The workplace equivalent of “teaching to the test” might be “we need training”. Why do individuals or organizations require training? Ideally, training is not applied as a one-size-fits-all answer to development, nor is it a knee-jerk reaction to a bad situation. Rather, effective training should be a planned and tailored implementation to elevate an employee’s skills required for efficacy in a current role, advancement to a future role or advancement of an enterprise-wide competency. Life Cycle Institute discusses actionable steps for assessing the current state of an employee or organization and developing a plan to advance towards competency through thoughtful and targeted training techniques

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Competency Based Learning
An Uptime Element supported by Life Cycle Institute best practices

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What is competency-based learning?
The meaning of competency-based learning
(CBL) varies from organization to organization
Competency (wikipedia):
The ability of an individual to do a job properly.
A competency is a set of defined
behaviors that provide a structured guide
enabling the identification,
evaluation and development of the
behaviors in individual employees.

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6 essential components
Choose a learner: role/function, division, entire organization
Identify desired competencies
Perform a gap analysis
Develop Individual Development Plans (IDPs)
Implement IDPs
Monitor results. Adjust IDPs & coaching strategies as
needed
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Choose a learner
• What is the scope of your competency-based
learning program?
• Who are the learners?

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Identify desired competencies
• Keep this simple
• Limit to 8-10 competencies
• Define basic, intermediate, advanced
behaviors
• Easy to read in a table format

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Performing a gap analysis
• Keep it simple
• Manager and individual assess separately
• Come to consensus
• Choose a target level (basic, intermediate
advanced) for each competency

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Create individual development plan
• Choose 2 competencies to work on within 90 days:
– 1 that is achievable within 30 days
– 1 with the biggest impact
• Choose learning interventions to meet competency
goal
– Could be a class, advanced job responsibility, self-
study or a combination
• Identify timeframe and support needed

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• Provide opportunity for learner to engage in
activities to develop competency
• Check in ideally every 2 weeks during
timeframe
• Adjust the plan as needed
• Celebrate progress!
Implement and monitor development

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Implementing competency based LEARNING
• People learn from their experiences.
• The 70-20-10 model for learning design
recognizes and leverages the way we really
learn.
– 70% – application, doing it, stretch goals
– 20% – coaching, peers
– 10% – classroom / formal
• Organizations report people learn more, better,
faster when 70-20-10 is applied. And they report
up to a 75% reduction in their training spend!

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3A Learning® : a model to implement 70-20-10
Purpose
Tools
Align
Assess need / skill gap
Set goals
Define follow up plan
Blooms
Learning Objectives
Learning Impact Maps
Assimilate
10%
Active Learning
Learning Objectives
Application practice
Facilitator
Competencies
Action Planning
Impact map
Apply
70% + 20%
Document 90-day goals
Accountability
Sustain behavior change
Results
Partner with manager
Follow through
Coaching
Celebrate success

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3A Learning® and ADKAR®
ADKAR and ADKAR terms are trademarks of Prosci.
Used with permission.
www.change-management.com.
Awareness
Learning Impact Map
objectives
Desire
Learning Impact Map
behaviors / results
Knowledge
Relevant, participant-centered learning event
Ability
Mentor
Coach
Reinforcement
Accountability
Success stories
Celebration

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Education@LCE.com
www.LCE.com
800-556-9589
The Life Cycle Institute is the learning, leadership and
change management practice at Life Cycle Engineering.