Coaching trajectory: Getting started with competence and qualification management in a technical environment

As a technical or HR manager, it is important to have a good overview of the technical competences and talents of your employees. Moreover, you want to analyse the competencies of your employees in a fairly pragmatic way in order to be able to take (development) actions. You also want to get a view on the potential that exists in the group, but also on which jobs could entail a risk in the future. Think, for example, of the competencies that need to be filled in again when someone retires.

• For instance, do you know the difference between qualifications, competences and talents?
• How can you correctly map out the competences of your employees?
• And is this sufficient to manage the technical talent in your company?
• Does your company have a systematic and structured approach to the skills and competences of each (technical) employee?

During this application project, participants learn and practice how to set up and apply competence and qualification management in their company. Because only by doing this in a well-considered way can you get the best out of your human resources, and at the same time ensure that staff satisfaction is maximised. At the end of the application process, you will have fully mapped and analysed the competences and qualifications of the technical staff in a pilot environment (or in the company, depending on its size) in a specially developed tool, and you will be able to work independently to keep this up to date and roll it out to the entire technical department.

By participating in the application trajectory, you will learn:

• how to draw up a technical competence dictionary;
• how to make connections between competences and assets, qualifications and training;
• how to create technical profiles yourself;
• how to make standards for self-made profiles;
• how to master the do's and dont's of evaluating employee competences;
• how to make an analysis of the competences of technical employees and of a technical team;
• how to draw conclusions from this analysis and which actions to take;
• how to draw up, elaborate and follow up on a personal training plan for technical employees.

After completing the assignments in the application track, you will have for your company

• a software tool in Microsoft Excel to draw up and analyse the competences of technical employees and teams; 
• drawn up and analysed the operational competences of technical staff and teams in a pilot environment; 
• missing competences, qualifications and training needs identified;
• a comprehensive view of the risks in the event of changes to the technical staffing level

Participants receive a permanent licence to use the BEMAS Tacoma tool, included in the participation fee. Tacoma, stands for TAlent and COmpetence MAnagement. The tool already contains a standard technical competency dictionary that can be supplemented with company-specific competencies. At the end of the project, the aim is for the participant to have set up this tool to suit his/her own company and to have applied it in a pilot environment for the analysis and management of technical competences and the management of technical employees.

The BEMAS Tacoma tool is used intensively during the training programme to map the competences of the employees in the technical department. This is built on the basis of digital templates in Microsoft Excel. It is therefore necessary to bring your own laptop with MS Excel. After the application process, the participants can continue to use the tool and its contents free of charge and without restrictions within their own company context (= the participant's office(s)).

Anyone who is responsible for competence management in a technical environment: Maintenance Managers; Supervisors; Team Leaders; HR personnel; ... Familiarity with the world of technicians in the field and the basic principles of maintenance and/or asset management is assumed. No prior knowledge of competency and talent management is required. Experience with the use of Microsoft Excel is useful.

• Session 1: Introduction to asset-based competence and qualification management (1 day)
• Session 2: Drawing up profiles on the basis of an existing competence dictionary (half a day)
• Session 3: Building a custom-made competence dictionary (half a day)
• Session 4: Setting up the competence management process (half a day)
• Session 5: Drawing up profiles on the basis of the made-to-measure competency dictionary (half a day)
• Session 6: Evaluating employees (half a day)
• Session 7: Analysing the charted competences (half a day)
• Final session (8) presentation internal project (half a day)

Only the first session, which lasts a whole day, is organised at a hotel. The next sessions are intended to take place alternately at the premises of one of the participants. This requires a suitable room with a projector and screen. If possible, a company visit can be arranged with the host. In the case of a company visit, the planned timing is 1 hour longer (ending at 19h30).

For the application courses, we drew inspiration from the renowned Chinese philosopher Confucius: "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand".

An application path is a short training course followed by several follow-up sessions. After each session, the participants are expected to apply the concepts they have learned in their companies. During the subsequent session, experiences are shared with the other participants and challenges and solutions are discussed. Afterwards, preparations for the next application phase are started. The application sessions only make sense when everyone has had time to prepare the assignment properly. Therefore, there are always 3 to 6 weeks between each follow-up session.

Besides the theory and the follow-up sessions, we also want to learn from each other. That is why in this application trajectory there are a maximum of 12 participants working at a maximum of 8 different companies. After the full programme, not only has the participant gained knowledge and experience, but he has also improved the company he works for. An application track therefore offers an interesting ROI for the participant and the company.

In order to implement the programme successfully in the company, it is strongly recommended that each participant engages an internal 'sponsor', who has the authority to support the participants in introducing competence and qualification management in the technical environment (e.g. HR Manager, plant manager, operations manager, maintenance manager, etc.).