Build the system

Competency-Based HR Systems

We design competency-based human resources (HR) systems that define good performance in each role. That definition then runs through recruitment, development, and performance management. Hiring, training, and reviews work from one observable standard, not separate judgment calls.

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What this covers

Competencies are the skills, knowledge, and behaviors that good performance in a role depends on. A competency-based HR system names them and describes each one at defined proficiency levels. It then applies the same descriptions across the employee life cycle. Recruitment screens for them. Development plans address the gaps people show against them. Performance management rates them alongside results. When every process draws on one model, managers assess people against a shared standard. Employees can see what the next level asks of them.

We build the model around your roles instead of importing a generic competency library. A growing Philippine enterprise may need its first clear job levels before anything else. A shared-services center may need local role standards that align with its parent company’s framework. The work can start with a single process, such as competency ratings in your review cycle, and extend from there.

Co-founder Maria Liza “Liz” Fresnido specializes in competency and results-based systems. She has over 40 years of experience in HR and organizational development. We design alongside your HR team rather than for it, so the people who will run the system know how it was built. That matters most at rollout, when managers first rate their teams and need to explain those ratings with confidence.

Where this helps

  1. Job descriptions list tasks, but no one has written down what strong performance in the role looks like.

  2. Each hiring manager screens for different qualities, so people in the same role have been hired to different standards.

  3. Performance ratings reflect each manager’s impressions, and employees cannot see what would move their rating.

  4. Training budgets follow requests and popular topics, not the specific gaps between people and their roles.

Who it is for

  • Owners and CEOs of Philippine enterprises that have outgrown informal HR practices
  • HR directors and CHROs who want one standard across hiring, development, and reviews
  • Site heads and COOs of shared-services centers that need consistent expectations across teams
  • Heads and HR leaders of public-sector organizations introducing competency-based recruitment, promotion, and development

How an engagement typically runs

  1. 01

    Review current practice

    An engagement typically begins with your existing job descriptions, hiring tools, review forms, and training plans. We map where they already agree and where each one measures something different.

  2. 02

    Define and level roles

    We work with your leaders to define the competencies each role needs, with observable behaviors at each proficiency level. Where grades are unclear, we level positions so expectations step up from one level to the next.

  3. 03

    Connect the HR processes

    We then build the model into each process. Recruitment gets interview guides and selection criteria. Development plans address rated gaps. Your existing review cycle adds competency ratings.

  4. 04

    Equip leaders and managers

    We orient leaders and HR teams to the new system. Managers then practice rating competencies consistently and turning ratings into development conversations.

Programs we have run

  1. 01 Competency Development Program A two-day program for a client’s sales team, delivered in Manila.
  2. 02 Competency-Based HR Orientation For a client’s leadership team.
  3. 03 Competency Rating and Development Delivered in September 2024.

Program names as shared on our social channels.

Technology-enabled performance management

For organizations ready to run their competency framework digitally, we can design the competencies, goals and review process with you and support the rollout on CLEAR Talent, the performance management platform founded by our co-founders Angela Schloer and Maria Liza Fresnido. Our focus stays on the framework, the conversations and the leadership capability behind it; the platform itself is provided by CLEAR Talent.

  • Competency model and proficiency-level design
  • Goal and KPI architecture aligned to strategy
  • Manager enablement for fair, evidence-based reviews

Learn about CLEAR Talent

Related expertise

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