Validate Competencies
In this step, you’ll validate the list of competencies and rankings you obtained in your focus
group meetings.
 Schedule a second focus group
meeting/s with the frontline supervisors
who participated in the initial
meeting/s. The purpose of this meeting
is to have the supervisors confidentially
and anonymously evaluate two of their
employees on the full list of
competencies presented during the
first meeting. You may also want to
involve frontline supervisors who were
not participants in the initial focus
groups. The more input you receive,
the better.
 Prepare an evaluation form using the
Competency Evaluation Form on the
next two pages by inserting the
competencies you identified in Step 3
 Use the Supervisor Focus Group –
Meeting Facilitator Guide to run the
meetings and record the results.
 Tip:
If your organization has the ability to identify
the exemplary performers in the target
classification, you may want to include their
supervisors in the second series of focus
groups rather than the supervisors who
participated in the first round of focus group
meetings. There are two advantages to this
approach:
1. Involving a totally different group of
supervisors adds a new perspective and
gets them actively involved in the process.
2. Some of the first round supervisors may
not have experience supervising an
exemplary employee.
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Competency Evaluation Form
What is your job
title?
The best
employee I ever
supervised.
Who are you evaluating?
Check one:
An average
employee I currently
supervise.
For each of the competencies listed, please carefully read the definition, then using the 1 to 5 scale as defined below, please evaluate the
employee based on their proficiency in each competency by checking the box in the appropriate column.
Competency and Competency Definition
No
Evidence of
Proficiency
Marginally
Proficient
Proficient
Exceeds
Proficiency
Expectations
Greatly Exceeds
Proficiency
Expectations
1
2
3
4
5
2
Competency and Competency Definition
No
Evidence of
Proficiency
Marginally
Proficient
Proficient
Exceeds
Proficiency
Expectations
Greatly Exceeds
Proficiency
Expectations
1
2
3
4
5
3
Competency and Competency Definition
No
Evidence of
Proficiency
Marginally
Proficient
Proficient
Exceeds
Proficiency
Expectations
Greatly Exceeds
Proficiency
Expectations
1
2
3
4
5
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Supervisor Focus Group – Meeting Facilitator Guide
Meeting Objective:
Validate the competencies and competency rankings for the
targeted job identified by the first focus group meeting/s.
Targeted Job:
Meeting time, Location:
Participants:
Meeting Materials:
 Two copies of the Competency Evaluation Form for each
participant – preferably with half of them printed on colored
paper
 Laptop and electronic forms to record data if available
1. Explain to participants that they will complete two confidential and anonymous
evaluations – one for the most exemplary employee they ever supervised and a second
for an average (but specific) employee.
2. Hand out one copy of the Competency Evaluation Form to each supervisor and ask
them to focus on the best employee they ever supervised. It is important to focus on a
specific employee rather than an abstract idea
of an ideal employee – you can ask participants
to write the initials of their exemplary employee
at the top of the form to reinforce that they
focus on that individual.
It is crucial that you don’t mistake the
Competency Evaluation Forms of the
3. Review with participants the competency
exemplary employees for those for
definitions to ensure that they are freshly in
the average employees. To avoid
mind when completing the evaluations.
 Tip:
4. Have the supervisors complete the evaluation
of the exemplary employee; collect the
completed evaluations; hand out a second copy
of the Competency Evaluation Form.
this, we recommend printing the
forms on different color paper or
otherwise coding them before you
hand them out to participants.
5. Ask the supervisors to focus on one specific
average employee they currently supervise. Again, you may want to ask the supervisors
to write the initials of the specific employee at the top of the form. Ask the supervisors to
complete the evaluation of the specific average employee.
6. Collect the completed evaluations.
7. Prior to concluding the meeting, ask the participants if they have any overall
observations or thoughts to share with the group; answer any questions.
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8. Tabulate the results from the focus group evaluations using the Competency Ranking
Template. Complete one template for the exemplary employees and another for the
average employees.
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Competency Ranking Template
Participant Scores – Average Employees
Employee
Competency Titles
Example
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
2
3
4
1
2
4
3
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
Total
Score Average
19
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
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9. Compare the average scores of the exemplary employees to the average employees for
each competency:

Add the data you collected in the Competency Ranking Templates to the Competency
Comparison Template below.

The competencies showing the greatest score differences are those that best
differentiate the superior employees from the rest.
Competency Comparison Template
Average Rating
Competency Titles
Average
Employee
Exemplary
Employee
Difference
Rank
The table on the next page shows an example of a completed a validation analysis. In this
example, Customer/Client Focus was the greatest differentiator, Decision Making/Problem
Solving the second greatest, etc.
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Example – Completed Competency Validation Results
Average Rating
Competency Titles:
Customer/Client Focus
Decision Making/Problem Solving
Adaptability
Cultural Competence
Planning and Organizing
Collaboration
Teamwork
Stress Tolerance
Building Trust
Communication
Continuous Learning and
Professional Development
Technical/Professional Knowledge
and Skill
Action Oriented
Influence
Work Standards
Conflict Management
Initiative
Negotiation
Quality Orientation
Developing Others
Safety Awareness
Average
Employee
Exemplary
Employee
Difference
Rank
2.9
2.9
3
3.1
3
3.1
3.3
3.3
3.5
3.3
4.9
4.8
4.8
4.8
4.7
4.7
4.9
4.8
4.9
4.7
2
1.9
1.8
1.7
1.7
1.6
1.6
1.5
1.4
1.4
1
2
3
4
4
6
6
8
9
9
3.1
4.5
1.4
9
3.4
4.7
1.3
12
3.6
3.7
4.1
3.9
3.9
3.9
3.9
4
4.1
4.5
4.6
4.8
4.5
4.5
4.5
4.5
4.5
4.4
0.9
0.9
0.7
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.5
0.3
13
13
15
16
16
16
16
20
21
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