C O M P E T E N C I E S
Report of the
Competencies
Workgroup
Sponsored by:
NYS Department of Civil Service
George C. Sinnott, Commissioner
NYS Governor’s Office of Employee Relations
George H. Madison, Director
George E. Pataki, Governor
September 2002 (Updated 10/02)
In sponsoring the workgroup, the Department of Civil Service and Governor’s Office of
Employee Relations in no way indicate endorsement of the perspectives, opinions, and
recommendations presented in this report.
Competencies 1
COMPETENCIES
Report of the Competencies Workgroup
September 2002
(Updated 10/02)
A key ingredient in any workforce or succession planning effort is knowing the
capabilities and qualities, or competencies, people need to be successful in their jobs.
Using competencies, we can determine whether employees are prepared to move to
the next level in the organization or laterally to another functional area. And if they are
not prepared, competencies can help identify the training and development activities
needed to prepare them.
There is a nationwide trend toward using competencies as the basis for human
resource systems. A few New York State agencies are beginning to use competencies,
mainly for management development. However, the area of competencies is relatively
new to most agencies. The Competencies Workgroup was formed in January 2002 to
provide agencies with information to help them sort out whether developing
competencies would be useful and, if so, to provide some guidelines on how to proceed.
While this report discusses competencies generally, the emphasis is on leadership and
management competencies within a succession planning context.
• Section 1 introduces the concepts of competencies and how they are used.
• Sections 2, 3, and 4 cover the specifics of developing competency models and
the resources available for developing them.
• Section 5 provides step-by-step guidelines on developing and applying
competencies. It includes a chart that summari