Supervisors can use competencies to help employees be successful in their jobs – in managing their performance. The use of competencies in performance management can provide significant benefits to organizations. In addition to communicating the expected job results to their employees, supervisors also articulate the most critical competencies that need to be demonstrated by the employees in achieving those. This allows supervisors to put emphasis not just on what gets done on the job, but how a job gets done. Detailed descriptors attached to a competency provide target behaviors for employees so they, and their supervisors, will know when they are successful in that competency. Washington State’s new performance planning and evaluation form – the Performance and Development Plan (PDP) – incorporates the use of competencies in both the “Results Expected” and the “Results Achieved” sections.

db 9/24/04