“What got you here won’t get you there” can (and should) be applied to many aspects of an evolving organization. Today, we’re taking this lens and applying it to competencies.

The end of the year is a great time to revisit your companies’ core competencies. As a leader, when reflecting on your employee’s previous year, consider this: are the core competencies we’ve outlined as an organization (maybe many years ago at this point) still accurate? Are they consistent with the behaviors I’m assessing?

Most workplaces aren’t returning to whatever their pre-COVID work schedule was. If the way in which you’re operating in a post-pandemic world is changing, your core competencies may need some re-evaluating. Are the agility and navigating ambiguity competencies clearly explained through behavioral indicators for each of the levels? Does the individual contributor role require different behavioral expectations? What about the managers?

With an unprecedented year (almost 2), ALL employees have had to make a shift and adapt. Most were required to roll with the punches. But as we approach – and try to define – the new normal, spelling out the behaviors and expectations of employees helps them to operate with slightly less ambiguity.

Revisiting, re-writing and re-sharing your competencies is a big task for any organization. The first step is to identify if your competencies need revising.

How to make this a more digestible task?

Ask your leaders to pull up your competency list when they’re writing their year-end reviews for their employees. Have them compare their evaluations to the spelled out expectations and identify gaps, clarifications or improvements. Get them involved in the process – many will feel good about having their fingerprints on something larger than their usual projects and their input will be invaluable.