Defense Human Capital Strategy DHCS

1
Defense Human Capital Strategy (DHCS)?

Program Executive Office (PEO)?

• Getting competent on competencies
• Navy Workforce Conference
• 5 May 2008

2
Whats new with competencies?

• In the past, we matched workers to jobs
• Checking applicants for education and work
  history
• Asking and interviewing about personal factors
  such as demeanor, cooperative abilities, oral and
  written expression, etc.
• Now, were asked to select and manage by
  competencies
• Whats really new here?
• If done right, perhaps a new approach to
  matching workers to jobs
• Lots of software applications and consultant
  services being marketed that expect you to do the
  hard part be careful what you buy!

3
Competencies

• Competencies the Knowledge, Skills, Attributes
  and Other characteristics (KSAOs) required to
  perform a particular job
• Thats FIT matching a person to a job
• Competency management is then about defining the
  characteristics of the job and then creating a
  match to the individual
• Two sides requirements v. personnel
• If theres a fit problem there may be several
  reasons
• The job requirement is wrong
• Selection and/or training is wrong
• The internal management processes are
  insufficient to get a match

4
Competency management involves several sequential
steps
5
Job analysis two ways

• In psychology, job analysis means content
  validity
• This means that individual competencies must be
  validated as relevant for the tasks
• Established methods exist for ensuring content
  validity
• Surveys, interviews, observation, empiricism,
  etc.
• Some more appropriate for certain positions than
  others
• In management, job analysis means task validity
• This requires process analysis, i.e., checking
  that tasks relate to effectiveness and efficiency
  in meeting mission requirements
• This means application of process reengineering
  tools, such as Lean, Six Sigma, Theory of
  Constraints, etc.
• Competency based workforce management requires
  doing both kinds of job analysis

6
Job analysis is the core element of competency
based management
JOB ANALYSIS
CONTENT VALIDITY
TASK VALIDITY
VALIDATED COMPETENCIES
MANPOWER REQUIREMENTS Quantity, quality,
inventory shape, trainers, etc.
PERSONNEL LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT Selection,
training, evaluation, career progression,
termination, replacement

• Manpower requirements and personnel life cycle
  management are indelible activities that must be
  based on a common analytical baseline
• There cannot be separate approaches to any of
  these steps, they must be grounded on the same
  job-analytical foundation

7
Competency management requires competent managers

• Senior managers provide workforce managers with
  strategic and mission guidance, but also with the
  tools required to perform accomplish stated goals
• Generally, PPBS process presumes that the tools
  are adequate
• But this is not true see Anita Blairs list of
  problems this morning
• Often, perhaps even most of the time what appears
  as a workforce problem is really a deficient
  management process
• We need to do a serious process analysis of the
  entire MPTE structure, from top to bottom, cradle
  to grave, incl. the mechanics of PPBS
• Workforce management is a local business, but
  budget and personnel processes are centrally
  controlled and inflexibly applied

8
CBWM in DoD today

• Agencies are focusing on their particular issues
• Navy community based approach, using functional
  managers to improve training and personnel
  management
• Army a broad approach to civilian occupations,
  surveying over 100K positions for content
  validity of competencies
• Air Force one top down approach establishing
  common USAF competencies across the board others
  inside functional communities (e.g.,
  Space/Missile career fields)
• DAU survey of inventory turnover and training
  gaps (CNA)
• DLA survey of some career fields, incl.
  contracting (over 65 comps)
• ATL/Logistics common dictionary, leading to
  better training
• Others we will assemble briefings on a common
  website for all to see
• Whats right each agency focusing on specific
  problems
• What remains more focus on job analysis, both
  kinds

9
so what do we get out of it?

• Depends on what we put into it
• Job analysis focused on tasks is still the heart
  of the business essential for defining required
  competencies
• Tasks must support agency missions and objectives
• Overall, we need more critical analysis of jobs
  we lost many people with that essential analytic
  knowledge in the drawdown of the 1990s
• If a Competency Based system can lead us to
  resurrect good manpower requirements analysis
  tools, it will leave a permanent contribution
• This requires programming action, to ensure that
  manpower authorizations, personnel assignments,
  and budgetary resources are available