SHL unveils universal competency framework to provide common standard worldwide

Employers will be able to standardise the way they assess the required competencies of potential and current employees thanks to a new framework launched today by SHL, the world leader in objective assessment. Competencies are sets of behaviours which define how people use their knowledge and skills in different situations at work. The SHL Universal Competency Framework establishes a standard classification for competencies required to succeed in any job, at any level in any organisation.

Many organisations already appreciate the benefits of well-defined competency models and their role in assisting HR departments in managing people at every stage of the employee lifecycle. However, until now there has not been a consistent framework to manage, use and compare these competencies. Based on extensive scientific research looking at hundreds of competency models in a wide range of different organisations around the world, the SHL Universal Competency Framework gives the HR community a standard terminology that will greatly benefit them in identifying and developing the competencies their organisations require.

The new framework provides a hierarchy that allows users to see the relationships between competencies required in roles throughout the organisation and to match team as well as individual role competencies.

At the top of the hierarchy are the SHL Great Eight competency factors. These provide the broad outlines of all roles and are a general categorisation of behaviours that influence job performance. They are Leading and Deciding; Supporting and Co-operating; Interacting and Presenting; Analysing and Interpreting; Creating and Conceptualising; Organising and Executing; Adapting and Coping; Enterprising and Performing.

Beneath these are 20 dimensions which provide more detail to the Great Eight allowing person and job profiles to be created and compared. At the base of the Framework are the 112 Components which allow consultants to precisely define the critical behaviours that impact performance in a specific job, role or function and which can be used as building blocks for the construction of tailored competency models.

Professor Dave Bartram, who leads the team that developed the SHL Universal Competency Framework, commented; HR departments worldwide are using the concept of competencies to match individuals to jobs, and to design development interventions for incumbents. However, the vast majority are using definitions developed in house for a specific purpose. This can make it very difficult to benchmark roles, individuals or processes. It is my hope that, as a result of our extensive global research, the SHL Universal Competency Framework will be adopted as a common language that links and defines the best practice around the world.

Further details on the development and use of the SHL Universal Competency Framework can be found at www.SHL.com, where there are also online and offline tools available to assist in its implementation.