Introduction to Competencies

Introduction

PerformYard’s Competency Management module gives organizations a clear, shared definition of what success looks like at every level – and makes those expectations visible to every employee, manager, and leader. Instead of maintaining dozens of disconnected, role-specific review forms or relying on unwritten standards that vary from manager to manager, companies can build a structured library of competencies, organize them by role, and ensure everyone is aligned around the same criteria for growth and performance. As a foundational layer of the Development Suite, Competencies creates the common language that makes coaching conversations more targeted, development paths more transparent, and talent decisions more confident.

Competencies, Levels, and Roles

Everything in Competency Management is built from three components: Competencies, Levels, and Roles

• A competency is a combination of specific skills, abilities, and behaviors you want to track, such as communication or problem solving. A competency can include up to five levels - allowing organizations to describe what progression looks like from an entry-level expectation to the highest level of mastery.
• Roles group employees by job function or job title. Roles determine which competencies apply to an employee and at what level they're expected to perform.
• Assignment connects competencies to roles. A competency can be marked "Company Wide," meaning it applies to every employee regardless of role, or it can be tied to specific roles so expectations vary from one job function to the next. Company wide competencies are automatically inherited by every role and can't be removed, though the expected level can still be adjusted per role.

Setting Up Competencies

Competencies are created and managed from the Administration Settings > Competencies page. Each competency has a name, an optional description, and up to five levels, each with its own name and description. You can also specify company-wide competencies that will automatically assign to every employee in the organization. Once created, competencies can be edited, archived, and reopened.

Creating and Managing Roles

Roles are created and managed from Administration Settings > Roles page. When you create a role, you give it a name and description and choose which competencies apply to it, along with the expected level for each. Company wide competencies are added automatically. From a role's page, you can also assign employees to that role directly — doing so updates the employee's Role field, a system field similar to First Name or Last Name that determines which competency expectations apply to them.

Viewing and Tracking Competencies

Employees and managers can view their own competencies and their team's competencies by expanding the Competencies menu option located in their side panel navigation. The My Competencies page shows an employee their assigned competencies alongside their expected and current level. The My Team Competencies page gives managers the same view for their direct reports, along with the ability to update a direct report's current level. Both pages let you view the full set of levels for a competency and a history of changes.

Admins get an organization-wide view of their company's competencies, where every competency assignment across the company is listed together with the assignee, role, expected level, and current level. This view can be filtered by assignee, competency, or role, and exported to CSV, making it a useful tool for spotting skill gaps and planning for succession.