Professional Services Competency Framework
Commercial Awareness:
Understands the business environment in which the University operates and
considers the wider impact of their decisions and actions
Communicating & Influencing:
Gets message across in a persuasive way
Continuous Improvement:
Keeps an open mind and adapts to changes in the working environment
Customer Focus:
Understands customer needs and builds effective customer relationships
Developing Yourself & Others:
Builds own and others’ confidence, knowledge and skills
Planning & Organising:
Prioritises and orders activities to get results
Teamwork & Collaboration:
Works with others towards shared goals cooperatively and collaboratively with
other teams
Use these competency definitions to discuss how effectively tasks are carried
out, recognising strengths and focusing on those that need to be developed
further.
If needed, to help with identifying development needs, each competency is
broken down into three ‘development clusters’. These clusters can be used
as a starting point for discussion about the type of performance required for
the job role and agreeing suitable developmental activities.
February 11
Commercial Awareness
Understands the business environment in which the University operates
and considers the wider impact of their decisions and actions
Development
Clusters
Core Indicators:
+
Understands the contribution their role makes to the success of the
business
+
Understands the needs for the business to generate increased income
and understands how their team can support this
+
Questions actions where appropriate and identifies more cost-effective
approaches
+
Meets the expectations of customers without compromising budgets
Mid Level Indicators:
+
Puts forward sound business case to gain support for new and more
effective methods of working
+
Prioritises actions to minimise costs and maximise advantage across the
organisation
+
Understands the need to demonstrate a return on investment in activities
and identifies opportunities for generating income
+
Looks beyond immediate problems/issues to see the impact on the
bigger picture
+
Actively pursues alternative ideas and ways of working to gain cost
savings
+
Uses financial information to find pragmatic new ways of saving
cost/effort without reducing throughput
Strategic Level Indicators:
+
Takes a balanced view of wider impact on the organisation when making
significant changes
+
Anticipates changes in the HE marketplace when budgeting for the future
+
Develops commercial strategy which delivers consistent improvement in
output, quality and cost reduction
1
Communicating and Influencing
Gets message across in a persuasive way
Development
Clusters
Core Indicators:
+
Clear when they communicate
+
Constructive and positive in what they have to say
+
Involved at meetings, asks questions, listens and gives information when
appropriate
Mid Level Indicators:
+
Tailors their style and content to suit the situation or person
+
Builds relationships based on trust
+
Uses data and facts in a clear and constructive way to support
arguments and gain agreement
+
Prepares strong and influential business case, understanding the needs
of all stakeholders
+
Appreciates the impact of decisions on others and mitigates any negative
effects
Strategic Level Indicators:
+
Clarifies the vision and goals for every team member
+
Uses communication to create a shared sense of purpose and direction
+
Demonstrates effective networking skills to maintain a broad range of
trusted contacts throughout the University
+
Develops strategies which ensure win-win solutions for all parties
+
Achieves widely accepted ‘buy in’ by explaining benefits at both
individual and department level
2
Continuous Improvement
Keeps an open mind and adapts to changes in the working environment
Development
Clusters
Core Indicators
+
Invites regular feedback on performance from team members and
customers
+
Quickly turns new ideas into clear and effective improvements
+
Looks for better ways of doing things and suggests improvements
+
Shares their ideas with colleagues and seeks support from management
in developing those ideas
Mid Level Indicators
+
If they have responsibility for others, encourages and supports staff to
make suggestions for improvement
+
Sets standards for quality and ensures best practice if they have
responsibility for doing so
+
Integrates systems and processes to avoid duplication of effort
+
Shows an awareness of how changes might impact differently on
different stakeholders
Strategic Level Indicators
+
Communicates and manages the need for change
+
Leads the implementation of changes with a positive approach
+
Creates a culture where new ideas are encouraged and evaluated;
obstacles removed and resources are used in the most effective way in
order to achieve University goals
+
Capitalises on opportunities to improve processes, systems or efficiency
3
Customer Focus
Understands customer* needs and builds effective customer relationships
Development
Clusters
Core Indicators:
+
Demonstrates common courtesy even when customer is difficult or
demanding
+
Responds promptly to customer requests and whenever possible within
agreed timeframes
+
Assesses customer needs accurately by listening /sensitive questioning
+
Keeps promises made to customers
+
Shows awareness of who their customers are
Mid Level Indicators:
+
Consistently strives to provide a quality service
+
Manages expectations so customers always feels valued
+
Actively seeks feedback and suggestions to improve customer service
+
Champions customer service improvement initiatives
Strategic Level Indicators:
+
Anticipates customer’s future needs and identifies their key strategic
issues
+
Creates a culture of professionalism in dealing with customers at all
levels
+
Creates mutually supportive and loyal relationships with all major
customers
+
Sees the wider picture, understands the levels of service that are valued
by customers and ensures that these are the priority at all times
+
Understands and applies sector-wide standards
*Customers can be internal or external, staff or students
4
Developing Yourself & Others
Builds own and others’ confidence, knowledge and skills
Development
Clusters
Core Indicators:
+
Identifies what learning and development they need to do their job
effectively
+
Is flexible and willing to adapt and learn
+
Participates fully in reviews and in agreed SMART development
objectives
+
Seeks and responds positively to feedback regarding their learning and
development
Mid Level Indicators:
+
Uses appropriate development approaches to suit the needs of each
team member
+
Evaluates the effectiveness of training in the development of their team
+
Creates a supportive coaching culture and shares their knowledge and
skills
Strategic Level Indicators:
+
Integrates people development in their business plans
+
Matches long term business needs with the career development and job
fulfilment of staff
+
Creates an environment which encourages continuous learning and
development
+
Develops the whole business through learning and development
5
Planning & Organising
Prioritises and orders activities to get results
Development
Clusters
Core Indicators:
+
Overcomes obstacles to ensure work gets done on time
+
Prioritises workload to meet important objectives
+
Motivates and encourages people to achieve planned results
+
If appropriate to role, manages team effectively, delegating work to use
resources to best effect
+
Informs colleagues of changes in priorities and helps them to plan their
workload
+
Monitors progress and puts effort in where it is most needed
Mid Level Indicators:
+
Plans effectively for the medium and long term, reviewing strategies and
revising to meet changing business needs
+
Organises resources to successfully achieve both short and medium
term objectives
+
Liaises effectively with colleagues outside of immediate team to
coordinate activities
+
Develops effective systems to organise and track workload
+
Confidently juggles complex projects of different size and priority
Strategic Level Indicators:
+
Sets a clear sense of direction, forward thinking and responsibly shapes
the future
+
Empowers individuals and passes decision making down to the lowest
appropriate level
+
Produces a consistent, ‘no blame’ culture, with a feeling of pride and
achievement
6
Teamwork & Collaboration
Works with others towards shared goals cooperatively and
collaboratively with other teams.
Development
Clusters
Core Indicators:
+
Actively participates within the team
+
Helps others within the team, sharing workload
+
Communicates openly and effectively with other team members
+
Focuses on shared goals playing a full part in their successful completion
+
Is reliable and aware that consequences of own behaviour affect others
within the team
Mid Level Indicators:
+
Recognises and builds on individual strengths of colleagues/team
members
+
Identifies personally with the team and is proud of its achievements
+
Uses team dynamics to construct the most effective team structures
+
Publicises what everyone has achieved and gives praise where it is due
+
Acts as an influential and effective member of cross-functional teams or
projects
Strategic Level Indicators:
+
Builds collaborative partnerships across the University
+
Creates a culture which places a high value on teamwork and
collaboration
+
Creates successful alignment between diverse teams across the
organisation
+
Builds cohesive formal and informal teams and networks across the
organisation which deliver significant added value
7