“The future of work” is a hot topic these days, and it’s no surprise—how we collaborate, what we need to build successful teams, and the strategies for achieving organizational goals are all evolving more rapidly than ever. If your company wants to stay ahead of the curve, you’ll need to take talent development seriously, going beyond merely identifying the sets of skills most critical to success to actively nurturing them.
Of course, that’s no small task, especially if you’re starting from scratch. But there are tools out there to help: think competency models. More than just frameworks, these models help you define and understand the qualities that drive success in different professional roles. They provide a more focused approach to talent management, ensuring that both the organization and its employees are moving in the right direction.
Now, you can find a comprehensive competency model baked right into the OpenSesame course library. It’s our latest way of helping you hone in on the skills your teams need most and find the best courses to facilitate that growth. Use it to craft personalized learning paths for a more targeted and effective learning experience, then watch your organization thrive.
You need a competency model. Here’s why
Before we get too ahead of ourselves, let’s spend a little more time unpacking the importance of these models.
Essentially, a competency model is a blueprint for defining the skills, knowledge, and behaviors that are essential for performance excellence in a role or even across an organization. The model serves as a foundation for key HR objectives like recruitment, training, and performance evaluation.
In short, competency models offer clarity on what it takes to succeed and how to get there. By clearly outlining what competencies are required, you can ensure your workforce has the skills they need to thrive today, along with a plan for building those they’ll need tomorrow.
Here are a few more specific outcomes of competency models:
- Strategic alignment. These models ensure learning and development initiatives directly support organizational goals.
- Personalized learning paths. Employees can easily pursue learning opportunities that close specific skill gaps in their current job and desired career trajectory.
- Improved performance. With clear expectations, employees know what excellence looks like and how to achieve it.
If you’re set on meeting today’s rapidly changing world of work head on, developing top-notch talent through more relevant and effective training is non-negotiable. But if you don’t have a competency model already established, don’t worry—we’ve got you covered.
The OpenSesame competency model, explained
The OpenSesame competency model provides a structured approach to training your workforce, but with some necessary flexibility built in. We don’t just want to make it easier for organizations to keep pace with change, we want to help you lead it.
Rooted in comprehensive research and industry best practices, our model is organized into five key domains:
- Innovation
- Interpersonal Effectiveness
- Job Knowledge
- Outcomes
- Personal Effectiveness
Together, these domains span 34 key competencies. From “Gathering & Analyzing Data” in the Innovation domain to “Taking Responsibility” in Personal Effectiveness, each competency is clearly defined, so you know exactly what skills roll up into a given competency. It’s an approach that emphasizes a holistic view of employee learning, and makes pairing courses with competencies incredibly easy.
Let’s take a closer look at each competency domain:
Innovation
When change is the only constant, innovation becomes a critical driver of business success. Our model emphasizes competencies like “Thinking Creatively,” “Solving Problems,” and “Seeing the Big Picture,” preparing learners to navigate and contribute to environments that demand agility and forward-thinking.
Interpersonal Effectiveness
Can your leaders inspire, guide, and develop others? This domain focuses on competencies like “Building Relationships,” “Leading Others,” and “Managing & Developing Talent,” so current and aspiring leaders are ready to cultivate high-performing teams and drive organizational growth.
Job Knowledge
Understanding the business landscape is a must if you’re charged with making informed decisions that impact a company’s bottom line. Competencies like “Understanding Business Operations” and “Understanding Finance” empower employees with the knowledge to contribute to these strategic discussions and initiatives.
Outcomes
The backbone of any successful organization is its operational efficiency. Our model includes competencies like “Improving Processes” and “Maintaining a Safe Environment,” focusing on the importance of streamlined operations, compliance, and safety for achieving business objectives.
Personal Effectiveness
Personal growth is the foundation of professional development. With competencies like “Developing Self-Awareness,” “Managing Emotions,” and “Taking Initiative,” this domain is dedicated to enhancing individual resilience, emotional intelligence, and proactive behavior.
Of course, every organization has unique needs. Even if you have your own framework already, with competencies added as a search results filter in the OpenSesame course library, you can quickly and easily find courses that align with the competencies critical to your organization’s success. That’s where the real magic happens.
Finding courses to fill the gaps
A big differentiator for our competency model is its integration with our robust training library. Each competency within the OpenSesame model is mapped to actionable learning content, curated from our extensive catalog of more than 30,000 courses.
This is more than just a theoretical framework; think of it as your practical guide to implementation, simplifying the task of curriculum planning. Whether you’re looking to strengthen your team’s innovative thinking, leadership skills, or operational excellence, the new competency filters make it easy to identify and deliver the right training, to the right person, at the right time.
And if you need a little guidance narrowing down your options, our AI-powered SmartLists and team of expert curators are ready to provide suggestions—we’ll never leave you stranded in your search for the best fit. Quite the opposite, in fact. Our success hinges on your success, which is why we developed this model in the first place, to help you:
- Ensure alignment between your learning initiatives and organizational goals,
- Identify and close skills gaps efficiently,
- Drive employee engagement and motivation through targeted development, and
- Foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
So, ready to get started? Explore our competency model filters in the OpenSesame course catalog to discover how these skill-and-course pairings can amplify learning for your teams. Ultimately, that’s what drives organizations forward: ensuring every learning opportunity is a step towards achieving big company goals. When you achieve that alignment, your success is not just a possibility, it’s a certainty.