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Products: 360-degree Series > Management Competency Assessment™


What is the Management Competency Assessment™?

"Feedback", we are often told is good for us. In fact most organisations today have some form of feedback mechanism built into their performance management practices, whether it be a formal 360-degree feedback process or a simple annual appraisal system. Now, over the last fifteen years, research into "feedback" to managers within organisations has revealed just why feedback is so good for us. Two of the compelling reasons are that:

  • Managers who seek and get regular feedback from others, are found to be among the better performing managers
  • Managers who are accurately aware of their strengths and weaknesses, are better leaders

The Management Competency Assessment profile is a 360-degree developmental profile (completed on line or paper based) that provides managers with the opportunity to gain feedback on five aspects of management practice:

  • Setting Goals and Performance Standards
  • Coaching
  • Assessing Performance and Providing Feedback
  • Providing Recognition and Rewards
  • Managing for Continuity of Performance

There are 10 behaviours outlined in each of the five competency areas, making a total of 50 managerial behaviours on which each manager receives feedback.

The Management Competency Assessment profile then enables managers to develop a plan for maintaining or improving performance in each of these five areas of competence.

Who is it for?

The Management Competency Assessment profile is designed for first level supervisors and middle managers. It is intended to be used as one component of a management development process the organisation may be conducting. It should be used at the start of the process to enable managers to assess their current competency level and again either during or at the conclusion of the formal part of the process to gauge each manager's development.

As it is a developmental tool, it is also ideally suited to use in one-to-one coaching of individual managers.

The Management Competency Assessment is specifically behavioural (i.e. it covers what managers are expected to do in each of the five competency areas) and therefore is well suited for use in conjunction with other instruments or profiles such as personality, leadership and teamwork.

Because of its emphasis on practical "things that managers must do", the Management Competency Assessment provides each manager with a very clear picture of what he or she is currently doing well and if necessary, explicit activities that the manager can undertake to improve performance.

What solutions does the Management Competency Assessment™ provide?

When organisations are looking to develop the performance of their managers, the decision makers often ask:

  • "Wouldn't it be great if all of our managers could perform as well as our best!" or
  • "Why do some managers perform better than others?" or
  • "How do we know what to include in our management development program?"

The Management Competency Assessment helps organisations solve these dilemmas by providing:

  • A common and core set of competencies for every manager to use as the basis of performance
  • Development

What outcomes are fulfilled?

When used as part of a formal management development process, the Management Competency Assessment profile will enable participants to:

  1. Identify their strengths and weaknesses in five essential aspects of effective management (competencies)
  2. Develop a plan for maintaining and or improving effectiveness in the five competence areas

What is special and unique about the Management Competency Assessment™?

The Management Competency Assessment has been used in developmental processes in a variety of organisations, industries and countries over the last 10 years. Because it has been used by the author and others in such a variety of situations, the Management Competency Assessment:

  • Has been modified and evolved to the extent that it now has tremendous face validity with practising managers. Previous participants all comment to the effect that "This is a very practical tool. It tells me exactly what all good managers should be doing"
  • Includes a full range of support material which makes it very easy for facilitators to use.

The Management Competency Assessment is a comprehensive profile that provides each participant with four reports:

  1. Overall Trends. Shows how each group of raters has scored in the five competency areas - highs, lows, trends.
  2. Individual (anonymous) Rater Results. Provides averages of the individual scores in each of the five competence areas and how many raters responded to the questionnaires.
  3. Rater Feedback and Recommendations. Shows each rater's score and whether they would like the participant to display more, less or the same amount of each of the 50 behaviours.
  4. Comments. Provides clarification and comments on the 50 behaviours.

Additionally, because the Management Competency Assessment is competency based it can be easily modified to suit each client organisation. For example, additional competency areas can be added to match the organisation's established competency or capability areas.