Why your job architecture needs a competency model

A job architecture without a competency model is an empty shell.

Job architectures are getting more attention lately, as more and more companies are asking if their current organizational competency models are fit for purpose and whether they will deliver the agility needed to thrive in the future. There is also a move to more automation of human resources process and dynamic competency management as companies prepare to gather more and more data to use with people analytics solutions.

”Industries across the globe are going through a period of workplace transformation, and before organisations can even begin to get the most out of automation, a clearly defined architecture of the jobs and skills that exist is vital.”
Ruchi Arora, Future of Work Leader, Willis Towers Watson, Western Europe

Before we dig into the connection between skill and competency models and the job architecture it will help to have a simple definition of just what a job architecture is. In its position paper ‘Job architecture: Layering the building blocks of effective Human Capital Management‘ Deloitte gives the following definition.

A job architecture encompasses job levels, job titling conventions, grades, career paths, spans of control, the criteria for career movement, and equitable compensation programs based on job value.

Job architecture is not a new tool, but rather the evolved 21st Century progression of job classification … job architecture places further importance on a consistent approach to identifying job levels, career paths, mobility criteria and pay values. When organization’s job architecture is outdated or misaligned, workforce management becomes more about reacting than planning, and people practices can no longer leverage individuals’ skills or abilities or meet changing business needs. (emphasis added)

Major consulting firms like Deloittes and Willis Towers Watson have business services to help you design a new job architecture. Let’s look a bit more deeply at the Deloitte approach.

Three triggers for a job architecture project are identified in the above report from Deloitte:

Human Resources (HR) technology is being implemented or updated.
Substantial changes are being made to the organizational structure to support business needs.
The organization’s compensation programs are being redesigned.
On page four of the report, a governance framework is proposed. The key things to note here are that Deloitte suggests that Compensation and Benefits will typically be the project’s owner (this is not our experience, see below) and that there is a role for ‘job subject matter experts’ but this role is limited to providing feedback on job titling structure, leveling criteria, job progressions, and alignment with business needs (it is here that the skill and competency model comes to the fore).

All of this is pulled together in a Job Architecture Maturity Model (see page 5 of the report).

On page four of the report, a governance framework is proposed. The key things to note here are that Deloitte suggests that Compensation and Benefits will typically be the project's owner (this is not our experience, see below) and that there is a role for 'job subject matter experts' but this role is limited to providing feedback on job titling structure, leveling criteria, job progressions, and alignment with business needs (it is here that the skill and competency model comes to the fore).All of this is pulled together in a Job Architecture Maturity Model (see page 5 of the report).

It is interesting that the most mature stage is competency management. Unfortunately, there is no mention of competencies or what competency management might entail in the description. Let's remedy this by proposing our own definition of competency management to complement the definition of Job Architecture.

A competency model is a guide to the roles, behaviours, tasks and skills that are needed to succeed in a position.

The position may be a job or a role on a project team. The competency model frequently includes pointers to the learning resources that support acquisition of the skills and the experiences that will build and demonstrate expertise.

This definition is based on our experience building competency models and aligning them with job architectures. The competency model, and the skills included, inform each job description. It goes deeper than this though. When designing a job, one has to take into account 'associated skills.' These are skills that frequently occur in the same person. In fact, they are so closely correlated that the presence of one associated skill implies the other, and when it is absent puts into question the expertise on the other skill. Here are some examples:

CSS, HTML, JavaScript, Critical Thinking (Front End Engineer)
Probability Theory, Statistics, Linear Algebra, R, Python, Deep Learning, Algorithm Optimization, Data Analysis, Critical Thinking (AI implementer)
Knife Skills, Grilling, Cleanliness, Collaboration (Grill Chef)
Empathy, Critical Thinking, Design Patterns, Design History, Design Process, Pattern Recognition, Qualitative Research, Writing, Sketching (Design Thinking)
Budgeting, Task Planning, Scheduling, Communication, Problem Solving, Collaboration, Attention to Detail, Speaking Truth to Power (Project Management)

Note that there is no sense in describing a job where no one person is likely to have the critical skills for that job. When that is the case, one really needs to separate the job into two (or more) jobs. Skill clustering is a precursor to the design of a job architecture.You cannot design a job architecture without first investigating the skills and competencies used in work. In building a job architecture, one of the first concerns should be to understand how people will work together and what will help them to work together effectively. This is where design thinking comes in. A job architecture should not be designed and imposed top down. One needs to integrate a top down and bottom up approach and spend a lot of time understanding the people whose jobs are being designed. A pure top down approach to designing a job architecture is likely to be rejected by the organization. Understanding the skills people have, how they use them and who they use them with is a very effective way to begin this work.

For more on the competency model design process, see our post on how to build a competency model

So here is a different way to approach job architecture:

Understand the skills of the current workforce, how they are being used, who they are being used with.
Look for skill clusters, understand what skills tend to be held by the same person.
Find the complementary skills (the skills different people tend to apply together to get work done).
See if there are connecting skills (the skills that different people use to enable collaboration).
See where there are skill gaps, for the current business and the future of the business.
Based on the clusters of associated skills, design the initial jobs.
Based on who needs to collaborate and work together, design the job groups and lines of communication.
Given the skills and the jobs, design paths that allow people to move from job to job, building expertise and relationships and preparing for leadership. All of this is necessary pre work before one can design the job architecture. It leads to the competency model, which is valuable in its own right, and informs everything from team building to skill development, performance reviews and learning.
Decide how many job bands are needed.
Allocate jobs to job bands, determining span of control, reporting relationships, and communication channels.
Understand the general skills and attitudes needed for each job band (sometimes referred to as Level of Work)
Map career paths up through the jobs, moving from one job band to another.
Identify performance criteria and measurements for each job and job band.
Formalize the initial architecture and make sure it is connected to the competency model.

Featured resource: download a free template for designing your job architecture here

The job architecture, and the competency model, should be open systems. They need to be able to evolve in response to actual use. Designing in ways to collect data and respond to it should be part of the work.The job architecture also needs to reflect the organization's value. We are actively researching ways to do this.

Ibbaka Posts on Competency Models and Competency Frameworks

Competency models as learning plans

A job architecture without a competency model is an empty shell.

A job architecture encompasses job levels, job titling conventions, grades, career paths, spans of control, the criteria for career movement, and equitable compensation programs based on job value.

A competency model is a guide to the roles, behaviours, tasks and skills that are needed to succeed in a position.

So here is a different way to approach job architecture:

Featured resource: download a free template for designing your job architecture here

Ibbaka Posts on Competency Models and Competency Frameworks