Traits
WHY a person behaves the way they do.
- An innate attribute that motivates individuals differently, depending on our unique personality.
- Not observable.
- A personality driver.
Trait combinations can predict behaviors and competencies.
Behaviors
WHAT specific action you may see.
- The observable actions by which an individual adjusts or reacts to his or her environment.
- A behavior can be observed and done on the job.
- Can be used to evaluate success potential.
Behavior can be predicted by a combination of traits.
Competency
WHAT kinds of observable behaviors you may see.
- A grouping or categorization of related behaviors defining what employees do in a job or type of role; Used as predictors of performance.
- A competency is not an outcome or a goal.
- A competency is not what you are capable of; it doesn’t indicate whether an individual is competent in a particular area.
- Can be used to evaluate success potential.
Style Preference
HOW a person may behave, not what their potential for success is.
- A way of describing a theme in behavioral tendencies within a certain context, such as Communication.
- A bundle of motivations, strengths, and stressors that are descriptive of individual behavior and interactions within the work environment.
- Styles are free from judgment.
Caliper Job Models:
How do we identify the competencies to include in a job model?
Through direct, first-hand job analysis and leveraging credible research. During the course of our validation studies over the past 15 years, we have asked people in the job to describe the behaviors of those who are successful, both now and over a moderate timeline (3 to 5 years in the future).
These behavioral examples are collected, and similar ideas are grouped into categories.
These categories are called competencies. The behavioral examples describe what it might look like when the competency is manifested.
Our main source of credible research has been O*Net, which is an online resource that synthesizes job analyses conducted by the government for thousands of jobs. O*Net provides a breakdown of competencies for the jobs in their database. We were able to apply this research and map the competencies described there to Caliper’s Competency library.