Using Competencies to Merge Cultures

A financial services company that grew by acquisition found it had numerous competing approaches to managing the workforce, and needed to create a unified approach to management. Organizational diagnosis was based on document review and interviews with senior management. The interviews focused on questions about the company?s future direction and the capabilities needed at six levels of employment (from Executive to staff employee).  An organization-wide competency model was defined and leveled with behavioral descriptors for each of the six work levels. The resulting model provided a cohesive communication about performance expectations that helped unify the diverse company cultures that were being merged.

Defining Leadership for the Future

An international economics think tank, facing dramatic changes both in its mandate and worldwide economic trends, wanted to define competencies its senior leaders would need to guide the organization into the future. Using a combination of Job Competence Assessment and Strategic Derivation competency techniques, Human Productivity defined the behavioral competencies to be used for individual development and selection purposes, as well as a basis for defining job requirements. We then translated the competencies into 360 questions for assessment purposes. A unique aspect of this project was assuring that the meaning of competencies was correctly translated to a second language.