Competancy Practices
To achieve the Defined Level, Maturity Level 3, the organization identifies and develops the
knowledge, skills, and process abilities that constitute the workforce competencies required to
perform its business activities. The organization develops a culture of professionalism based on
well-understood workforce competencies. In achieving Maturity Level 3, the organization
develops the capability to manage its workforce as a strategic asset.
The process areas at Maturity Level 3 are Competency Analysis, Workforce Planning,
Competency Development, Career Development, Competency-Based Practices, Workgroup
Development, and Participatory Culture. These seven process areas are briefly described in the
following paragraphs. High-level relationships among these process areas are depicted below.
Competency Analysis
The purpose of Competency Analysis is to identify the knowledge, skills, and process abilities
required to perform the organization’s business activities so that they may be developed and
used as a basis for workforce practices. The organization maintains descriptions of knowledge,
skills, and process abilities composing each workforce competency in a repository. These
descriptions are periodically reassessed to ensure they remain current with the organization’s
technologies and business activities. The work processes used by capable individuals in each
workforce competency are defined and updated as necessary. Competency information regarding
an individual’s capability in the workforce competencies relevant to their work or career is
collected and maintained. From this competency information, resource profiles of the
organization’s level of capability in each of its workforce competencies can be determined.
Workforce Planning
The purpose of Workforce Planning is to coordinate workforce activities with current and future
business needs at both the organizational and unit levels. Workforce Planning ties the
organization’s workforce activities directly to its business strategy and objectives. Through
workforce planning, the organization identifies the workforce it needs for its current and future
business activities and plans the actions to be taken to ensure the required workforce is available
when needed. Strategic workforce plans provide those responsible for workforce activities in
units with a reference for ensuring that they perform their responsibilities with an understanding
of how the unit’s workforce activities contribute to the business.
Competency Development
The purpose of Competency Development is to constantly enhance the capability of the
workforce to perform their assigned tasks and responsibilities. The workforce competencies
identified in Competency Analysis and the needs identified in Workforce Planning provide the
foundations for the organization’s competency development program. Graduated training and
development opportunities are designed to support development in each of the organization’s
workforce competencies. Individuals actively pursue competency development opportunities that
support their individual development objectives. The organization uses the existing experience in
its workforce as an asset for developing additional capability in each of its workforce
competencies through practices such as mentoring. Mechanisms are established to support
communication among the members of a competency community.
Career Development
The purpose of Career Development is to ensure that individuals are provided opportunities to
develop workforce competencies that enable them to achieve career objectives. A personal
development plan is created and periodically updated for each individual. Opportunities for
training and other career-enhancing activities are made available. Progress against individual
development plans is tracked. Graduated career opportunities and promotion criteria are defined
to motivate growth in the organization’s workforce competencies. Promotion activities are
performed on a periodic and event-driven basis. Individuals are periodically counseled about
career options, and opportunities for advancement are communicated to them.
Competency-Based Practices
The purpose of Competency-Based Practices is to ensure that all workforce practices are based
in part on developing the competencies of the workforce. The staffing, performance
management, compensation, and related workforce practices established through performing the
activities of process areas at the Managed Level need to be adjusted to support the organization’s
focus on developing workforce competencies. Workforce activities that had focused primarily on
unit concerns at the Managed Level are re-oriented by adjusting them to include concerns that
are strategic to shaping the organization’s workforce and the workforce competencies needed in
the workforce. As a result of incorporating an organizational orientation in the performance of
workforce activities, the performance of activities should become more consistent across units.
Workgroup Development
The purpose of Workgroup Development is to organize work around competency-based process
abilities. As used in the People CMM, a workgroup is a collection of people who work closely
together on tasks that are highly interdependent to achieve shared objectives. Work and
workgroups are designed to maximize the interdependency of tasks within the workgroup and to
minimize dependencies with other workgroups. Workgroups tailor competency-based processes
for use in planning and performing their business activities. Workgroups tailor the defined roles
incorporated in the processes and assign them to workgroup members. Responsible individuals
manage workgroup performance and track the status of work. When a workgroup’s business
activities are complete, it is disbanded using an orderly process that preserves its assets,
completes required workforce activities, and ensures appropriate work assignments for each of
its departing members.
Participatory Culture
The purpose of a Participatory Culture is to ensure a flow of information within the
organization, to incorporate the knowledge of individuals into decision-making processes, and to
gain their support for commitments. Establishing a participatory culture lays the foundation for
building high-performance workgroups. Establishing a participatory culture begins with
providing individuals and workgroups with information about organizational and unit
performance and how their performance contributes, in addition to information needed to
perform their committed work. Individuals and workgroups use defined processes for making
decisions and for resolving conflicts and disputes.