Choosing Competences
Identifying which competences are right for you.
Many frameworks exist that are relevant to engineering and technology professionals, including the more universal capabilities such as management, inter-personal skills and professional behaviours. The broader frameworks that adopt a holistic approach include UK-SPEC and OSCEng, and these are a useful guide on the totality of skills required for an engineering professional or technologist. There are also many sector specific ones, such as the Safety Critical Systems framework, the Management Standards, Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), etaFrame, and the many S/NVQs.
Generic frameworks, by their nature, have to be comprehensive enough to cover a diverse set of contexts and circumstances across an industry or profession, and therefore may not be detailed enough to meet a specific individual or organisational need. This can make assessment challenging, and many employers have adapted and added to these frameworks to make them relevant to their needs.
How do I identify the competences I need?
Where possible we would always recommend using an employer’s framework if one is available. If not, you will need to decide if you wish to:
- choose an existing generic framework without adaptation. This is possible if you add ‘context’ (see Assessing Competence);
- select from a generic framework only the competence statements that relate to your job and use just those to assess and structure your development activities;
- select and combine statements from more than one existing framework to make an individual profile that reflects your role;
- or to create your own competence statements from scratch. This is not a route we would recommend unless you work in a role or sector that is very specific and not represented by an existing framework.
Deciding on the competences you need is an important first step. If you are using your employer’s framework they will guide you on which competences to use. If not, then you will need to make a list of the competences you wish to measure and/or develop. You might include those that:
- are particularly important to your job now;
- might be important to you in a future role;
- are necessary to fulfil a special requirement, such as professional registration.
The next step is to undertake an assessment.
Creating your own competences
If you are working on your own and have decided to create your own competence statements you will need to start by identifying the activities you have to carry out and the performance standards you have to meet. Your job description could provide a good starting point as it will give broad details of the tasks you are expected to do. Performance standards will be influenced by customer and management expectations or benchmarked good practice. They may include quality, safety and environmental aspects. Effectively, standards enable you to assess whether you have done the job properly.
Finally, consider the combination of knowledge, skill and attitude that is needed to perform your work competently. Think about technical, business, managerial and personal skills. Very often, improving your personal skills will enhance the way you demonstrate your wider competences. For example, presentation or time-management skills can raise overall performance and confidence. For this reason behaviours are often included in competence statements.
Once you have completed this exercise you should have a set of competence ‘statements’ (usually written as ‘able to …’) which also describe performance standards in terms of responsibility taken or level of supervision needed, or the complexity of tasks that can be undertaken. It is also useful to describe the ‘context’ under which you work, as this provides insight to others on how your skills are applied. For example, your context might include the size of organisation, describe the breadth of your role, staff responsibilities, technology and equipment used, etc.
Here is an example of a competence statement:
Applies a methodical approach to assignments, incorporating analytical and systematic techniques. | ||
Supervised Practitioner | Practitioner | Expert |
For specific tasks undertaken, can explain the method followed in performing the tasks and can indicate the resulting structure in the work. | Has chosen appropriate methods for safety-related projects, and can explain how and why these methods were chosen to perform the different tasks required for the project. | Can explain how the work performed on different projects undertaken within the organisation is monitored and controlled to ensure a methodical approach, backing up the explanation with documentary evidence from previous projects. |
(Source: Safety Critical Systems framework)
