Achieving an organization's strategic goals by systematically managing competence and learning is possible with direction. Simultaneously, transparency regarding existing competencies within the organization is increased.
This facilitates resource allocation, recruitment, and the execution of various needs-based acquisitions (such as training). Modern technology facilitates the management of competence and learning by providing an environment where the organization's competence model is administered, and information regarding the competencies of the organization, teams, and individuals is located.
By strategically utilizing technology, it is possible to maintain the competence model and monitor competence-related analytics in real-time and transparently. This can be achieved, for example, by automating the accumulation of competencies based on completed training programs or work showcasing.
Management of competence and learning is on the rise, both as a term and as an operation, in organizations of various sizes and across multiple industries. It's no wonder – the competence and learning of the personnel are key to the success of any organization. In fact, competence and learning are essential factors in the realization of organizational strategic goals, and thus play a key role in creating and guiding business strategy.
Management of competence and learning as a tool for implementing strategy
Before moving on to practical implementation, let's briefly discuss why and how competence and learning are related to strategy.
Strategic goals are defined in the strategy, for example, over a one, three, or five-year timeframe. Connecting competence and learning, or simply competencies, to the strategy is ultimately straightforward: one should pause to consider what competencies and capabilities are needed to achieve these strategic goals. Strategic goals cannot be achieved without the competence of the personnel.
This identification of competencies can be referred to as competency modeling. The goal is to outline a situation regarding personnel competencies that makes it possible to achieve strategic goals.
Creating competency model - practical example
It is advisable to initially conduct competency modeling based on the desired situation, i.e., the end result when strategic goals are fulfilled. For example:
Strategic goal: The organization is the most prominent market leader in its field, requiring the strengthening of marketing competence.
How to achieve this: Strengthen the marketing coordinator's competence in the organization, and their ability to produce and promote the learning platform's marketing and sales goals.
Required capabilities: The marketing coordinator must perform a variety of marketing-related skills and competency areas. They need to produce high-quality and targeted content by also utilizing artificial intelligence, create visually appealing materials, optimize the website for search engines, manage and produce content for both organic and paid social media, have the ability to create impactful customer stories, and communicate effectively with the online learning platform users. Additionally, they should be skilled in analyzing campaign results, monitoring the effectiveness of search engine optimization, managing various marketing tools and technologies in support of the online learning platform's marketing, and handling various marketing projects simultaneously. The coordinator should work well both in a team and independently and maintain strong language skills to conduct marketing in multiple languages.
List of capabilities: customer relations, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, marketing automation, marketing data, email marketing, content production, social media management, basics of artificial intelligence, future of artificial intelligence, communication skills, and visual design.
These various competency sets, which can be called competency profiles, can naturally be numerous within an organization.
Crucial in developing the model is to ensure it is not reliant on technology. First, a model that perfectly fits the organization's needs should be created, and only then should it be examined how such a model can be maintained and developed using software or other solutions.
The model is thus formed by competency profiles and the competencies they contain. Both competencies and competency profiles are dynamic, meaning they can be modified, new competencies can be created, and new competency profiles can be formed.
Utilizing digital platforms for competence management
In the effective management of competence using software, one can only gain if the software is flexible enough, integrations can be implemented appropriately, and reform projects, training, and other types of competence development projects can be implemented within the same software.
In the best case, the software used for competence management increases transparency in the organization regarding all user levels: members of the executive team can monitor the overall situation concerning critical competencies, supervisors can see the situation of their teams, and individuals can both see and manage their own competency profiles – all with the same software.
A useful tool in everyday work comes from competence management software when it can be used in daily work to support various development-focused discussions and, for example, to find individuals within the staff who fulfill a specific competency profile with little effort.
Resource allocation becomes easier, and external recruitment needs may decrease when it's effortless to determine, through a small effort, what additional training will provide the necessary competencies from existing staff in the near future.
In this video, you can find more examples of digital competency profiles and models.
Back to the beginning - strategy
Let's return to the beginning, i.e., to strategy and the interdependence between strategy and the management of competence and learning. Specifically, for the satisfaction and employee experience of the personnel, it is crucial that the strategy is visible in competence and learning management from start to finish.
For every member of the organization, it is good to understand, for the sake of the meaningfulness of their work, how their role and competencies contribute to achieving common goals. Collaborating, understanding the impact of one's work on the big picture, and the feeling that we are all heading in the same direction for our common cause – these factors increase the sense of meaningfulness at work, which is empirically linked to an individual's commitment to the organization.
Furthermore, only if competence and learning are clearly linked to the strategy is it possible to set goals and monitor their achievement. This leads to the monitoring of the effectiveness of learning and various reform and development projects, which is an essential part of strategic competence and learning management through technology.