How Do I Create a Competency Matrix for Diverse Roles in a Heavy Industry Setting?

Hello,

I am working as an HR professional in a manufacturing unit in the heavy industry sector. I have been tasked with preparing a competency matrix for all staff, which includes engineers, sales engineers, and executives from various departments such as Quality Control, Production, Design & Development, Marketing, and Accounts.

Could you please provide me with guidance on how to go about preparing this matrix?

Regards,
Neetu

Designing a Competency Matrix: Key Considerations

While designing a competency matrix, you need to take into account the measures of performance for each department or position. Mere possession of competencies is not the end in itself. The logical end is meeting performance targets by attaining those competencies. Therefore, my request is to first concentrate on deciding how you measure what deserves to be measured and deciding the competencies.

Let me give you an example of what happens when a competency matrix is developed in isolation. Currently, I am working with a client from the manufacturing sector, a public limited company. If you look at their balance sheet, you will find that for the last five years, their year-on-year (YoY) growth has been 10-20%. However, what is being overlooked is the "Percentage of Inventory against Sales." It has risen from 6.5% to 13% during the corresponding period. Can there be better evidence of declining operational efficiency? When the company has 13% inventory, imagine the amount of working capital that must be getting blocked. Despite this gradual increase, the company's HR Head remains ensconced in his world.

Today's HR often uses jargon like competency matrix; however, it must also contribute to the company's balance sheet. Although these interventions may provide solace to HR professionals, their emptiness remains obvious.

For further assistance, feel free to contact me.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

You also need to consider behavioral skills to map all the competencies for a position, though the extent of the skills needed may not be the same for all positions. For example, sales and service engineers might need expert behavioral skills compared to design engineers, but they are still needed for all positions, assuming beginning, intermediate, skilled, or expert as the scale.

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Regards

Developing a Competency Matrix

The format of a competency matrix depends on its intended purpose. When a company aims to create a competency matrix for each job or position, with the intent to generate baseline data on current incumbents' competency levels compared to the minimum required levels, HR needs to develop two types of matrices.

One matrix should focus on the competencies required by the job and the minimum level necessary for these competencies to be effective. The second matrix should focus on the existing competencies possessed by the incumbent, compared to an objective assessment of their current level.

Comparing these two matrices provides management with an idea of whether the incumbent's competency level matches the job requirements. If there is a mismatch (e.g., job requirement = 4; incumbent level = 3), the employee may need to undergo interventions to improve their competency level to 4. Otherwise, sub-standard performance in the job can be expected.

We help companies develop these matrices and map out every job or position in an organization across all industries.

Best regards.

Dear Neetu,

Please try out the 'Sunrise Model' from Milind Kotwal. It's open source. You will definitely gain much clarity.

Regards,
Ram Singh

Thank you all for your reply.

As mentioned by Ed Llarena, I am preparing two matrices: one for the competency required for a job, and the other for the existing competency of the employees. Preparing the required competency for a job is a significant task as I am unable to understand at what level what kind of competency is required, especially general skills like communication, interactive skills, decision-making skills, etc., starting from an Assistant Supervisor to DGM.

Please help with this.

Hi Neetu,

Check the link below for your reference (Training Flowchart & Sample Competency Matrix):

[Training Process Flow Chart PDF Download](https://www.citehr.com/557098-training-process-flow-chart-pdf-download.html)

Regards,
Narayan

Dear All,

I have a requirement for a training plan, Skill & Competency matrix in ISO format. If you have one for the engineering sector, please share, and also share the HR & Admin Skill matrix.

Regards,
Sunil Prajapati