Agile management of competencies

Agile Competence Management: Anna's Path to Living Profiles

Anna, the HR manager, sits in the office in frustration. She thinks back to the long experiment two years ago, when she wanted to build a "perfect competence model for everything and everyone" together with a large consulting firm. The project dragged on for months, with more and more requirements and discussions – until finally everyone lost interest and the topic was shelved.

"Such an important lever – and yet we don't manage to bring it into the company," she thinks.

Anna realizes: A competence model does not have to be perfect and complete – it must be lively, action-oriented and connectable. With Evalea, she is taking an agile approach this time.

First step: Together with Managing Director Volker, she derives a competence profile that reflects the company's values and strategic goals. In this way, it creates a basis that creates meaning and provides orientation right from the start. At the same time, it is easy to use because it contains the same 9 competencies for all employees.

Second step: For all managers, it is supplemented by a special competence profile that contains 5 other competencies that are particularly important for managers.

Third step: Together with Florian, the IT manager, she creates another profile for his department, which contains the specific technical requirements of the IT department. She also makes the same offer to other departments. This means that the teams are directly involved and feel taken seriously.

All competencies flow into a uniform catalog in Evalea. Now the real work begins: The existing competencies are recorded through self-assessments and external assessments in employee appraisals. Evalea automatically carries out a target-actual comparison and shows Markus, the head of department, directly where his employees stand.

Anna's strategic breakthrough comes from the company-wide perspective: The focus topic report allows her to see which competencies are currently in focus for most employees. The Competency Fulfillment Report shows her which competency profiles are not yet met and where the biggest gaps exist in the company.

This transparency is worth its weight in gold: Anna can now plan targeted measures – from further training to targeted development programmes. She knows exactly where to start in order to make the company fit for the future.

After the first few months, everyone feels the change: managers have a tool that can be used directly, employees understand expectations more clearly, and Anna can finally manage development planning on a clean basis.

The big difference? The model is no longer a rigid mammoth project, but an agile foundation that grows, is allowed to develop further – and enables real strategic management.