World-class organizations use competencies to articulate and leverage exceptional organizational performance. From a value-added perspective, competency-based management systems enable the realization of business strategy and provide a distinctive, enduring advantage for the organization.

Lawson International Ltd. provides clients with a six-phase, custom approach for developing and implementing competency-based management systems that strengthen organizational and financial performance.

The Elements of a Competency-Based Management System

Unleashing the power of human and intellectual capital in the workplace through the creation of an involving, motivating, and competence-upgrading organizational environment has been acclaimed as a key source of competitive advantage for business organizations.

Competency-Based Management Linked Firmly With Business Strategy

Our collaborative approach in developing and implementing competency-based management systems ensures an integral link with your company’s business strategy, competitive environment, and goals. In fact, the initial step of our implementation process involves thoughtfully determining how to leverage the competencies to drive organizational performance using tools that are closely matched with business imperatives. As such, we initially stress the importance of looking forward relative to accomplishing projected results and addressing current and emerging business issues rather than being preoccupied with the competency model derivation and validation process which occurs at a later step in our consulting assignment.

In essence, our approach initially places emphasis “downstream” — where implementation and business needs are most paramount relative to the anticipated success of your project initiative.

A Value-Adding and Collaborative, Six-Phase Implementation Process

In crafting a competency-based management system and model with your organization, we use a custom, six-phase implementation process that ensures expedient, valid, and high-commitment results:

1. Determine, initially, how to leverage the competency model to drive organizational performance through competency-based tools and applications linked with business goals and strategy.

2. Evaluate, on a pro forma basis, the return-on-investment associated with the competency-based management initiative.

3. Formulate a competency modeling approach associated with the business goals and strategy.

4. Build and empirically-validate the model using an efficient data generation and commitment-building process.

5. Design and implement the value-creating, competency-based tools and applications, including the overall architecture of the system.

6. Measure the financial and non-economic impact of the competency-based management system relative to targeted results and benefits.

More importantly, each of these phases are custom-designed and implemented consistent with the unique project requirements and cultural nuances of your organization.

Key Applications for Driving Organizational Performance

Client project requirements for specific competency-based management system applications, that we have helped develop, include:

•Integrating competencies into training and development programs.

•Assessing and building team competencies.

•Reengineering performance management processes with competencies that account for the highest performance variance.

•Determining the return-on-investment or economic value of competency initiatives.

•Implementing competency-based organizational transformation and change strategies.

•Assessing and developing leadership competencies.

•Recruiting and selecting top performers.

•Implementing succession planning and executive development processes.

•Strengthening functional or technical competencies.

•Implementing competency-based, multi-source (360-degree) assessment and development planning.

•Linking individual or team-based competencies with core competencies and strategic intent.

•Designing and implementing an overall competency-based system architecture and process.

The Economic Value of Competency-Based Management System

Valuing exemplary performance, using financial metrics, consists of employing an investment measurement process rather than a resource- or activity-based process. We use an investment process that entails three, key steps:

1. Pinpointing the required resources associated with the competency-based management system.

2. Implementing the resulting model, tools, and applications.

3. Identifying and measuring the valued outcomes produced by the human resource management applications and tools that are linked with the model.

Valuing exemplary performance is usually based upon performance improvement at “one standard deviation” above average or mean performance. Next, appropriate financial and capital budgeting “tools” — such as break-even analysis or net present value analysis — are used to measure the financial impact of change or performance improvement associated with the targeted, financially-based valued outcomes. Financial measures or valued outcomes consist of various measures such as Economic Value Added (EVA), ROI, ROE, and shareholder value creation as a result of cost savings, given a company’s price/earnings ratio, and so on.

Advantages in Working With Lawson International Ltd.

By working with Lawson International Ltd., organizations are able to:

•Grow their business by attracting and retaining the right customers and suppliers.

•Measure value by tracking competencies of customers, suppliers, employees, and teams and quantifying their economic consequences.

•Build distinctive competitive advantage by designing business systems on the principles of competencies — organizational, process, team, and individual.

•Improve productivity by recruiting, hiring, and placing the right employees and implementing value-adding, competency-based management systems.

•Create intellectual capital by building a stable and high performance base of human assets — employee competence that can be leveraged to drive organizational performance.

•Maximize shareholder value and economic profit with an enduring and inimitable base of human assets that creates productivity and profit growth.