Competency Assessments | What You Need to Know
Competency assessments are required in many high-stake disciplines and are a test designed to measure a specialist’s ability. Competency assessments are used in manufacturing, medical, and military industries, but are becoming more popular in other disciplines. Technology has made it easier to forge credentials, that’s why competency tests done on respected systems offer a leg up in the contract selection processes. They are one of the few methods available that prove the employee can fulfill the demands of their role.
Competency tests can:
How Competency Assessments Increase Safety
Supplying awareness is a great step in safety. However, some people don’t learn from classroom lessons as easily as others. When staff is given competency tests, techniques can be improved through practice, unsafe lifting methods can be addressed, and experience can be shared through demonstration. This all equates to a safer environment both in reality and on paper.
How Competency Assessments Provide Proof of Diligence
Knowing your staff is safe and proving they are safe are different ball games. That’s why documentation is key. There’s a reason insurance providers give discounts for proof of competency rather than take people’s word for it. Competency assessments are one of the few ways of proving your talent can perform the given tasks safely. They are a way of observing and documenting how aware a team member is of the safety risks. After team members are assessed, employees can be given proper training to correct any unsafe behavior or rewards for safe work techniques.
Documenting, Organizing, and Tracking Competency Assessments via Software
If you’re wondering how all this gets documented and provided efficiently, we have a program for just that. Our competency assessment software included in our Training Record Management system can document and track both credentials and competency results by team member, location, or site. The team member has personal access to their files and can personally take care of duties that would’ve required separate administrators in the past. All this data is saved on a cloud that can be accessed by authorized personnel anywhere they have an internet connection.
How Competency Assessments Increase Proficiency
Competency assessments can increase proficiency through the spreading of wisdom. After teammates are tested on a given task, management can sample the best way of performing the duty and relay this to the other staff members. These assessments allow time to share techniques. They also provide documentation for future training.
Essentially, competency assessments can promote the best way to do any task in your business through demonstration. Furthermore, if properly documented, they provide evidence that supports efficient techniques.
Enhancing Finished Product Through Competency Assessments
Automotive companies frequently use competency assessments on line specialists to guarantee consistency. The key to all those automotive pieces fitting right is rigorous discipline. Torquing those bolts to the right spec, laying that gasket correctly, and placing the windshield in delicately all require skill and practice. Before automotive specialists work on an actual product, they are often tested in competency rooms at these automotive facilities. This is how the automotive industry improves consistency and produces a dependable product.
Similar results can certainly produce great results in other disciplines. Tailoring your own competency assessments can allow you to focus your team’s time and energy where you feel it’s most required.
How Competency Assessments Discover Merit
Sometimes merit or proficiency goes unnoticed. Sometimes employees are achieving great goals using creative skills day after day but are hardly noticed. Competency assessments can provide a setting where proficient staff can be seen and scored. It’s always good to showcase years of experience in a trade or skill. Many people take pride in their work yet scarcely get to show it. With scores and controlled environments, they can really take pride in their skills and inspire others.
Many companies have seen great results with rewarding great competency scores. When other employees see the most competent workers getting rewarded and promotions, they are much more inclined to reform their methods.
How Competency Assessments Lower Costs
Competency assessments in the past have lowered costs by:
- Lowering insurance premiums through proof of diligence
- Providing data for proficient and accurate scheduling
- Discouraging inefficient practices
Insurance companies bet on our belongings and livelihoods. So when they are provided proof of diligence in the form of well-documented competency assessments they are much more willing to reduce premiums.
When Scheduling, if you can’t rely on your data, then you can’t rely on your schedule. Competency assessments will provide your staff with more accurate data and job requirements. Whether it’s time, material, or staff, competency reports are a great method to document requirements and task durations.
Competency assessments can discourage inefficient practices simply through documented results. If results and techniques are shared with the team, people can quickly see if their method is working or not. Simply providing people with information will often encourage productive reforms.
