Why much-heralded competency programs actually fail to make your sales force any more competent
by Benson Smith and Tony Rutigliano
Authors of Discover Your Sales Strengths (Warner Books, 2003)

Some management fads sound so reasonable, it’s hard to believe they don’t actually work. Take, for example, the increasingly popular addiction to ”competencies.” Presumably, competencies are a way to evaluate a sales representative’s performance, which then helps management design a road map to develop that person’s potential. Admittedly, most of us would rather be thought of as competent than incompetent. But when competencies are applied to sales professionals, this developmental approach is more likely to erode performance than to improve it.

A person’s attitudes, values or self image formulates itself into self concept. A person’s value or respondent or reactive motives that predict what she will do in the short term add in situations where others are in charge. They are people who value being in management but do not intrinsically like or spontaneously think about influencing others at the motive level and often attain management positions but then fail. Knowledge is processed and analyzed information of a person isn’t specific in content areas. Knowledge is a complex competency. Scores on knowledge tests often fail to predict the performance because they fail to measure knowledge and skills in the ways they are, actually used on the job.

People with a high need for achievement do enjoy challenging work, but they also want to ensure that they will succeed. Tasks that present so great a risk that success is improbable, do not interest or motivate them. Consequently, they tend to set conservative goals.

Achievers plan ahead to avoid any serious problems in their undertakings, but the planning function itself, is not a source of motivation for them. They enjoy tasks for which they are personally responsible for the outcomes and with which they can be closely associated with the resulting success. They are quite concerned with meeting appropriate deadlines and experience great anxiety about any project, until it has been completed successfully. In addition, they require frequent reinforcement consisting of “hard” data such as sales figures, standards, and so forth.

20 generic competencies dari Competence at Work, Spencer & Spencer 1993):
1. ACHIEVEMENT ORIENTATION, (ACH)
2. CONCERN FOR ORDER, (CO)
3. INITIATIVE, (INT)
4. INFORMATION SEEKING, (INFO)
5. INTERPERSONAL UNDERSTANDING, (IU)
6. CUSTOMER SERVICE ORIENTATION, (CSO)
7. IMPACT AND INFLUENCE, (IMP)
8. ORGANIZATIONAL AWARENESS, (OA)