Build a spaghetti tower using duct tape. Make it taller than the towers built by competing teams and sturdy enough to hold up a couple of marshmallows at the top.
This was the challenge Zuna received in a team-building activity at her new company.
While Zuna’s team won the challenge, the outcome itself wasn’t the important part. It was the opportunity to see how everyone worked together that really mattered — and the feedback that was offered. For instance, one of the feedback cards Zuna received:
“You have a talent with dealing with people, which is a good thing for a leader. Also making sure to hear everyone’s ideas and explain the strategy — engaging all team members. For that you are slaying!”
Other teammates gave similar feedback.
This is Zuna’s first corporate job, and she isn’t even in charge of leading the group. So, what’s happening here?
Zuna has a talent for enabling her teammates by helping them voice their opinions. Put simply, she has the behavioral competencies of people skills and leadership.
What are behavioral competencies?
Behavioral or core competencies refer to specific skills, behaviors, and attributes that make an individual best suited for a particular job. A skilled project manager, for example, will likely have strong time and team management skills, as these skills are a necessary requirement for the job.
Similarly, in the above example, Zuna’s interpersonal skills and active listening made her a leader in the eyes of her team members.
Why are behavioral competencies important?
As a business owner or manager, you spend a large part of your job hiring others. This requires you to evaluate the skills of applicants. And while technical skills are important for many jobs, it’s often the core behavioral competencies that make a great candidate stand out from the rest of the pack.
In fact, Teresha Aird, co-founder of Offices.net, an online office-brokerage service, puts them above technical skills, saying, “Skills can be taught, but behaviors are often more ingrained and determine how someone will perform under pressure.”
Behavioral competencies examples
Since different jobs have different requirements, behavioral competencies vary depending on the position. That being said, below is a list of behavioral competencies experts consider so essential for various roles that you may want to add these skills to your job descriptions.
Behavioral competencies in a marketer
If you want to hire a marketer, you need someone who can weave in vital information to hype up your product or service in words that resonate with your audience. And this requires a distinct set of behavioral competencies.
For instance, Vaibhav Kakkar, CEO of Digital Web Solutions, a digital marketing agency for agencies, finds creativity and adaptability crucial in a marketer.
Kakkar aptly states, “A successful marketer needs to think outside the box and possess the ability to adjust their strategies based on market trends and consumer preferences.”
Similarly, Aird prioritizes innovative thinking but looks for teamwork, resilience, and customer-centricity, as well.
Aird has found that “resilience is essential to navigate the always-changing digital marketing landscape and ensures candidates can handle project setbacks constructively.”
While experts have their preferences, most of them agree on the following personality traits for a marketer:
- Creativity
- Adaptability
- Empathy
- Analytical thinking
- Collaborativeness
- Resilience
Behavioral competencies in a salesperson
Salespeople typically rely on building rapport with customers in order to better persuade them to try a particular product or service. In short, you need someone who actively listens to leads and offers them tailored solutions to their problems.
And that’s just the start. According to a 2022 Gartner report, 89% of salespeople complain of feeling burned out. If you don’t wish your sellers to join that list, you need individuals who can toss a customer’s no aside like yesterday’s news instead of getting hit by a truck at every rejection.
That’s why experts recommend looking for the following skill set when hiring salespeople:
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
- Resilience
- Ability to persuade
- Negotiation skills
- Goal orientation
- A focus on customers
Phil Portman, CEO of Textdrip, an SMS marketing solution, stresses that “these competencies are crucial for building relationships, identifying customer needs, overcoming objections, and driving sales.”
Behavioral competencies in a software developer
Unlike marketers and salespeople, software developers don’t deal with as many people, so you may pass over a lack of interpersonal skills. However, you may need to prioritize other behavioral competencies.
To start, you may prioritize problem-solving and attention to detail, as developers often have to navigate complex coding challenges to get the job done.
Most of the experts agree that these two behavioral competencies take precedence over other soft skills for software developers.
That said, if you want a complete package, experts recommend looking for the following behavioral competencies in software developers:
- Problem-solving skills
- Attention to detail
- Collaborativeness
- A focus on continuous learning
- Adaptability
Behavioral competencies in a manager
There’s a reason the best-performing employees may not always thrive as managers. You need someone who can communicate with the team, lead their way, and resolve conflicts, not someone who knows all the answers but can’t communicate them.
Data backs this up, too. Humu’s 2022 State of the Manager report found the worst-performing managers lacked sufficient communication, listening, and feedback skills.
So, which skills does a manager need?
Experts recommend looking for the following managerial competencies:
- Leadership skills
- Strong communication skills
- Strategic thinking
- Decision-making
- Conflict resolution
Portman shares that “these competencies help managers guide their teams, drive performance, foster a positive work environment, and achieve organizational goals.”
Behavioral competencies in a financial analyst
When it comes to hiring a financial analyst, there’s a range of behavioral competencies you may consider.
If you own an ecommerce store, Chris Alexakis, CEO of CabinetSelect.com, an online furniture retailer, recommends hiring financial analysts with a “strategic mindset, resilience, and integrity.”
According to Alexakis, “the ability to strategize is critical to navigating the complexities of ecommerce finance.”
Other skills that are valued by experts, regardless of whether or not you focus on ecommerce, include:
- Analytical skills
- Attention to detail
- Time management skills
- Ethical behavior
- Data literacy
Matt Haycox, founder of Funding Guru, a UK business finance provider, stresses the importance of ethical behavior. He says, “The finance industry is very sensitive, so it’s crucial to maintain a strong ethical stance.”
How to get a team with desired behavioral competencies
While all these behavioral competencies make sense, getting a team with members that tick off these requirements is a little more than a walk in the park. But here are steps you can take to make it possible:
1. Incorporate behavioral assessments in your hiring process
You must adjust your hiring process to assess behavioral competencies to get the hires with the required skills.
To start, you can make use of one or more of the following five assessment methods:
- Structured interviews: Ask candidates interview questions that may require them to share specific examples of past experiences
- Behavioral competency assessments: Hand out specific behavioral assessment questionnaires to get insights into candidates’ behavioral indicators
- Reference checks: Speak with the candidates’ references and get their feedback on past behavioral performance
- Role-play exercises: Ask candidates scenario-based questions and see how they respond
- Work trials: Offer paid or unpaid work trials, depending on the nature of the job, to see how potential employees perform in real life before offering them a permanent job
The most effective method varies depending on the competency and the hiring team’s resources. That’s why Portman recommends combining multiple methods to get a comprehensive view of a candidate's behavioral competencies.
To get the most out of structured interviews, Haycox recommends using the Situation, Task, Action, and Result (STAR) method. For instance, you may ask questions like “Can you describe a situation where you faced X challenge and needed to find a solution in Y time?”
Haycox says when applicants discuss specific experiences, they reveal their behavioral traits.
2. Help employees improve behavioral competencies
Simply hiring candidates who possess the necessary behavioral competencies is not sufficient on its own. First, there’s no perfect candidate with all the required soft skills. Second, there’s a limit to every behavioral assessment method.
Instead, you need an environment of continuous learning and improvement to develop and enhance your team’s behavioral competencies.
You can develop that environment by improving your human resources management processes via:
- Establishing a feedback culture: Encourage open communication and feedback among your employees
- Offering employee development programs: Provide resources and training programs, such as workshops, seminars, online courses, or mentoring programs, to help employees upskill themselves
- Facilitating mentorship: Pair employees with experienced mentors who excel in specific behavioral competencies
3. Use the feedback system to your advantage
Last but not least, you shouldn’t try to force a triangle in a place where a circle fits. In other words, if an employee seems more capable of handling problems than leading people, you shouldn’t award them a managerial role.
Instead, get continuous feedback from teammates and managers on an employee’s performance to get a read on where a particular team member fits.
For instance, Sergey Nikonenko, chief operating officer (COO) at Purrweb, a web development company, shares that they ask everyone who worked with a person to share what they think about the person before every semiannual performance review.
You can do the same to gauge an employee’s specific competencies and offer them job roles corresponding to their skill set. To start, you may only promote employees who have managerial competencies to managerial roles.
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