Behavioural Competencies - What are they?

If you have had a job interview in the last few years, you may have noticed that interviewers are asking behavioural competency questions. Behavioural competencies are the personal characteristics that describe how you do your job. Knowledge, skills and abilities are competencies that describe what you do.

Different levels of behavioural competency can indicate to a prospective employer how you will behave when faced with certain situations. These levels show what superior performers think or do in most situations, and with better results - as compared to solid performers or poor performers.

Behavioural indicators are specific descriptors that identify work behaviours and put them into levels that can be seen and measured. Interviewers can assess an applicant by asking for recent examples of how they handled specific situations, and then measure those behaviours against the competency levels.

An example of levels of performance and the specific behaviours around teamwork and cooperation might be:

1) Cooperates - participates willingly, supports team decisions, and shares useful information.

2) Expresses positive expectations of team - respects others, speaks positively about others contributions and abilities.

3) Solicits input - willing to learn from others, values others knowledge and expertise, solicits opinions and ideas from others.

4) Encourages others - publicly credits others, encourages and empowers others.

5) Builds team spirit - good morale, cooperates with team, acts to promote a friendly climate, protects and promotes the reputation of the group.

Questions that an interviewer would then ask around this competency might be, "Describe a situation when you difficulty gaining cooperation from others team members?" or "Give me an example of when you felt effective as part of a team." They would then rate the answers based on the behavioural indicators.

The basic premise is that a person who shows a higher level of competency in real, on the job situations, is likely to behave the same way in your organization.

There are many competencies that employers could target, but most look to the actual job and decide what is important. A receptionist position might require higher levels of service orientation and results orientation, where you might want a manager to score higher in leadership and empowerment.