One of the major struggles organizations deal with is the necessity of using a system able to integrate all the components relevant to people’s performance within one model which can be related to the corporate goals.

In the past, such models of performance were understood as a collection of competencies descriptions without providing a holistic approach to competency modelling and competency-based assessment.

Overarching Competency Model

The Universal Competency Framework (UCF) is a single underlying construct framework that provides a rational, consistent and practical basis with the purpose of understanding people’s behaviors at work.

The UCF, supported by the UCF Database provides a comprehensive and easy to use resource for the development and analysis of competency models across a range of industries and locations. It points to ways in which people and their work setting interact, and it has implications for how performance in the work place can be managed.

Since 2001, the UCF has been used to create 403 new competency models by 299 consultants working in 24 different countries with 117 client organizations. In most cases it has been used to assist major clients in building their own integrated corporate competency models. It has also been used to map existing client models, providing the ability to produce tailored competency models quickly and efficiently from a standard set of components.

The UCF incorporates a model of performance at work that defines the relationships between three key components which ensure the organizational goals achievements: 

• Competency potential, which is seen to derive from individual dispositions and attainments
• Competency requirements or the demands made upon people to display certain behaviors and not to display others. These requirements can be both facilitators of, and barriers to, effective performance in the workplace.
• Results, being the outcomes of behavior, typically assessed through performance reviews and appraisals.