Searchlight Solutions

How can you be sure your people are genuinely competent in their roles?

Any business that hopes to prosper in the longterm needs its people to be competent in their roles. And if you are a regulated business, the FCA’s Competent Employee rule requires you to ‘employ personnel with the skills, knowledge and expertise necessary for the discharge of the responsibilities allocated to them.’

So how can you ensure that your firm achieves this reliably – for all of its people and roles?

The answer is by establishing a Competency Framework and regularly checking your people against the relevant competencies defined in it.

Before you can create a viable Competency Framework, you need to determine which competence-based system best meets your needs. To do this, you need to be clear about what you want to use it for – and how it will be used.

What do you want to define?

  • Occupational competences including regulatory requirements and standards
  • Personal competence
  • General competence
  • Or a combination of these.

What will you be using it for?

  • For signing-off individuals as competent
  • For performance appraisals – identifying top performers for promotion or bonus
  • As a reference for Training Needs Analysis, selection and recruitment, or accreditation of prior learning
  • Or a combination of these.

There are various generic frameworks out there that you could use, for example the CII’s Insurance Competency Framework. But you will need to tailor and adapt thee to reflect how you will use them, and to take account of your firm’s specific activities and the roles individuals play within it.

Searchlight can help

Attending one of our workshops or online learning session on Competency Frameworks will help you get  a better idea of what they are and how to create one that suits your business. We can also provide consultancy support for your Competency Framework project, helping you to determine the right approach for your firm and build a Competency Framework that will serve your business well.

Our consultants have a wealth of experience in developing and establishing competence-based solutions for the insurance sector.

Call us on 01372 361177 or email training@ssluk.net.