Developing Capabilities

Developing capabilitiesActKM 2011

Stephen Byrne, Senior consultant

Step Two Designs

Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Step T w o DESIGNSAgenda The headache

The proposed solution

In practice

The results


Step T w o DESIGNSFollow up


Step T w o DESIGNSFormative career disciplines Engineering (Chief engineer)

Business (Regional / Managing Director)

Psychology (Organisational Psychologist)

Knowledge (Knowledge Manager)


Step T w o DESIGNS

The context


Step T w o DESIGNSClient environment Tail end of major reengineering piece …

Asked for a knowledge strategy

They were unclear what this actually was … A DMS solution?

Organisational strategy tie-in?

A circle-thingie?

‘A learning organisation’ Scary process maps?


Step T w o DESIGNSMethodology Research and analysis

Draft framework

Feedback and activity selection

Four areas of focus for practical intervention


Step T w o DESIGNS

The headache


Step T w o DESIGNSAt first glance…

‘We are a service organisation, we are here to help’

‘People like to do what’s asked of them’

‘We are very friendly and helpful’

‘I fill in my day tracking down problems’

‘We are a very supportive culture, but some people

have used it to push tasks onto others who are not

responsible for them’


Step T w o DESIGNSLooking more closley…

‘We are doing too many things for other people’

‘I spend too much time doing other peoples jobs’

‘We are all busy doing everyone elses work’

‘People are very busy’

‘There’s just not enough hours in the day’

‘Mangers are doing General Managers work,

administrators are doing managers work’

‘I’m tired of having to mange upwards’

‘We are trying to be all things to all people’


Step T w o DESIGNSExecutive headaches

Inheritance of a toxic culture

Staff change-weary and fragile

‘Technical’ managers

The specter of union action

Some particularly challenging cultural issues: Low engagement

Not enough difficult conversations

Poor performance management

Some emotional bullying

Low levels of trust


Step T w o DESIGNS

Solving the headache


Step T w o DESIGNSNeeded a model to …

Engage staff in the ‘role’ conversation

Inform role clarity

Provide a common language for ‘people’ discussions

Promote objectivity

Allow comparison between and across roles

Support staff insight and development


Step T w o DESIGNSIntroducing a capability framework

The hinge point between people and roles

Structured, integrated model that links what

people do to in their role, to business outcomes


Step T w o DESIGNSWhy is it useful? Single model across all roles

Supports rigorous and fair evaluation

Supports conversations through the entire employee lifecycle

Empowers staff and managers to achieve better outcomes

Helps with role definition

Feeds into job analysis, gap analysis, PD development)

Team, department, organisational bench strength evaluation

Workforce planning


Step T w o DESIGNSWhere does it come from?

Hope the organisation has one …

Invest significant effort, expertise, time and

resources … not to mention significant client

appetite … and create one

or

Use an off the shelf model


Step T w o DESIGNSIntroducing the UCF …

Caveat …

SHL UCF

True framework …

Research based

Significant support tools

www.shl.com/au


Step T w o DESIGNS

In practice


Step T w o DESIGNSHow do you use it …

Define business outcomes

Define division, department, team outcomes

Define individual outcomes

Determine tasks required to achieve those

outcomes

Select the capabilities that underpin the tasks

Use the capabilities to relate people to the role


Step T w o DESIGNSDefine the KM role …

Define individual outcomes

Determine tasks required to achieve those

outcomes

Select the capabilities that underpin the tasks

Use the capabilities to relate people to the role

Valuable resource: http://www.onetonline.org/


Step T w o DESIGNSSort the cards … Sort cards by role priority

Don’t just rely on card title

Be able to justify your choice

Max 6 essential

Max 6 desirable

Colours can be divided up


Step T w o DESIGNS

The results


Step T w o DESIGNSCapability matrix – KM role


Step T w o DESIGNSClient outcomes All staff involved in capability selection

Safe level of discussion – not about demarcation

People centered discussions

Gap analysis on position descriptions

Rich discussions in relation to current and future role responsibilities

Better equipped managers – supported workshops

Gap analysis on position descriptions

Agreement on role capabilities

Later can be used to help make better hiring decisions

Supports development activities


Step T w o DESIGNSAdditional resources http://www.shl.com/assets/resources/White-Paper-SHL-Universal-Co

mpetency-Framework.pdf

(About the model presented at ActKM2011)

http://www.apsc.gov.au/ils/index.html (A comprehensive model for

Australian government leadership)

http://www.onetonline.org/ (Comprehensive database of role

definitions, skills and capabilities)


Step T w o DESIGNS

Technology

Developing Capabilities