.rothwell-associates.com
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