competency frameworks
Competency Frameworks Firm in the UK
Competency framework design that creates one consistent basis for recruitment, development and performance decisions.
Part of Performance & Talent Management
The employer challenge
Where competency frameworks helps
Without a shared framework, recruitment, performance and development can end up assessing people against different, inconsistent expectations.
Business outcomes
A consistent basis for recruitment and performance decisions
Clearer expectations at each level of the organisation
Better-aligned development planning
What the service includes
- Definition of core and role-specific competencies
- Behavioural indicators at each level
- Guidance on applying the framework across HR processes
Not included in this service
- Scientific or psychological validation of the framework: competency frameworks are structured HR tools, not clinically validated instruments.
- Guaranteed objectivity: a framework reduces inconsistency but reflects structured judgement, not an automatically neutral measurement.
- Legal compliance guaranteed simply by using the framework.
- Elimination of bias in recruitment, performance or development decisions that use the framework.
- Guaranteed performance improvement from adopting a framework.
- A determination of an employee's personal worth or suitability: the framework assesses observable skills, knowledge and behaviours relevant to a role, not a person's inherent worth.
Who we support
Employers who want one consistent framework underpinning their HR processes.
Our delivery approach
Clear steps, from first conversation to delivery
- 01
Identify core and role-specific competencies
- 02
Define behavioural indicators at each level
- 03
Support embedding the framework across HR processes
Engagement options
Choose the way you want to work together
Framework design
Discuss this optionDesign plus embedding support
Discuss this optionContinue exploring
Related expertise
Competency Frameworks define the skills, knowledge and behaviours expected at a role or level, providing a shared reference point that Job Evaluation, Performance Management and other HR processes can draw on. It is distinct from Job Evaluation & Pay Structures (which assesses a role's relative value for pay purposes) and from Performance Management (which uses a framework, among other inputs, to assess actual performance), and it is not a psychometric or personality assessment of any individual.
Relevant sectors
Frequently asked questions
What clients usually ask
Frameworks typically define core organisation-wide competencies plus role-family-specific ones, rather than a unique framework per individual role.
Job evaluation assesses a role's relative value for pay purposes. A competency framework defines the skills, knowledge and behaviours expected at a role or level, and can be used alongside job evaluation, performance management and recruitment.
A competency framework can provide one of the reference points a performance process assesses people against. Performance Management is the broader process design; the framework is one input into it.
No. A competency framework defines observable skills, knowledge and behaviours relevant to a role, not a clinical, personality or psychometric assessment of an individual.
Still deciding
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Ready to talk about competency frameworks?
Frameworks are built to be genuinely usable across recruitment, performance and development, not filed away after launch.