Competencies and Behavioral Event

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Competencies and Behavioral Event Interview
A case study Andy Tyler May 16, 2005
PwC
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Overview

• A brief history of competencies
• How organisations have responded
• How adults learn
• Where competencies have a part to play
• A case study PricewaterhouseCoopers is Central
  and Eastern Europe. 15 mins
• Questions/Discussion 18 mins

7 mins
45
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A brief history of competencies

• Taylorism and scientific management
• IQ testing
• Freudian thinking and personality
• McClelland Testing for Competence Rather that
  Intelligence (1973)
• And the research continues Emotional
  Intelligence.

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How organisations have responded

• Since McClellands work many organisations have
  adopted competency frameworks
• And, have invested heavily in training which
  seeks to develop the critical knowledge, skills
  and behaviours

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What are competencies?

• Competencies are characteristics that are shown
  by research to be related to superior
  performance.
• They are what superior performers are most likely
  to do more often and more completely for better
  results.
• They may be motives, traits, beliefs, self image,
  knowledge or skills. Skills and knowledge are
  most easily observable in action, and can be
  developed over time. Motives, traits and beliefs
  lie at the core of the individual and are more
  difficult to develop.

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What are competencies
A Model of Human behaviour

• Observable
• Easily accessible

Behaviours, skills and knowledge

• Under the surface
• Not easily accessible

Motivations, Beliefs Values
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By adopting a competency model, are organisations
creating a framework for learning and development?
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How adults learn the cycle of learning
Awareness
Making sense
Evaluation
Experimentation/Action
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How adults learn whole person growth

• The whole of the iceberg determines an
  individuals competence.
• Training and development solutions should include
  options which address the whole of the person.
• Traditional training can be short term and focus
  on knowledge, skills and behaviours above the
  surface.
• Challenge for organisations is to offer training
  solutions which support long term personal growth
  and change.

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How adults learn whole person growth
Performance Disruption
Lack of assertiveness
Poor listening
Not speaking in meetings

If I speak I may say something wrong or silly
If I dont get my point across I will lose ground
If I say what I want I will upset others
Surface Block
Deeper Block Please people Be strong
Be perfect Core Block Im not OK Im
not OK Im not OK
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Where competencies fit in

• Provide a common language which is specific to
  the organisation
• Link training and development activity to the
  needs of the business
• Provide a foundation for training and development
  design
• Provide a foundation for focussed feedback
• Competencies act as signposts for personal change

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What else should organisations provide?

• Training and development solutions which address
  all of the iceberg
• Solutions which are both short and long-term
  personal change is a long-term process
• For behavioural change
• Solutions which cover all of the learning cycle
• Solutions which further raise self-awareness
• Solutions which encourage personal reflection
• Solutions which are experiential

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A case study PricewaterhouseCoopers, Central
Eastern Europe.
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Business challenges

• Lack of clarity post merger what it takes to
  become a partner
• Lack of focussed personal development lack of
  personal data and available solutions
• A need to develop local talent to become future
  partners

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Underlying philosophy
Management is a whole-person activity demanding
emotional maturity at least as much as cerebral
competence relationships are at the heart of
managing. And at the heart of relationships is
the key proposition of self-awareness David
Casey, Ashridge Consulting
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Underlying philosophy

• Personal change is about people making
  significant shifts in their attitudes and
  behaviour, and not about people making small
  incremental improvements.
• Providing a process for managers to examine how
  they are dealing with their business challenges
  creates opportunities for them to see themselves
  and their world differently.
• Learning emerges out of a process of natural
  reflection.

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Actions

• Created a common language, consistent with the
  values of the organisation.
• 12 competencies related to what is expected of
  partners within PwC.
• Target level which managers should aim for
  through their development.
• A competency dictionary and resource guide to
  achieve clarity and develop action plans.
• Introduced Behavioural Event Interviews (BEI) as
  a way of providing valuable data to managers, and
  to raise self-awareness.
• Created personal development programmes which
  encompass the complete learning cycle and which
  support whole person development.

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Competency Based Assessment
Competency Analysis Who Identifies individuals
who are successful What Find out what do they do
that makes them successful How Why,
when Establish precisely why they did what they
did
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What are Behavioural Event Interviews (BEI)?

• Investigative rather than reflective aims to
  gather objective data about what the interviewee
  did, rather than what he/she might have done,
  wished he/she had done, etc.
• The interviewee should be describing actual
  behaviour, both thoughts and actions, rather than
  attempt to provide views or assumptions or draw
  conclusions about what it might take to perform
  effectively.
• By asking interviewees to tell their personal
  success stories, the BEI technique gets at those
  behaviours, motives or abilities that really make
  the difference to the interviewee.

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Behavioural Event Interview

• To explore in detail how applicants have tackled
  specific situations and events
• Overview of the event.
• When and where?
• What led up to the situation?
• Who else was involved?
• What did you do, say, feel?
• What was your intentions?
• How did it turn out?

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The competency report
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BEI The Report
Two main indicators frequency
level Frequency shows the number of evidence
offered to support a competency if level is at
least 3 it shows that the competency is
embedded Level is shown as maximum and average
for each competency
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BEI The Report
Interpreting the report Identifying the
potential areas for development What happens
next?
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Overview of personal development programmes

• Process
• 12 month process incorporating various learning
  methods
• 360 degree feedback (aligned to competency
  framework)
• One to one coaching
• Action learning groups
• Aims
• To increase participants level of self-awareness
• To work with intra and interpersonal skills
• To facilitate personal change/growth.

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Advice

• Get buy-in from Leaders
• Validate results by BEIs for Top Performers
• Identify key competencies
• Manage expectations managerssupervisor

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Conclusions

• The real benefits of competencies are that they
  provide a common performance language.
• They help to focus peoples efforts on the
  learning and personal change that is really going
  to make a difference to the organisation.
• They help to align individual behaviour change
  with the needs of the organisation, in a way that
  is mutually beneficial and valuable to the
  individuals concerned.
• In so doing they accelerate the leadership
  capability and development of the business.