Developing a competency model entai

Developing a competency model entails three major steps. The first step is to formulate a first draft that lists the kinds of knowledge, skills, and abilities that seem important to successful job performance. This information may come from informal conversations with job holders, surveys of the literature, and ideas suggested by the models of similar occupations. The second step is to systematically survey the opinions of content experts, especially those who currently work in this occupation. These experts should be asked to evaluate the importance of each competency, identify superfluous competencies that ought to be deleted, and recommend additional competencies that they think are important. The third step is to conduct a criterion-related validation study to demonstrate a statistical relationship between the presence of these competencies and measures of individual and organizational performance. This is clearly the most difficult step, but it is also very important. If the competency models are used for hiring, promotion, training, discipline, and other functions, they ought to be validated the same as other selection devices.