HR Core Competencies
Core Competencies in HR
HAVE YOU HEARD OF CORE COMPETENCIES?
What are Core Competencies and how should I use them when selecting a class?
A Core Competency is a knowledge, skill, or ability that contributes to the successful completion of a task on the job. All employees use multiple competencies to perform their job. If you want to develop and/or improve in a particular Core Competency, please review our County Competency Grid to see what classes address the area(s) you are looking to develop and/or improve.
What are the County’s Core Competencies?
Although there are numerous and unique Core Competencies for each of our jobs, the County has identified the following general Core Competencies which are intentionally broad in order to address most, if not all, positions:
- Customer-Focused: Proactively seeks and finds ways to provide the highest standards of service.
- Technically Knowledgeable: Possesses knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to accomplish a specific task, job or function.
- Problem-Solver and Decision-Maker: Demonstrates a broad repertoire of ways to think about, understand and creatively handle complex ideas, problems and situations.
- Planner and Organizer: Proactively develops and ensures the smooth implementation of short and long-range goals and objectives.
- Interpersonally Effective: Creates and sustains positive working relationships.
- Effective Communicator: Demonstrates open, honest and respectful written and verbal communication.
- Team-builder: Unites a group of people and motivates them towards a defined mission, goal and
objective. - Initiator/Change Agent: Is proactive and self-starting by seizing opportunities and originating action to achieve goals.
- Innovator: Generates and recognizes creative solutions in varying work situations.
- Flexible/Adaptable: Maintains effectiveness in varying work environments where circumstances and priorities are changing.
- Accountable: Takes responsibility and ownership for a problem, project or issue.
- Skill and Career Development Coach: Assesses and develops both the strengths and needs of the individual and the team, including developing and preparing staff for promotion.
- Politically Astute: Considers probable support or opposition to ideas or actions based on political interest and constraints.
- Resilient: Maintains high performance and composure under pressure, opposition or criticism.
- Results-Oriented: Productively focuses time and resources on activities to produce quality results.
- Ethical: Maintains and promotes individual and organization integrity and values in conduct of all activities.
- Strategic Thinker: Views events and possibilities from multiple perspectives. Understands the bigger
- picture and the interdependencies and effects of other systems.
"No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path."
—Gautama Buddha
Although HR critics abound, leaders in the field will be the first to acknowledge that their teams do not deliver innovative human capital programs that drive business results,1 and that a new mental model of what it means to be an HR professional must be developed to not only be relevant in today's business environment but to lead an organization to success. As purveyors of an organization's most valuable asset—its talent—HR is uniquely poised, through its application of a broad range of technical skills and its understanding of the business, to be an impactful leader and a formidable business strategist no company can do without.
The need to "reskill" HR has been discussed for years with little mention as to what this looks like, how it is accomplished and what can be expected with respect to delivered outcomes. To address this lack of actionable information, through research with thousands of HR professionals (111 focus groups and more than 32,000 survey respondents covering 33 nations), including experts and incumbents alike, SHRM identified those critical competencies for HR to lead people and organizations—on a global scale.
The "Re-skilled" HR Professional
To be successful in HR and as a business leader, SHRM's research calls for the need for practitioners to be more than technically proficient; they need to translate what they know through key behavioral competencies. The combination of technical expertise and behaviors provides the right formula for success for HR leaders. In today's challenging business environment, the HR professionals should align with and meet the needs of the business strategy.
SHRM research suggests that through the application of HR knowledge and an understanding of the business, HR professionals are effective at building strong partnerships with senior leaders as they provide expert advice on all matters relating to the ongoing development of the organization. They have the ability to understand and apply information to contribute to the organization's strategic plan, interpret information to make business decisions and recommendations, and provide guidance to organizational stakeholders.
Leadership and Navigation
Effective leaders are associated with numerous positive outcomes2—for example, positive employee work attitudes such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment,3 decreased turnover, and increased employee job performance.4 Leadership and Navigation recognizes this important role for HR professionals by describing the attributes needed by HR professionals to lead organizational initiatives and obtain buy-in from stakeholders.
Ethical Practice
HR professionals are often tasked with creating ethical HR systems or reinforcing an organization's ethical climate. These efforts serve several purposes, but most notably implementing a strong ethical climate can help protect an organization from adverse employee behavior. And implementing ethical systems is essential to organizations because ethical HR systems are associated with higher levels of organizational performance.5 Ethical Practice is and will continue to be a critical competency domain for the HR profession.
Business Acumen
HR business leaders need to be well developed in terms of their Business Acumen. This includes understanding business operations and functions, understanding how human resource management (HRM) practices contribute to core business functions, and understanding the organization's external environment. They should also recognize how internal and external factors (for example, the external competitive environment and internal personnel resources) interact to influence organizational performance. Effective HR business leaders need to be able to make the case for HRM to other business professionals—this includes marketing HR within the organization and showing how HR can have a direct impact on firm performance.
Relationship Management
HR professionals regularly interact with clients and stakeholders; therefore, job success for an HR business leader is largely a function of his or her ability to maintain productive interpersonal relationships and help others do the same, or to display competence in Relationship Management. Research has documented positive outcomes associated with productive and healthy interpersonal relationships in the work environment.6
Consultation
Within their own organization, HR professionals often take on the role of an internal consultant or expert on human capital issues. In this role, within the Consultation competency, HR professionals can help business units address challenges related to human capital, such as staffing needs, training and development needs, employee performance issues, and employee relations issues.12 To be a successful human capital expert, HR professionals must not only possess requisite knowledge about HRM practices but must also be able to provide guidance to internal stakeholders.
Critical Evaluation
HR can enhance the effectiveness and usefulness of human capital programs by informing their development and monitoring their success with appropriate data through Critical Evaluation. One such source of data is human capital metrics. Not only do human capital metrics add value to the role of HR in organizations,13 but HR functions that collect and properly use HR metrics to inform HR activity are seen as more reliable strategic partners.14 The rise of data-based HRM practices is clearly evident—one such example of this trend is "big data" and its increasingly frequent use by HR departments. HR professional are currently being asked to inform their decisions with data, and this trend is likely to continue and increase in the coming years.
Global and Cultural Effectiveness
Because many organizations are proactively attempting to increase the diversity of their workforce, and because the workforce of today is increasingly global, successful HR leaders must be able to effectively and respectfully interact with colleagues, customers and clients of varying backgrounds and cultures. HR professionals are often tasked with developing, delivering and evaluating these diversity-related initiatives.
Communication
When HR information is communicated well, employees better understand the purpose and value of policies and practices. When managers effectively communicate HR practices and policies to their employees, employees perceive the organization's HRM to be more effective, and, in turn, employee satisfaction and business unit performance are positively affected.15 To effectively fulfill duties at each career level, HR professionals must ensure that the messages they distribute are clear, concise and readily understood through their expertise in Communication.
HR Expertise
HR professionals directly affect organizational success by developing, maintaining and executing sound HRM policies, practices and procedures16 that support organizational mission and goals. Effective HRM practices can have numerous benefits for organizations, such as reduced turnover, increased productivity and financial performance, and sustained competitive advantage.17 To implement successful initiatives, HR professionals must have a well-developed
1. Effective Communication
Hr professionals must have impeccable communication skills. When the job is to deal with people, it becomes paramount for any HR professional to have strong communication skills. They are constantly dealing with people over the phone or email, drafting company policies, and conducting interviews.
Therefore any HR professional must have excellent writing skills to avoid any miscommunication. They must actively listen to understand others’ perspectives and bring a more honest discussion between the staff and the managers.
Effective communication helps HR managers to handle employee grievances empathically and also manage any internal conflicts effectively.
Related: The 10 Secrets to Strong Communication Skills in the Workplace
2. Relationship-building
Building relationships between the HR group and other departments is one of the critical components to bring business together. This helps in maximizing the potential of the organization and its success. Relationships in the workplace often need a great deal of care and communication. There are also some casual relationships (think of vendors and dealers who deliver goods to your workplace) that need your attention. Therefore, HR professionals must emphasize on building relationships among every department so that they can thrive together.
HR professionals must listen and respond to the concerns of the other department act as a glue to keep them stick together. Since a workplace has diverse individuals, and therefore, HR professionals must introduce inclusive policies, and everyone feels welcomed in the workplace.
3. Adaptability Skills
The world of business is changing every day. And you cannot get too comfortable but adapt yourself with the changing times. These will allow HR managers to rethink their current company policies and also curate new ones that are more relevant and effective. Since HR managers actively participate in decision-making and business strategies, they need to be able to forecast the need for changes.
For fostering a healthy work environment, HR Professionals must come up with new tactics to keep the employees engaged and actively invest themselves in finding ways to retain them.
4. Technological Skills
With the whole world going increasingly digital, HR managers need the ability to adapt to new technology. HR managers are expected to handle a variety of duties that includes-
Recruiting talented employees.
Managing onboarding and training for new hires.
Tracking payroll.
Handling employee grievances.
Retaining good employees.
Technological skills give Hr professional an edge while managing the above duties and more.
For example; Social media tools help them posting job openings online and reach out to more potential candidates. And at the same Talent Acquisition Software (ATS) makes their jobs incredibly easier while recruiting and hiring. Therefore, it is very critical for HR professionals to have good digital skills.
5. Keep Learning
As they say, ‘ Learning is a never-ending process’. The same holds for any HR professionals. The work culture of today’s organizations demands better management, support, growth, and development. Deepening your knowledge in the Human Resource Management field and applying new Hr trends will always help you become the front runner. Therefore, successful HR managers lookout to develop and understand the benefits of new Hr research outcomes and connected to the current trends in the HR field.
6. Critical Thinking
Linder Elder, a prominent scholar, describes Critical thinking as “Self-guided, self-disciplined, thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way.
Critical thinking is one of the most important attributes for anyone in HR. Whether you are hiring a new candidate, negotiating pay rises, or deciding how to deal with employee grievances, it is imperative to analyze the situation and make decisions critically.
Critical thinking helps bring a rational perspective and help HR professionals to deal with a difficult situation with ease. Either it is conflict resolution or addressing an issue with the employees, and critical thinking helps reconstruct or put forward views and ideas that work best for the work environment.
7. Interpersonal skills
Interpersonal skills are the soft skills that hold great value to HR professionals. These skills include active listening, verbal and non-verbal communication, social awareness, self-management, accountability, and so on. People with high interpersonal skills are intuitively good communicators and efficient managers. They show the right attitude and aptitude while communicating. Interpersonal skills allow one to communicate successfully with others at work and in the broader community. Some people are born with this kind of ability, but they can all be enhanced with practice. Expressing respect, settling conflicts, and hearing well are all interpersonal skills that are worth learning for any HR professional.
Comments
Post a Comment