THE LEADER’S GUDIE TO
BUL
IDN
I G EMPLOYEE
COMPETENCY
Solutions to develop a high-performance
workforce
2 | THE LEADER’S GUIDE TO BUILDING EMPLOYEE COMPETENCY
Learning & Development
leaders aren’t always
leading large change
initiatives.
Much of their charter involves offering or
providing high-quality open-enrollment classes.
THE 6 KEY LEADERSHIP
& MANAGEMENT
COMPETENCIE COMMUNICATION
& INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
S TEAMWORK
& COLLABORATION
To guide their efforts, organizations issue
competency models outlining the key
SELF-DIRECTION
behaviors
At Crucial that equal we
Learning, success in their
reviewed dozens
& PROFESSIONALISM
organization
of and industry.
these competency models and
identified six of the most common
employee competencies that leaders care CRITICAL THINKING
about. & CREATIVITY
CHANGE
MANAGEMENT
3 | THE LEADER’S GUIDE TO BUILDING EMPLOYEE COMPETENCY
Competencies at
Risk
Why put so much emphasis on training to competencies? Our research shows it’s because employees need
it.
We asked 200 managers whether they have employees who struggle in these competencies, and how costly
poor performance is to the organization. We also asked them if employees received feedback about their
lack of competence and whether or not employees took ownership of and action to resolve their
performance.
What we found is that employees’ lack of competence in these six key standards is common,
costly, unchecked, and unresolved.
75
Common: Managers say
employees’ lack of competence in
50
Costly: When employees struggle
in any of these six areas, managers
six key standards is pervasive. consider them much less valuable
to the organization.
75% of managers say they have one
or more employees who struggle in On average, 50% of managers say
each of the key competencies. that performance deficits in these
six standards has a large negative
impact on the organization.
Unresolved: Fewer than 1 in 4 Unchecked: Perhaps most
managers said employees have alarming is that struggling
accepted responsibility and taken employees don’t receive feedback
steps to improve performance in 4 about their need to improve.
of the 6 key competencies.
Across the six key competencies,
less than 18% of managers say
their struggling employees have
received constructive feedback.
4 | THE LEADER’S GUIDE TO BUILDING EMPLOYEE COMPETENCY
CRUCAIL
LEARNNIG CAN
HELP
Courses directed at these
competencies will create a
more valuable and
productive workforce.
Learning & Development
leaders looking to improve
competency in these six areas
will find the Crucial
Learning suite of courses
builds skills in the standards
organizations care about
most.
Leadership
5 | THE LEADER’S GUIDE TO BUILDING EMPLOYEE COMPETENCY
M
& anagement This course teaches dialogue skills that build
understanding, engagement, and
commitment.
PARTICIPANTS LEARN TO:
• Create the kind of psychological safety
The ability to articulate that allows honest, frank, and respectful
goals, organize people and interactions.
resources, monitor • Build skills to address the toughest,
most toughest, most sensitive topics
progress, and resolve they face with their employees, peers,
problems. managers, and customers.
Builds alignment,
understanding, and
commitment to goals. Skilled This course teaches skills for improving
performance while building relationships.
at evaluating others’
PARTICIPANTS LEARN TO:
strengths and weaknesses, • Set clear expectations and address
coaching others’ failure to keep commitments.
and mentoring, building • Deal with patterns of problems, diagnose
accountability, and causes of performance gaps, and apply
short- and long-term solutions.
providing clear and • Follow up and coach to make
constructive feedback. performance improvements permanent.
ENCOMPASSES:
• Influence
• Employee engagement
This course teaches a model for achieving success
• People and amidst organizational change.
performance PARTICIPANTS LEARN:
management • How norms, habits, and unwritten rules
• Talent development keep them stuck.
• Motivation • How to change hearts, minds, and
behaviors.
• How to involve formal and opinion leaders,
build passion and practice, and adjust
incentives and the environment to support
new initiatives.
Communication
6 | THE LEADER’S GUIDE TO BUILDING EMPLOYEE COMPETENCY
& Our success hinges on the results of Crucial
Interpersonal Conversations. Most people handle conversations
just fine but struggle when the conversation is
risky, sensitive, or involves powerful people.
Skills They fail when they are blindsided by
strong or indirect reactions like anger or
passive- aggressiveness.
The ability to listen and PARTICIPANTS LEARN TO:
present. Skilled at verbal • Handle strong emotions.
and nonverbal • Turn debate and disagreement into
productive dialogue.
communication.
Skilled at addressing
controversial or difficult
issues.
Skilled at emotional When communication breaks down, it’s often
due to mistrust, unmet expectations, and
control in stressful misunderstandings.
situations. Able to read PARTICIPANTS LEARN TO:
and understand the • Talk about these gaps in a way that builds
ENCOMPASSES:
feelings and attitudes of trust, understanding, and commitment—
while getting performance back on track.
others.
• Conflict management • Build accountability, even when you don’t
have formal authority.
• Negotiation
• Coach, motivate, and enable others
• Persuasion to succeed.
• Presentation skills
• Written communication
• Storytelling
Influencer teaches an entire communication
strategy to use with change management
initiatives.
PARTICIPANTS LEARN TO:
• Involve formal and informal opinion
leaders.
• Share information in convincing
ways.
• Move people emotionally in ways that
change hearts and minds.
Teamwork &
7 | THE LEADER’S GUIDE TO BUILDING EMPLOYEE COMPETENCY
Collaboration A team’s performance is determined by how well
team members interact with one another. And
psychological safety is the most important aspect
of these interactions.
In effective teams, members feel safe to
The ability to work in voice ideas, make suggestions, and disagree.
diverse, multidisciplinary PARTICIPANTS LEARN:
teams and develop strong • How to create psychological safety
relationships with team and trust.
•
members and other How to address tough, divisive
issues.
stakeholders.
Creates an environment of
trust and accountability Team members need to be able to trust the
with peers, and encourages commitments they make to each other and
be able to negotiate commitments from
a safe environment for their sponsors and stakeholders.
diverse views. Values PARTICIPANTS LEARN:
collaborations with other • How to manage and negotiate
departments to drive agreements.
• How to hold others
maximum results for the accountable.
entire organization. • How to build positive working
ENCOMPASSES:
relationships—regardless of position.
• Accountability
• Collaboration
• Relationship building Teamwork relies on commitments and trust. GTD
teaches team members how to capture, retain,
• Trust and follow through on commitments.
• Synergy PARTICIPANTS LEARN:
• Networking • Simple habits that prevent people from
dropping the ball, missing deadlines,
• Delegation or working on the wrong priorities.
• Diversity and • Practices that result in stress-
inclusion free productivity.
• Customer experience • How to become more present, creative,
and involved with each other.
Self-Direction
8 | THE LEADER’S GUIDE TO BUILDING EMPLOYEE COMPETENCY
P
&rofessionalism Self-direction requires more than motivation.
Many motivated employees fail to deliver
because they don’t have the skills to limit the
tasks that land on their plates.
PARTICIPANTS LEARN:
The internal drive to excel; • How to negotiate assignments, manage
a desire to be “better” no expectations, and gain control.
matter how good you have • How to examine one’s role in a
problem.
already become. The • How to take responsibility for actions
ability to prioritize and and performance.
complete tasks in order to
deliver desired outcomes
within allotted time
frames. Leaders cite missing deadlines, procrastinating,
working on the wrong priorities, and failing to
keep others updated as the most common
The ability to find your reasons employees fail.
own motivation, show PARTICIPANTS LEARN:
initiative, and persevere • Simple processes that change
in the face of adversity. peoples’ lives.
• How to become more productive,
ENCOMPASSES: less stressed, and more
engaged.
• Resilience
• Continual learning
• Technical and functional skills
• Integrity and honesty
• Courage
• Focus
• Self-awareness
Critical
9 | THE LEADER’S GUIDE TO BUILDING EMPLOYEE COMPETENCY
Thinking The saying goes “fish discover water last.” People
often overlook the influences all around them.
& These unseen influences (norms, practices,
habits, and unwritten rules) are largely
Creativity responsible for their success or failure.
PARTICIPANTS LEARN:
• A model to reveal hidden influences.
The ability to analyze • How to marshal these influences into
options and implications in powerful change plans.
new
ways to achieve outcomes
and solutions.
Demonstrates creative People think more critically and creatively when
thinking, making sound they are fully present. This course teaches skills to
offload unwanted worry and stress, so learners
decisions, and skillful can apply their full intellect to their pressing
problem solving at work. issues.
One of the truths underlying this course is that
“the mind is for having ideas, not holding
Develops new insights them.”
into situations, questions PARTICIPANTS LEARN:
conventional • How to free themselves from
approaches, encourages mental burdens.
•
new ideas and How to focus on the problems that
matter.
innovations, designs and
implements new or
ENCOMPASSES:
cutting edge
programs/processes.
• Analytical thinking
• Innovation
• Creativity
• Dealing with
ambiguity
• Decision-making
• Conceptual thinking
Change
10 | THE LEADER’S GUIDE TO BUILDING EMPLOYEE COMPETENCY
Management Change management boils down to influencing
behavior. The goal is always to change hearts,
minds, and actions.
PARTICIPANTS LEARN:
• A simple and clear model for influencing
The ability to navigate the behavior.
team and organization • Proven tools that combine into a robust,
flexible influence methodology.
through complex and
changing environments and
engage colleagues to seek
creative solutions to drive
change. Change becomes difficult when it requires
new priorities, inputs, tasks,
relationships, and processes—all at once.
Helps the organization
People feel as if their plates are full to
stay appropriately overflowing. They don’t know how to manage all
anchored to mission and the new elements.
values in the face of PARTICIPANTS LEARN:
•
external volatility, Robust habits for managing and
prioritizing change.
complexity, and ambiguity. • Reducing the stress that comes with
Notices the new habits feeling overwhelmed.
needed to be successful
in new environments and
systematically shifts
habits for success.
ENCOMPASSES: When stuck in the same old habits and
systems, change can feel impossible. But
change leaders know success is predicated on
• Leadership self-mastery; high performance is a matter of
habit.
• Vision
PARTICIPANTS LEARN TO:
• Adaptabilit
• How to take control of habits to get
y the outcomes they want
• That developing effective habits takes
skill instead of willpower.
11 | THE LEADER’S GUIDE TO BUILDING EMPLOYEE COMPETENCY
A Case for Virtual
Learning
While there are many options to engage your WFH workforce, virtual learning is one
that checks the boxes on creating both structured and unstructured connection. It’s
also surprisingly effective at preserving culture. The study shows that among the
employees who say they are getting the same or more learning and development since
WFH . . .
• 33% say their culture has improved since WFH.
• 22% say they feel more connected to their organization.
• 52% say their commitment to the organization has increased.
Crucial Learning virtual learning options can help your WFH team not only build
crucial skills but also strengthen social capital, commitment, and connection.
Crucial Learning Virtual, On-Demand, and In-Person Courses:
Get Started
To bring the skills to your organization for increased productivity and engagement, contact us to
learn more. Call 1-800-449-5989 or visit us at CrucialLearning.com.
ABOUT CRUCIAL LEARNING
Crucial Learning improves the world by helping people improve themselves. We offer
courses in the areas of communication, performance, and leadership, focusing on
behaviors that have a disproportionate impact on outcomes, called crucial skills. Our
award-winning courses and
accompanying bestselling books include Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue,
Crucial Conversations® for Accountability, The Power of Habit™, Getting Things Done®, and
Influencer Training®. CrucialLearning.com
CrucialLearning.com
