Building Community Capacity - Competency Profile for Federal Public Service Evaluation Professionals

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Introduction

This document contains the competency profile developed for evaluation professionals across the federal Public Service. The Evaluation Profile describes generic characteristics deemed important for successful performance of evaluation work at the junior, intermediate and senior professional levels, up to but not including positions at the executive or equivalent levels. It was produced for the Evaluation Community to help departments rebuild their human resource capacity. The profile is not prescriptive in nature, rather departments may choose to use the entire profile, parts of the profile or to adapt the profile to meet specific departmental needs. How a department or group of departments sees fit to use the profile may also vary as a function of particular Human Resource Management (HRM) applications. Departments or groups of departments could use the profile as is for recruitment and subsequent training and development plans, while at the same time using elements of the profile in succession planning. However, in keeping with the objective of its development, the profile is not intended for use in performance assessment.

Key Elements of the Development Process

The Evaluation Profile was modeled on the fourteen competencies contained in the Profile of Public Service Leadership Competencies and provides an overview of the individual that extends beyond skills and abilities to include attitudes, values, styles and personality See footnote ¹. The leadership competencies have been adapted to reflect the specific culture, values, needs, and future goals and challenges of the federal Public Service Evaluation Community.

Adaptation of the profile was conducted in collaboration with evaluation professionals and managers representing 59 federal departments and agencies, and with the support of the Centre of Excellence for Evaluation (TBS). Input from the community was gathered using multiple methods, including the review of proffered departmental documentation (e.g., departmental profiles), one-on-one interviews, a community-wide survey, joint working sessions, written feedback, and interactive group sessions. Those consulted shared with us their views on the community as a whole, the specific challenges faced by evaluation professionals, current and future community objectives, and the characteristics and behaviours deemed essential for successful performance as an evaluation professional.

Figure 1 lists the key goals of the development process including: the identification of characteristics related to successful performance; core competencies required across departments, rather than specific competencies required in some departments but not others; and characteristics linked to achieving organizational (e.g., implementation of the Evaluation Policy) and government-wide (e.g., representativeness) initiatives.

Overview of the Evaluation Profile

The 14 evaluation competencies are organized into the five clusters illustrated in Figure 2: (1) Intellectual Competencies, (2) Future Building Competencies, (3) Management Competencies, (4) Relationship Competencies, and (5) Personal Competencies. For each competency within a cluster, there is a generic description of the competency as well as a set of three to five behavioural indicators tailored specifically to each of the three evaluation levels (i.e., junior, intermediate, and senior). The definition reflects the general meaning of a competency for evaluation professionals, while the behavioural indicators are examples of how a particular competency may manifest itself in concrete behavioural terms.

A single behavioural indicator may take different forms as a function of level. For example, "valuing effective two-way communication" (an indicator of good communication skills) manifests itself differently in the work of junior evaluators than it does for intermediate and senior evaluators. Further, a behavioural indicator expressed at the junior level may also apply at subsequent levels of responsibility, even where not expressly stated. For example, "solicits and is responsive to input from others" is an important indicator of effective interpersonal relations at all levels. It is expressly stated at the junior professional level, but is also a requirement for effective interpersonal functioning at all subsequent levels of responsibility (i.e., for intermediate and senior level evaluators).

The needs of evaluators in both small and large departments were explicitly considered in the development of the narratives and behavioural indicators. Differences in the responsibilities of senior, and to a lesser extent intermediate, evaluators were particularly salient in the area of people management. The terminology used in the profile attempts to account for the differences in the scope, breadth and depth of responsibilities at these levels. Senior evaluators in some departments may be responsible for the management of internal project teams while the responsibilities of those in smaller departments may meet their objectives by leading intra-departmental project teams. The profile reflects this diversity of responsibility to the extent possible, but may require some adaptation in specific cases depending on the application.

Importance of Competencies by Level

The information collected during the development of the Evaluation Profile permits us to comment to some extent on the relative importance of each competency across the three levels profiled. We recommend that this information be used as a guide, augmented by the consideration of specific position and departmental needs. For example, some departments may find that given current and future priorities, a competency that is deemed important at one point in time or for one specific position, is less important at another point in time or for another position.

The competencies fell into the three groupings illustrated in Figure 3. The first grouping is comprised of two competencies that were identified by participants at all three levels as essential to success on-the-job. The second grouping of competencies were deemed at least moderately important by participants at all three levels to success on-the-job. The third grouping of competencies emerged for senior level professionals primarily, with the competencies either linked to future organizational objectives (e.g., partnering) or deemed at least moderately related to success on-the job.

Human Resource Management Applications

The Evaluation Profile is intended as a tool for use by departments and managers in helping to rebuild human resource capacity. The profile is generic in nature and as such departments may choose to use the complete profile, parts of the profile, or to tailor the profile as required for specific departmental needs. Its content should continue to evolve with the community and as such should be reviewed periodically to ensure ongoing significance to the community. As already noted, in keeping with the objective of its development, the profile is not to be used in performance assessment.

Figure 4 lists and briefly describes a variety of potential Human Resources Management applications (HRM). Underlying each application listed is the need to assess an individual or organization on targeted competencies. See footnote ² Depending on the application, the rigor of the assessment process may vary. For example, for entry-level recruitment assessment must be sufficiently rigorous so as to ensure that the selection process is fair and meritorious. When applied in a training and development setting or for the purposes of team-building, assessment may be somewhat less comprehensive and can include assessment techniques such as 360^o assessment, personal reflection and self-assessment, etc.

The impact of competency profiles in general can be maximized by systematically integrating competencies across multiple HRM areas. For example, use of the profile for selection of evaluators, training and development, and performance management provides continuity in building capacity to meet organizational objectives in core areas linked to success on-the-job.

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