Competency Misuse & Abuse

Competency misuse and abuse is everywhere. I even found it walking up Yonge Street in Toronto one July afternoon! I spotted this sign on the door of a retail store selling household goods. I thought, what a perfect example of how a problem can become competency misuse & abuse.

Competency statements often start as problem statements or gaps in practice. It’s because we often keep front of mind the upsetting occurrences we experience. I’m sure the people in that retail store can still remember clearly that day 5 years ago when an unclothed person walked into the store. When emotion is involved we remember, or learn, better. Educators know that learning occurs best when students are activated and safe. Simulation uses this approach – it activates people with realistic, high-pressure scenarios and provides a safe learning environment through effective pre- and debriefs.

The resulting competency from this problem statement might start more specific, such as wear clothes when entering retail stores, and would probably end up more general, like wear clothes in public.

It feels good to document our emotional experiences. When I walked by the store the next day, I found another problem statement was added. And just like that, a competency profile for shopping in this retail store is beginning to emerge.

Now committees writing competencies, once they get the hang of it, will leave behind the problems and focus on identifying the minimum standards of their practice. But we don’t like thinking of our work through minimum standards so we often shift to idealized standards, capturing work as imagined versus work as done.

Here is another photo I captured (again on Yonge Street) that illustrate my point that competencies often describe idealized standards – while it may be best practice to discard broken balloons at once and supervise a child with a balloon because it is a potential choking hazard, but how realistic is this in practice? Can you think of situations where this might be challenging to do?

Kudos though for McDonald’s for putting the warning (competency) right where it is most impactful to change behaviour. This method has the potential to encourage appropriate handling of balloons around children under 8 and could stop an adult from giving a balloon to that child in the first place. Can you say the same about your competency profile?

Competency misuse and abuse occurs when we capture practice that does not need to be stated because it belongs in the domain of management, regulatory practices, risk management, etc. I’m very confident that the unclothed person walking into that store was in distress and a sign telling them not to enter was not going to stop them. Nor will a sign positioned at a reading hight of about 5 feet telling children (who may not be able to read) they can’t come in unless they are with an adult.

Contact me if you want me to minimize the misuse & abuse in your competency profile.