Review Questions on Competencies
Fulfillment/Gaps with job role
Type: Objective/Subjective
Review Methods
It is expected that the employee & manager both understand the key competencies required to do the job that is assigned to the employee. So, anytime a new task is assigned, the employee should be aware of any new skills required to effectively complete the task.
Prior to the review, the employee & manager should agree on all the job competencies that were expected to be demonstrated through the year for all the tasks assigned to the employee.
Then, the Manager & employee should independently assess the competency level of the employee on each of them and recommend plans to develop in the near future.
Finally, there should be a discussion on the final needs for competency development & the timeline to develop them.
Is this a popular practice?
Yes, competency or skill evaluation of employees is very popular across organizations.
Keep in mind
A review on competencies should never happen if the employee or the Manager is not even aware of the expected skills required for the job that the employee does. Competencies should include both functional & personal aspects and have weightages in line with the priority of one over the other.
Career Path
Type: Subjective
As the employee progresses in his/her career within the organization, what are the skills that the employee demonstrates against those expected to be possessed, gaps and how these can be planned to be developed in the near future through training or job tasks.
Review Methods
Every employee has a career aspiration while the organization too plans for the path that the employee should traverse in the company. Again aspirations or plans change or evolve. So, the first step is to understand and align the individual’s aspirations to the organizational expectations and agree on the career roadmap at the beginning of the review.
Once agreed, the next step is to identify the skill requirements of the chosen career path and assess the fulfillment & gaps if any.
This review question should be a collaborative discussion that concludes with the plan that prioritizes development of missing or under-displayed competencies along a timeline for the employee.
Is this a popular practice?
Yes, but restricted to high performing employees in most organizations.
Keep in mind
Skill requirements for a job constantly evolve according to market and technology evolution. So, developing an employee demands a continuous updation on the current expected skills needed for a chosen career path
Review Questions on Development
Development plan achievement/misses
Type: Subjective
Employee development is one of the most critical factors influencing employee satisfaction, retention & organizational benefits. This review question evaluates the fulfillment of the development objectives of the individual employee during the review period.
Review Methods
Notes from the last review should have reference to plans on development of skills for current job roles and future career path as well as performance aspects in terms of drive for quality, innovation and stretching for the extra mile.
Prior to the review, the Manager & the Employee should collate all that was committed by the employee and the Organization towards a holistic development plan for the employee.
During the review, there should be an objective assessment of the development objectives fulfilled & those that
were missed during the review period.
While concluding, the Manager & employee should check on the opportunities that were availed to develop the employee – be it training programs, special projects or curated work assignments, and assess the relevance and effectiveness of these for future reference.
Is this a popular practice?
Yes, but generally personalized to a job role than an individual employee.
Keep in mind
Development is not equal to training. Opportunities for development can come from working on a special task or an internal project or even attending a conference. So, this review question needs to evaluate the employee’s development exposure through all such varied avenues.
Effectiveness of development
Type: Subjective
Getting trained or an opportunity to work in a project is the first step towards attaining development for the employee. The more critical aspect is to assess the effectiveness of the development initiative & this review question deals with that.
Review Methods
For each development opportunity that the employee availed, there should be a Manager & employee evaluation on the effectiveness of the initiative during the Review process. This should be done by a Before & After assessment i.e. How was the employee before? What were the objectives to be fulfilled? How was the employee after? What is the impact on the job responsibilities? Is the fulfillment of objectives long term?
In cases where the impact of the development initiative trails off after some time, there should be a check on the follow up steps and their effectiveness.
Finally, key highlights should be drawn to provide inputs to personalize future development plans in terms of the needs of the employee, the effectiveness of one type over the other for the employee etc.
Is this a popular practice?
Yes, but detailed assessment is rarely done. Effectiveness of a development initiative is seldom assessed at regular intervals to identify needs for refresher initiatives.
Keep in mind
Evaluation will be most effective if objectives to be met by a development initiative are well understood by the employee or the manager. Otherwise, assessing effectiveness will be quite a futile exercise.
Self driven initiatives
Type: Subjective
Development is best attained if there is a strong self drive to improve & be better. That’s why this review question is very important as it assesses the employee’s initiatives to develop own & others irrespective of organizational impetus.
Review Methods
During the Review, the employee should list all the initiatives taken by oneself to develop in accordance with the objectives that were laid out during the review period.
Not only that, a very important aspect of organizational development is sharing one’s knowledge & skill – So, what are the instances when employees who are specialized in something have gone ahead to put up, say an internal training together to help colleagues improve in this area too.
Based on this, the Employee & Manager should discuss effectiveness of such initiatives and identify learning’s/takeaways to make self driven development a more effective endeavor.
Is this a popular practice?
No, development is largely driven as a HR function & not much weight is given to employee self development drives.
Keep in mind
Self driven initiatives are without purpose if development objectives are not clear for the employee. That’s why the objectives of development should be well understood & agreed upon by both employee & manager.
