Development of a competence framework in Statistics Norway

1. Development of a competence framework in Statistics Norway HRMT Geneva 15.09.10 Jan Byfuglien Beate Johnsen Division for human resources, Statistics Norway

2. Do we need a new profile for ’statisticians’? Modern statistics needs new profile of statistician. Knowledge of statistics (concepts and methods) must be accompanied by flexibility, invention, communicative and language abilities, capacities in team co-operation. We need more staff with managerial skills, understanding its own work in relation to other activities of the institution. Mr. Jan Fischer at the UNSC High level forum in 2008

3. Some issues in relation to competence development • What type of competences do we as NSIs need in the future? • Are we able to recruit the right mix of competences? • Are we able to provide the relevant internal training? • Challenges related to technological and organisational development and competence development? • Challenges related to knowledge transfer when senior staff is leaving? The answer: a more systematic analysis and description of existing competences and gaps in competences?

4. Competences – a broad perspective • Knowledge (What you know, tacit and explicit) • Skills ((How you do something) • Abilities (Talent) • Attitudes (Values) Combination of technical, formal knowledge, ability for problem solving and social skills

5. Some background: Changing staff education level

6. The content of this introduction • How we have developed a framework for competence description within Statistics Norway • How this is being used in practice • Some lessons learned

7. The process to establish the framework • Started in 2007 as a project: Why and how competence mapping? National experiences and other NSIs • Discussed in many meetings with managers and staff • Presented and discussed at top management level • Made more concrete through brain storming sessions and pilots in two units • The final proposal supported by top management in January 2010 and the internal process launched

8. The main objectives of the competence framework • To discuss competences in a more systematic way • To raise awareness among the employees concerning own competences • To identify concrete requirements for competence development as a basis for actions • not only on individual level, but for groups and units/sections • To identify needs in relation to future recruitment

9. Three main types of competences • Basic competences: required (to different degree) of all employees – regardless of role or business unit • Core competences: Competences linked to the primary task of statistics production • Specialist competences: Competences necessary to perform specific roles and functions

10. The business process model and competence framework

11. Basic competences Statistics Norway • Basic ICT skills • Statistics Norway and its role in society • Communication • Teamwork and knowledge sharing • Creativity and result orientation

12. Core competences – statistics production • Knowledge of statistical principles and methods • Numeric and analytical skills • Understanding the statistical production process, routines and quality requirements • Orientation about social issues and the statistical needs of society • Abilities in using the relevant tools for treating statistical data

13. Specialist competences Specific competences for support functions or specialist task in the production process, for instance within: • Dissemination • ICT – hardware and software • Administrative support • Specialist subject area competences

14. Use of evaluation scale • Advantages • It ‘forces’ those involved to perform an evaluation of level of competence • Evaluation of level is necessary – and using a numeric scale makes it easier to handle – for analysis and presentation • Drawbacks • Competences difficult to fix on a scale and the evaluation can be rather arbitrary • Can be considered as negative for persons/groups – if used uncritically

15. Evaluation scale used: 1 Low level (strong need for training) 2 Average level (some need for training and support) 3 High level (little need for training) 4 Very high level (expert, can train others)

16. The main steps in the process • Discuss and identify future goals and challenges for the unit • Discuss and identify specific competence areas • Evaluate existing level and future target on basic/core competences and on the specified competence areas • Identify the main gaps and discuss results and how to fill the gaps – plan of action, priorities

17. Evaluation at what level? • The units/sections ‘owns’ the process, and the results should be useful for planning at this level • The process seeks to combine some elements of individual self evaluation with evaluation on group level (5 – 10 persons) and evaluation on unit/section level (15-40 persons) • Follow up on individual level foreseen through appraisal interviews • The results might be used for overall evaluation at department level and on SSB level – even if ‘aggregation’ is not easy

18. How to drill down from general to specific areas? • The ambition was not to develop a complete catalogue of competences – but establish a framework and allow flexibility in implementation • The main competence areas rather broad – and interpretation can differ and thus also evaluation • During the process – the main categories might be split in much more detail for evaluation – according to the needs of each unit

19. Some challenges • That all involved have an open mind • A common understanding in use of the scale • To avoid going into details before getting a more general picture • To understand how we define basic, core and specialist competences • To avoid multiple, overlapping areas • To develop an action plan

20. Basic competences: average of self evaluations within a section (Human resources)

21. Basic competences: average of evaluations in 4 groups – same unit/section

22. Basic and core competences: Average of individual evaluations within a section (data collection)

23. Basic, core and specialist competences. Evaluation at group level

24. Lessons learned • The process within groups/sections is important in itself • The process should be adapted to the requirements of the sections • The framework has helped to identify gaps and resulted in concrete follow up actions • Use of evaluation has helped to ‘quantify’ the issues and raised no major difficulties • The process has helped staff to be more concrete when discussing training needs and prepared the ground for follow up in appraisal interviews

25. Issues for reflection and discussion • Communication is a major issue: What do we mean by…? • Follow up: how implement actions? How follow up in appraisal talks? • How to ensure that this is a continuous process adapting to changing needs? • The importance of ownership to the process by the organisation and support by top management

26. Thanks for your attention!