Mapping Corporate Competencies with FLIGBY Skills

FLIGBY’s ability to model and quantify company-specific competencies using its 29 skills provides a practical, data-driven solution for organizations launching or upgrading their competency systems. By following the step-by-step process outlined in this article, companies can align their leadership development efforts with their unique competency frameworks, ensuring their workforce has the skills they need to succeed.

Why a competency framework is a competitive advantage

Competency systems are structured frameworks that organizations use to define, measure, and develop the specific skills, behaviors, and knowledge required for success. These systems serve as a foundation for various HR and leadership processes, including hiring, performance evaluations, training, and succession planning. In essence, competency systems answer the question: What does success look like for individuals, teams, and the organization as a whole?

Competency systems provide a clear roadmap for employee development when implemented effectively, aligning individual growth with organizational objectives.

The 3-step Approach

FLIGBY is a powerful tool for modeling and quantifying company-specific competencies by leveraging its 29 people skills. This tailor-made process acts like a LEGO-building exercise, where the foundational skills (the building pieces) are combined to create more complex structures that align with the company’s competency framework. Below, we’ll explain how this process works in three steps:

Step 1: Understanding the Company’s Competency Framework

The first step is to deeply understand how the company defines its competencies. This involves exploring the organization’s competency framework and answering key questions, such as:

• What do the competencies mean in practice? – For example, if a company defines “collaboration” as a competency, does it emphasize active listening, conflict resolution, or mutual goal-setting?
• How are the competencies used? – Are they tied to leadership development, team dynamics, or performance evaluations?

This step aims to define each competency clearly in terms of observable behaviors and measurable outcomes.

Step 2: Mapping FLIGBY’s 29 Skills to Competency Categories

Once the company’s competency framework is well understood, the next step is to map FLIGBY’s 29 skills to these competencies. This is like a “social architecture” exercise, where the skills are grouped and combined to represent specific competencies. 

This is how mapping works: We identify the relevant skills for each competency by determining which of FLIGBY’s people skills are most appropriate for each competency. Typically, 2-5 FLIGBY skills can be combined to express a single competency.

• Example 1: For the competency “Respect others,” you might group FLIGBY skills like Communication, Conflict management, Engagement and Trust, and Emotional Intelligence.
• Example 2: For the competency “Take ownership,” skills like Assertiveness and Problem-Solving may be relevant.

That grouping of skills into categories must mirror the company’s competency framework. The result is a customized skill-to-competency mapping that reflects the organization’s unique needs. This mapping process is key to ensuring that FLIGBY’s skills align seamlessly with the company’s definition and evaluation of competencies.

Step 3: Calculating Competency Values Using Gameplay Data

After the competencies are modeled using FLIGBY’s 29 skills, the final step is to quantify these competencies using actual gameplay data. FLIGBY’s simulations generate detailed data on how participants perform across the 29 skills, which can then be aggregated to calculate competency values.

How the Calculation Works:

1. Skill Data Collection – As participants complete the FLIGBY simulation, the system tracks their performance across all 29 skills, generating precise scores for each skill.
2. Applying the Skill-to-Competency Mapping – Using the mapping created in Step 2, the scores for relevant skills are combined to calculate a score for each competency.
   • Example: If “Take decisions and have drive” is modeled using the skills Organizing, Time-pressured decisions, and Stakeholder management, the scores for these skills are aggregated (using weighted averages, if necessary) to produce the final “Take decisions and have drive” score.
3. Generating Competency Insights – The calculated scores provide a clear, data-driven picture of how well each participant or group demonstrates the company’s key competencies. These insights can then be used to guide development programs, identify high-potential employees, and address competency gaps.

The LEGO Analogy: Building Complex Structures from Basic Pieces

This process is much like building with LEGO blocks:

• FLIGBY’s 29 skills are the basic building pieces—well-defined, measurable, and versatile.
• Company competencies are the more complex structures built by combining these pieces.
• By assembling the right combinations of skills, organizations can model competencies fully aligned with their unique goals and priorities.

The Approach of using FLIGBY’s 29 skills to model and quantify competencies is practical for several reasons. First and foremost, it is flexible; FLIGBY’s skills can be regrouped and recombined seamlessly to fit any competency framework an organization may have. This adaptability ensures that the competencies modeled through FLIGBY resonate with the company’s unique goals and values.

Moreover, the method is inherently measurable. Organizations can use actual gameplay data to ground their competency assessments in objective and actionable insights. This data-driven Approach not only enhances the reliability of the evaluations but also provides a clear understanding of how individuals perform across the defined competencies.

Finally, this solution is tailored to meet the specific needs of each organization. By customizing the skill mappings and competencies, FLIGBY allows companies to create a framework that genuinely reflects their culture, strategy, and priorities. As a result, organizations can ensure that their competency systems are aligned with their overall mission and vision, fostering a more engaged and capable workforce.

This comprehensive and adaptable framework ultimately empowers organizations to cultivate the skills necessary for sustained success.

Prerequisites for Using FLIGBY’s 3-Step Approach to Competency Modeling

Specific prerequisites must be in place to successfully implement FLIGBY’s 3-step Approach for modeling and quantifying company-specific competencies. These foundational elements ensure the process is effective and aligned with the organization’s goals.

First, a well-defined competency framework is essential. Competencies must be clearly articulated, with a deep understanding of how they describe expected behavior patterns and their relationship to organizational performance. For example, competencies like “collaboration” or “strategic thinking” should outline the behaviors associated with success and connect these behaviors to measurable outcomes that drive the organization forward. Without this clarity, it becomes challenging to map FLIGBY’s 29 skills to the company’s unique competency framework in a meaningful way.

Second, the active and supportive involvement of the HR team is critical. HR professionals play a key role in discussing and validating the grouping of FLIGBY’s skills into the company’s competency categories. Their expertise ensures the skill mappings are relevant and aligned with the organization’s talent development goals. Additionally, HR teams can facilitate cross-departmental collaboration, ensuring that the competency framework reflects the needs of various stakeholders.

Finally, organizations must be open to using innovative development tools like FLIGBY. They need to embrace the idea of leveraging gamified simulations and data-driven insights to enhance their competency systems. This openness to innovation allows companies to move beyond traditional competency assessment methods and adopt a more engaging, practical, and scalable approach. By integrating tools like FLIGBY, organizations can ensure they will manage a dynamic and forward-thinking competency framework that evolves with their needs.

These prerequisites form the foundation for successfully implementing FLIGBY’s 3-step Approach, ensuring the process is impactful and aligned with the organization’s strategic objectives.