Competence is the set of demonstrable characteristics and skills that enable, and improve the efficiency of, performance of a job. There are a ton of different models out there, but I like to think in terms of three or four different kinds of competences: professional and methodological skills; social competence; and self-competence which includes personal and activity- and implementation-oriented skills. Another great way to look at these are competencies for inter-personal (maps to social competence), intrapersonal (maps to self-competence), and cognitive (maps to professional and methodological skills).
The ongoing digital transformation (Industry 4.0) leads to changing competence requirements which means new ways of life-long teaching and learning are necessary in order to keep up.
We can look at the 4 competencies across three different categories: Human, Organization and Technology:
- Human is those skills we need as individuals
- Organization is the framework of the organization, the culture
- Technology covers what we need to put in place
| Human | Organization | Technology | |
| Professional & methodological expertise (Cognitive) | System thinking Process thinking Results oriented work Complexity management Business thinking Problem solving Sensitization ergonomics Structured, analytical thinking Change management | Qualification/further education Agile methods/tools Lean Enterprise Client orientation Workplace design | Soft/hardware understanding Cyber-physical system understanding Usability Human-machine interfaces |
| Social Competence (Inter-personal) | Inter-disciplinary thinking Managerial competence Ability to work as a team Conflict management Communication Empathy | Employee satisfaction Human centering | Social networking |
| Self-Competence (Intrapersonal) | Lifelong learning Personal initiative Innovativeness Independent work Sense of responsibility Readiness for change | Process orientation |
When it comes to the professional competencies there is a large spread depending on what our industries requires. As a pharmaceutical quality professional I have different professional expertise than a colleague in the construction industry. What we do have in common is the methodological expertise I listed above.
Understanding competencies is important, it allows us to determine what skills are critical, to mentor and develop our people. It also helps when you are thinking in terms of body of knowledge, and just want communities of practice should be focusing on.
Investigations of a Dog 
12 thoughts on “Competencies in Quality”