Everyone knows NASA and its achievements, but if you have closely followed its trajectory, no matter how much aura of respect and admiration you feel, you will know that this organization has been in complete decline for decades.
A tragic anecdote by the brilliant Jimmy Figueroa explains that the agency's engineers, along with those from Boing (don't get me started on their numerous mistakes) determined that a small hole in the hull of the Columbia ferry It wasn't that serious. Days later, the pieces of the ship and its crew truffled the fields of Arkansas.
The brilliant guru Figueroa puts it as an example of the need to make our presentations more visual and direct, but if we go one step further, by far visual thinking applied, the astronauts were doomed anyway. Largely due to the lack of a total definition of competencies (and a confusing chain of command) and a sloppiness typical of the Calabrian mafia. It is very bold to say that management by competencies would have saved those lives (and the space race), but it is still true and it can be argued.
But what is management by competencies?
The perfect metaphor is represented by the header image. Wouldn't it be wonderful if every time we had to open a door we knew exactly which key opened it? Imagine that no matter how many keys you had in your pocket, in a second you knew which one opened each door.
Always knowing in a single second what or who performs a task or function effectively and efficiently is the management by competencies. That the people designated to perform a job have all the necessary qualities to do it quickly and with the minimum amount of resources possible.
But let's stop dreaming. We all know that this is an entelechy and surely hundreds of situations come to mind that make this impossible:
- The previously selected person does not have those capabilities.
- Time and advances have made its profile obsolete.
- Staff are not clear about their responsibilities.
- The chain of command is broken.
- Interdepartmental or intradepartmental communication is confusing, repetitive and pamphleteering.
- Micromanagement.
- Improvisation.
- There is 2X1 on drinks at the bar near the head office on Thursdays.
- Etc.
Well, some organizations have left these problems behind and have focused on overcoming them one by one and, most importantly, All Saints days. From the beginning, the HR managers of these "wonderful crazy" companies have carried out a job analysis to specify the functions that each worker must perform and also the degree of technicalization associated with a performance close to excellence. These fools have even made decisions so that the people who are designated have all these "superpowers."
Its main tools are the competency-based interview and specialized training to ensure the correct performance of these tasks.
If these "pioneers" catch your attention, they will meet with our sponsorship next April 26 at five in the afternoon at the Ilustre College of Physicians of Malaga, where we will have a round table to talk about that black magic that you might want to apply in your corporation. We will wait for you.
