Managerial competencies of a leader are three levels of manifestation. Management competencies of senior managers. Features of the development of management competencies from the point of view of training managers

Business organizations are no exception. I often hear senior executives complain about*:

• avoidance of responsibility;
• the predominance of the formal over the useful;
• passive position of managers;
• gaps between decisions and implementation;
• closed divisions;
• duplication of functions, gaps in responsibility;
• searching for those to blame instead of solving problems.

Consultants offer regular management as a solution. But often a formal attitude to the implementation process only creates a pile of papers on the manager’s shelf. Plays an important role in changing management activities. The last sentence sounds too dry and does not reveal the whole essence of the named phenomenon. Let's give it fullness and practicality.

Features of the development of management competencies from the point of view of training managers

The job of a manager is fundamentally different from the engineering professions, where much is codified, has clear formulas, is regulated by handbooks, and the skill can be transferred through formal management training. According to G. Mintzberg, “Since Frederick Taylor (1916) declared his “scientific method” to be “the best,” we have been looking for this “Holy Grail” of management in science and professionalism. Today, this search continues in simple formulas of popular literature, in the form of “strategic planning”, “shareholder value”, etc. But time and time again, easy answers fall short, creating the illusion of progress while the real problems get worse. » “Effective management occurs where art, craft and science meet.” That is why it is always easy to understand whether a management teacher is a theorist or a practitioner. The competence of a manager is acquired only in the process of practical activity, where:

• high urgency and no time to deeply analyze the situation;
• a large element of uncertainty;
• subordinates are not passive elements, but people who adapt to any new situation;
• high situational sensitivity and the need to make intuitive decisions.

Development is complicated by the fact that it affects relationships between people. Having built relationships with some employees, you cannot manage others in the same way - you will have to spend time establishing relationships of trust, developing a common language of communication, coordinating roles, etc. It turns out that managerial competence is not so much a skill of a manager, but of the team and the organization as a whole. And if the organization has a high quality of management, the departure of one of the managers does not lead to a significant deterioration in the management of the organization, in contrast to the dismissal of an employee who is key in some functional area.

Classic approaches to training managers are built on the formation of managers in isolation from the workplace. MBA education and traditional corporate institutions do not help build bridges between theory and practice through knowledge transfer and case analysis.

Left alone with this task, managers returning from business schools face the following main difficulties:

• Most of the acquired knowledge is lost “along the way”, because the transmitted volume is simply not able to fit “inside the manager”, and the lack of experience in their use is perceived by the unconscious as unimportant information;
• colleagues and the organizational culture as a whole resist new management approaches with values ​​that contradict established traditions in the company;
• The flow of operational work and constant urgency leave no room for experimentation with new methods and no time to analyze management experience.

Effective training for managers - everything ingenious is simple

If you agree with what is written above, then a simple solution suggests itself - to develop it in the process of practical activity together with colleagues. Behind its simplicity lies the peculiarities of each of the organizations, which does not allow us to give precise advice in absentia on how to do this. Based on research that management competencies are acquired in three ratios (10% knowledge, 20% analysis, 70% practice), I identify the following features for myself, which I rely on when searching for solutions for a specific organization:

• employee participation only out of personal interest;
• weaving knowledge into practice, turning it into collaborative skills;
• dosed infusion of knowledge: the ability to “digest” it; assistance in work, and not a distraction from it;
• consistency in the training process for managers;
• developing the skills of the organization, not the individual manager;
• creating conditions for reflection of experience.

In general, this represents the following process: to solve specific important management problems, managers acquire new knowledge. They analyze ongoing processes, not only on the basis of established experience and relationships in the company, but taking into account the opportunities and threats that have now opened up. The acquired knowledge is woven into the work of managers. The activities and results are analyzed.

As a result, acquired experience becomes not the property of an individual manager, but a competitive advantage of the company.

Is training managers a waste of time?

Traditionally, the organization uses management methods aimed at overcoming difficulties and finding solutions. Over time, a certain established set of useful methods is developed that made the company successful. Behind the scenes, their revision, on the one hand, is perceived as doubt in the professionalism of management, on the other hand, “things need to be done and there is no time to be distracted by nonsense.” But the external and internal environment is changing, and without analyzing existing management habits, success will not be seen. And even the willingness of management to start a “new life on Monday” may turn out to be temporary and be defeated by operational activities. To this end, Heifetz and Linsky, in their survival guide for leaders, advise finding a reliable support for the movement, which can be friendship with people who will support the leader in the most controversial situations and conflicts (in the case of an authoritarian management style, it is preferable to look for support outside the organization).

Is it always necessary to develop the management competencies of an organization? I don’t have a clear positive answer to this question. For example, complaining about the staff, the head of a service company acting as a contractor for the state monopolist approached me. We worked together for two weeks to come up with a solution. And by pure chance, the hidden information was revealed - the company’s business model is built on connections between two managers, who, in fact, are key employees, and the organization’s performance indicators depend 90 percent on their capabilities. The competencies of the remaining employees correspond to the low level of their salaries. Improving management skills in this case is not only ineffective, because their importance in overall success is not worth fixing, but will also cause serious resistance to the organization, because it has no practical usefulness.

At seminars on the issue under consideration, I offer students a worksheet for a quick assessment of the organization’s need for management knowledge and experience**.

• What first steps need to be taken to acquire new knowledge and experience? Set deadlines.
• What are the possible obstacles to completing these steps?
• Who should I discuss implementing the steps with?

* you can mark those phenomena that are inherent in your company

** worksheet for express assessment of the organization’s need for new knowledge and experience

Beyond the scope of the article were such important issues as the conditions for conducting effective classes, approaches to engaging employees, methods for determining learning ability, existing methods for developing management competencies, etc., which we will talk about next time.

"HR Officer. Personnel Management", 2010, N 3

Management competencies play a key role in the development of an organization through the creation of a system of corporate competencies. The variety of approaches to the concept of “managerial competence” necessitates the need to clarify its structure and content based on a study of the knowledge accumulated to date about a person as a bearer of competence, the status of personnel competencies in the system of corporate competencies and the modern content and specifics of managerial work.

The crisis state of the economy presupposes the use of effective management as a condition for survival and further development. One of the main problems of most today's organizations is the quality of management. The question of professionalism of management, correctness and validity of managerial influences becomes particularly relevant. In the theory and practice of human resource management (HRM), competency-based management has become widespread. Particular attention is paid to management competencies as the basis for the development of the organization.

The relevance of studying the content and structure of management competencies in the context of organizational development is due to the fact that management competencies are the basis and key to the success of creating key (“core”, “root”) corporate competencies, ensuring the competitiveness of the company and, ultimately, its survival and prosperity.

A study of specialized literature devoted to issues of competencies and, in particular, management competencies, identified the following problems in this area:

• firstly, there is no unambiguous comprehensive interpretation of the concept of “competence” itself, which causes difficulties in developing adequate HRM models based on competencies;
• secondly, there is no clear definition of the status of individual personnel competencies in the system of corporate competencies. The key role of management personnel in the development of an organization is recognized by most researchers, but the mechanism of influence (combining managerial and corporate competencies) remains undisclosed;
• thirdly, the specificity of managerial competencies, presented in the specialized literature as a special set of skills, abilities and abilities of a manager, requires additional clarification in connection with serious changes in the content and forms of organization of managerial work as a type of professional activity.

The purpose of this article is to form an idea of ​​managerial competence, its content and structure, on the one hand, corresponding to the diversity of views on a person as a bearer of competence, on the other hand, reflecting the features of managerial work as a type of professional activity in the context of organizational development.

To achieve this goal, the following logic of reasoning is proposed:

1. by clarifying existing approaches to defining competence, we will identify the most significant characteristics that reflect its content;
2. by examining the status of individual personnel competencies in the system of corporate competencies, we will determine the place and role of management activities in the creation of the latter;
3. The study of the essence and content of managerial work, its subject-object status in the organization, as well as the obtained results of solving the first two research problems will allow us to form an idea of ​​managerial competence, its content and structure, and outline the main directions for their creation in an organization aimed at development.

Essence and main characteristics of competence

The variety of concepts of “competence” and “managerial competence” is caused by at least two circumstances that deserve attention.

On the one hand, these concepts are distinguished by their multidimensionality and versatility. The complexity of the concept of “competence” (as well as “managerial competence”) is associated with an attempt to overcome the fragmentation of knowledge, subjects, disciplines and form an integral idea of ​​what and how an employee (in particular, a manager) should know and be able to do. On the other hand, we can distinguish at least two research positions that express an “active” interest in the formation of competencies: this is the actual subject of HRM - the manager, the HRM service (competence as an object of management, a factor and condition of productivity) and the education system (competence as a result of training and education). The first of the noted positions considers competencies as useful qualities, including knowledge, skills, abilities, and other personality characteristics that allow one to achieve certain results; the second defines competencies as the ability to solve problems, ensuring the necessary quality, and the ability to act in accordance with standards. In our opinion, the presented positions, despite the fact that they express two different points of view on a person as a bearer of these competencies, have important advantages from the point of view of their use in HRM practice. Let's look at them in more detail.

The first point of view, which takes roots from psychology and therefore is further designated as a psychological approach to competencies, considers a person in a naturalistic manner (“an independent object of nature”), a person appears as a person, a subject with values, needs, motives, knowledge, etc. able to demonstrate behaviors that lead to effective job performance. Therefore, competence is presented as an important behavioral aspect that manifests itself in effective action. In the theory and practice of management, and in particular HRM, this approach to defining competencies has become widespread (McClelland D., Spencer L., Spencer S., Whiddett S., Halliford S.). Within the framework of this approach, a large number of tests have been developed to determine the presence and degree of expression of competencies. In domestic practice, the term “competence” is widely used, meaning the ability to complete a task, the presence of knowledge and skills to perform functions, i.e. the degree of development of certain competencies in a specialist.

The second point of view, widely represented in pedagogy and called pedagogical in this work, considers a person constructively and technically as the result of an appropriate purposeful formative influence (training, education, motivation, etc.) in the totality of motivational-value, cognitive, ideological, communicative components. In this regard, competence includes a set of interrelated personality qualities specified in relation to a certain range of objects and processes. This direction is being developed within the framework of the competency-based approach in education (Bermus A.G., Bondarevskaya E.V., Kulnevich S.V., Markova A.K., Mestechkina V.I., Serikova V.V., Khutorskoy A.V. ., Shepel V.M.). The competency-based approach assumes that the main emphasis is not simply on acquiring knowledge and skills, but on the formation of a systematic set of competencies. Therefore, the competency-based approach acts as an opposition to the subject and disciplinary form of educational organization (subject “feudalism”).

Thus, the innovative educational program of MGIMO, developed within the framework of the competency-based approach, offers a strategic map of competencies that combines three blocks of competencies - analytical, systemic and communication, which, in turn, are divided into 12 basic profiles, represented by specialized competencies. In addition, this approach is also used when determining the rights and responsibilities of an employee: employment contracts may include wording such as “the competence of a specialist includes...”, “the boundaries of the competence of a specialist’s position are determined...”, which implies the scope of powers and responsibilities, inherent in a particular position.

In our opinion, in order to implement competency management in HRM practice, it is necessary to combine the “psychological” and “pedagogical” concepts of competence to reflect both the active behavioral position and the structure of the employee’s potential.

At the same time, the question arises about the sufficiency of these human projections for constructing the concept of “competence”: are there other ideas (for example, sociological, managerial, economic) that should be taken into account when determining competence, since the two points of view discussed above on a person as a bearer of competencies (psychological and pedagogical) represent, in fact, two extreme positions that can be complemented by other research approaches.

G.P. Shchedrovitsky identifies 5 main schemes according to which ideas about “man” were built and are being built in science. Let us consider them in the context of determining the content of competence.

1. Interaction of the subject with the objects surrounding him. This scheme limits the representation of a person to his internal properties (psychological position); a person’s actions and behavior are considered as an external manifestation of internal properties.

Within the framework of this position, the most important, in our opinion, emphasis when defining the concept of “competence” is to include measurable individual characteristics that are significant for the effective performance of work - any recognized significant characteristic of an individual that can be measured and assessed can be considered a competence.

1. The relationship of an organism with the environment as a scheme for representing a person presupposes a reflection of his way of life and functioning in relation to an external structure that acts as the environment of his “habitat”.

1. Actions of the subject-actor in relation to surrounding objects. The acting subject is a complex object, including not only the person himself, but the patterns and structures of the actions he carries out.

This scheme allows you to move from a description of specific actions to the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to carry out the actions. The competence defined in this way reflects the actor’s idea of ​​the goal (result) of his actions, the essence and properties of the subject of work, and the level of mastery of the means of activity. Therefore, it is important that competence acts as an integral quality of an individual - competence as a cross-cutting, extra-, supra- and meta-subject education, which, in turn, in conditions of increasing complexity of activity systems determines the increasing importance of the cognitive abilities of the subject-doer.

1. The relationship of free partnership of one subject - the individual - with others. This diagram depicts the relationships and forms of behavior of people within social systems and their constituent groups, and human behavior is considered as determined by the corresponding social organization, sociocultural and ethical norms. Therefore, when determining the content of abilities, knowledge, skills, etc. that underlie the concept of “competence,” along with motivational, value and cognitive ones, we note ideological and communicative components.
2. An organ in the functioning of the system of which it is an element: here the main thing is the process of functioning of the encompassing system, the element of which is a person, the defining characteristics of a person are the required behavior or activity, and internal properties (abilities, capabilities, knowledge, skills, values, etc.) are derived from external (characteristics of the surrounding system). This is exactly the position that is implemented within the framework of the competency-based approach to education. Therefore, competence is built on personality traits that lead to effective performance of work; competence is considered as the ability to perform work at a given level of quality.

In our opinion, the content of the competence should be presented taking into account all the positions noted above.

Having determined the main characteristics of the competency that make up its content, let us move on to the next problem stated in this work - determining the status of individual personnel competencies in the system of corporate competencies and the mechanism for connecting them.

Individual competencies of personnel in the system of corporate competencies

The traditional view of personnel competencies is built into the concept of core competencies. The classic idea of ​​HRM about corporate competence as a rational combination of knowledge and abilities of the organization’s employees (Kannak G.) is complemented by social competence (corporate culture, internal climate, etc.), as well as organizational systems and structures that support the organization’s competencies (Snell S., Wright P.). At the same time, the key role in creating a system of corporate competencies, including individual competencies of personnel, as well as in creating a system for managing these competencies, is assigned to management personnel: management activities act as a link between the individual competencies of employees and the achieved corporate competencies.

These circumstances highlight the need to integrate strategic management and HRM both at the general theoretical, methodological, and applied levels. We highlight the following directions for the development of the mechanism for integrating individual and corporate competencies.

Firstly, the development of personnel competencies must be consistent with the organization's policy in the field of creating key competencies. Key competencies include rare, non-copyable, unique, irreplaceable resources; they are the source of competitive advantages. In this regard, it is necessary to determine which human resource characteristics relate to or support the creation of competitive advantage.

Secondly, HRM practices in the field of developing personnel competencies should, in addition to traditional employee training, extend to the creation of structures and systems that support the development of personnel competencies. This involves setting new goals in the HRM system.

Thirdly, a key role in the formation of both individual and corporate competencies is assigned to management personnel. Organizationally, HRM unites not only top managers and functional specialists, but also involves line managers of all levels in the HR process.

Creating and maintaining sustainable competitive advantages means, first of all, the development of human resources: the creation and development of a base of skills and abilities of personnel, the intellectual capital of the organization, the formation and maintenance of an appropriate environment, the establishment of communications, the development of a culture of mutual trust between managers and their subordinates. There is a need to study management competencies and, in particular, a special management competence - “competence in the formation of competencies.”

The key role of management and managerial work in organizational development and corresponding changes in the practice of human resource management has led to the need to study the specifics of management as a type of professional activity that determines the characteristics of management competencies.

Formation of management competencies

Management activities are multifaceted and can be presented in various ways. Summarizing various ideas of management and managerial work, we will present managerial work in the form of an organized reflexive decision-making process to carry out a targeted impact on the object of management. The study of the characteristics of managerial work as a type of professional activity made it possible to identify two components of managerial competence, and, accordingly, two general strategies for their formation.

Dictionary of personnel management. Managerial competence is an integral quality of the subject of management, combining motivational-value, cognitive, ideological, communicative components (attitudes, abilities, knowledge, skills, etc.) that are significant for the effective implementation of management activities, expressed in terms of observable behavior.

The first component is associated with the ability to professionally build and restructure joint activities within the framework of an understood and accepted social order (demand) for the implementation of this activity, which is possible in the presence of a system of reflexive thinking tools (theories, concepts, schemes, management models). Therefore, the level of development of the conceptual framework (in this case, its systemic complexity), the ability to construct mental structures nested within each other are one of the results of activities to develop managerial competence. We will call this activity training in the broad sense of this concept, which includes both teaching and learning.

The second component of managerial competence lies in the readiness and ability to use the above means in order to carry out joint activities within the framework of an understood and accepted social order (demand). This means the presence of personal self-determination of the manager in his activities (as opposed to individual or subjective), when professionalism and a conscious attitude to work are a value. This position is achieved by creating an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect, forming a specific organizational culture - we will call this activity the education of management personnel.

The above allows us to conclude that the formation of managerial competencies in HRM practice plays a teaching and educational role. And since the manager is in a dual subject-object position, the formation of competencies involves both the implementation of influence (training, education) and their self-formation (self-training and self-education).

The content of the competence presented above, the status of individual competencies in the system of corporate competencies and the features of managerial work as a type of professional activity make it possible to clarify the structure of managerial competence by introducing the object-subject position of the manager in the activity system. Let us note the main results of this refinement.

Any subject of management activity can be considered once as a subject in relation to the activity that he manages (including a subject position in relation to subjects of management activity of a lower order as objects of his own management activity), a second time as an object of management activity of a subject of management activity of a higher order order, the third time as a subject of managing his own management activities.

The subject-object position of a manager allows us to introduce three sections in the content of managerial competence. In the first case, the content of managerial competence reflects the ability and readiness to professionally build and rebuild joint activities within the framework of an understood and accepted social order (demand).

In the second case, the ability and willingness to professionally develop the management competencies of subjects of management activities of a smaller order through both direct influence and through the introduction of systems and structures that ensure the integration of management competencies into the system of corporate competencies of the organization. In the third - the ability and readiness for self-organization, self-development, the creation of self-organizing metasystems that support the formation of competencies of a special kind - “competence in the formation of competencies.”

Thirdly, the subject of management activity as a bearer of management competencies can be considered at three levels, connected to each other by the relationships “abstract - concrete” and “whole - parts”: manager, management team, management personnel. This does not mean a mechanical unification of individuals into work groups and management apparatus, but a systemic organic connection that forms a whole, characterized by common goals, shared sociocultural and ethical values, similar motives, possessing abilities, knowledge, skills, etc., different from the abilities , knowledge, skills, etc. of employees included in a group (for example, the ability to use group forms of organizing thinking in the process of making management decisions). Therefore, not only an individual employee, but also a management team and all management personnel can act as a bearer of management competence.

Taking into account the above, we will determine the structure of management competence using a three-dimensional matrix.

The first dimension of the matrix is ​​related to the level of formation of management competencies. The individual level involves the formation of managerial competencies and depends on the specifics of the management activity being carried out. Traditional models of management competencies reflect precisely the individual level. The group level of developing management competencies allows you to work with the competencies of a small group (structural unit) and is especially relevant when developing the competencies of process teams and work groups. The general organizational level of formation operates on collective abilities, considering management routines.

The second dimension reflects the type of capital underlying competence: human, social, organizational (in the sense of systemic). The formation of management competencies based on human capital involves training and education of personnel. Social capital as the basis of management competencies means the creation of a social environment of interaction, an organizational culture that supports the functional, key and dynamic competencies of the organization. The formation of management competencies based on system capital implies the creation of systems and structures that support the organization’s competencies.

The third dimension of the matrix in the field of developing management competencies reflects the hierarchy of corporate competencies: functional, key, dynamic. At the same time, the status of the management competencies we have introduced, which differ in content and are associated with the subject-object position of the manager, in this hierarchy will be determined by the development strategy of the organization and its policy in the field of HRM.

The content and structure of management competence presented above involves the identification and formulation of new HRM tasks in terms of creating appropriate systems and structures. It is proposed to systematize HRM practices in the field of developing management competencies using a three-dimensional matrix of HRM tasks, built on the basis of the structure of the concept of “managerial competence” proposed above (Table 1).

Table 1

Matrix of HRM tasks in the field of developing management competencies

The proposed matrix of HRM tasks can be used as a means of determining areas of work in the field of developing management competencies, as well as as a diagnostic tool when auditing the HRM system.

Let's summarize. The presence of different points of view on the structure and content of the concept of “managerial competence” necessitated its clarification based on the study of the knowledge accumulated to date about a person as a bearer of competence, the status of personnel competencies in the system of corporate competencies and the modern content and specifics of managerial work.

As a result, management competence is defined as an integral quality of a management subject, combining motivational-value, cognitive, ideological, and communicative components (attitudes, abilities, knowledge, skills, etc.) that are significant for the effective implementation of management activities, expressed in terms of observable behavior. Management competencies form, develop, and also in a unique way “pull together,” connect, and fuse personnel competencies, social and corporate competencies, creating and maintaining the organization’s competitive advantages. The structure of management competence is defined using a three-dimensional matrix:

• level of formation of management competencies (individual, group, organization-wide);
• type of capital underlying competence (human, social, organizational);
• status of competence (functional, key, dynamic).

In conclusion, it is necessary to note the growing role of HRM, expressed in the spread of HRM practices to a wider range of issues. Among the most pressing issues in expanding HRM practices in relation to the formation and development of management competencies, we will include the development of a culture or way of thinking that makes it possible to maintain unique competencies, and the development and maintenance of socially complex relationships (team work style, knowledge sharing, trust).

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I. Katunina

head department

management and marketing

Omsk State

university

Speaking about the types of competencies, two important points should be noted:

• 1) species diversity of competencies in the absence of ///^-standards;
• 2) the existence of several classifications, i.e. species diversity. There is no single classification of types of competencies; there are many different classifications for different reasons. It is very difficult to navigate this diversity of species. Many classifications are inconvenient and obscure, which makes their application in practice extremely difficult. But, one way or another, the current situation affects the practice of building a competency model.

In various theoretical and practical materials devoted to the topic of competencies, one can find a wide variety of typologies. In world practice, there are examples of attempts to develop universal typologies and models of competencies that claim to be a world standard. So, for example, a company SHL- a world leader in the field of psychometric assessment and solution development - back in 2004, declared the creation of a universal basic competency structure by a group of consultants led by Professor D. Bartram. The basic structure included 112 components, headed by the so-called Big Eight competencies. It is quite possible that global unification trends will soon lead to the fact that such a world standard will become uniform in //^-practice. But today, D. Bartram’s model does not meet all the specific requirements for corporate competency structures. In addition, competencies are a corporate tool, so it is almost impossible to create a single set of competencies that any company can use, taking into account all the specific requirements for positions.

We will look at types of competencies based on the corporate scale (the extent to which a competency is distributed) and the organizational level (the level of organizational structure at which a competency operates): corporate, professional, and managerial. This classification was chosen as the most optimal for constructing a competency model and using it in various areas of ///^-activity. In addition, it allows you to select technological tools for assessing competencies and, accordingly, make the competency system more accessible for use.

Speaking about the competency model, it is necessary to identify the types of competencies.

1. Corporate (or key) competencies are applicable to any position in the organization. Corporate competencies follow from the organization’s values, which are recorded in corporate documents such as strategy, code of corporate ethics, etc. Developing corporate competencies is part of working with the corporate culture of an organization. The optimal number of corporate competencies is 5-7. This level includes corporate standards of conduct- business and personal qualities that every employee of the organization must have, regardless of their position. Corporate competencies tend to be the most clear, concise and easily identifiable. They contribute to the formation of corporate culture and the implementation of the organization’s strategic goals.

Corporate competence represents the competence of personnel at the level necessary for the organization to achieve its main goals: economic, scientific, technical, production, commercial and social (Fig. 2.5).

Rice. 2.5.

The system of corporate competencies (internal requirements for candidates) fully reflects the specifics of each organization, the goals and objectives of its production and management structures, the organizational culture and values ​​of the organization, and other aspects of its organizational behavior.

Competences are usually regulated through the outlined terms of reference and legal activities of the holder of the competence. Perhaps this follows from the charter documents or other internal corporate rules, partly from legal and by-laws, the declarative goals of a particular enterprise, from a qualification directory or job descriptions, regulations, orders, etc.

G. Cannac (France) defines corporate competence as “a rational combination of knowledge and abilities, considered over a short period of time, possessed by employees of a given organization.”

• 2. Managerial (or managerial) competencies are necessary for managers to successfully achieve business goals. They are developed for employees engaged in management activities and who have employees under linear or functional subordination. Management competencies can be similar for managers in different industries and include, for example, strategic vision, business management, working with people, etc. This type of competence is the most localized and complex type. Most often, companies develop multi-level management competencies. At the top level - competencies that all management employees of the organization must possess. Next - management competencies corresponding to the management levels of the organization. Last in this hierarchy are specific management competencies that are characteristic of a specific specific management position. Developing management competencies is complex. There is a great danger and temptation to create a model of an ideal supermanager, which is hardly possible to implement in practice. That is why, when developing, it is recommended to include in the list of management competencies an optimal set based on the principle of necessary and sufficient competencies.
• 3. Professional (or technical) competencies are applicable to a specific group of positions. Drawing up professional competencies for all groups of positions in an organization is a very labor-intensive and lengthy process. This type of competence is a set of personal characteristics, as well as knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for effective work in a specific job position. A distinction should be made between the professional competencies of a position and the professional competencies of activities or professional areas. Professional competencies of activities and areas are of a generalized nature. And the professional competencies of the position are limited within the framework of a specific organization.

Professional competence - this is “an integrated characteristic of an employee’s business and personal qualities, reflecting the level of specialized knowledge, skills and experience sufficient to achieve the goal, as well as his creative potential, which makes it possible to set and solve the necessary tasks. In accordance with the nature of the employee’s activity and the characteristics of his work process, the following types of professional competence are distinguished” (Table 2.3).

Types of professional competence

Table 2.3

competence	Includes
Functional (professional, special)	Professional knowledge, skills, education, business reliability, the ability to successfully and accurately carry out one’s official activities and plan one’s further professional development
And intellectual	The ability for analytical thinking, logic, analysis and synthesis, the construction of hypotheses, mastery of methods of personal self-expression and self-development, the ability for scientific justification and creative problem solving
Situational	Adaptive ability to act in accordance with the situation, choosing from a variety of methods of behavior the most effective in given situational production conditions
Social	Communication skills and abilities for conflict-free communication, the ability to cooperate, maintain good relationships with people, provide social and psychological assistance, interact effectively in a team, demonstrate flexibility and the art of influence, exercise informal leadership

Individual competence“characterizes mastery of techniques for self-realization and individual development within the profession, readiness for professional growth, the ability for individual self-preservation, non-susceptibility to professional aging, the ability to rationally organize one’s work without overloading time and effort.”

The types of competence mentioned above mean the maturity of a person in professional activity, professional communication, the formation of the personality of a professional, his individuality. They may not coincide in one person, who may be a good specialist, but not be able to communicate, not be able to carry out the tasks of his development. Accordingly, it can be stated that he has high special competence and lower social or personal competence. Thus, certification of personnel competence is required, which involves assessing and confirming compliance of the specialist’s special, social, personal and individual competence with established norms, requirements and standards. By analogy with the process of skill formation, we can distinguish:

• A) unconscious incompetence- low performance, lack of perception of differences in components or actions. The employee does not know what he does not know, what knowledge and skills he needs;
• b) conscious incompetence- low performance, recognition of shortcomings and weaknesses. The employee realizes what he lacks for successful work;
• V) conscious competence- improved performance, conscious effort to act more effectively. The employee is able to consciously adjust his activities;
• G) unconscious competence- natural, integrated, automatic activity with higher productivity. An employee is able to transfer an action to a new context and modify it taking into account the changing situation. Acquired competencies will not bring the desired effect if their holders are not interested in maximizing the use of these competencies. Thus, employees in relation to their individual competence pursue the following goals:
  • adapting personal qualifications to the requirements of the position (workplace);
  • guarantees of retention of position (job);
  • basics for professional advancement;
  • increasing one's own mobility in the labor market;
  • ensuring high labor income;
  • increasing one's own prestige.

The broadest in scope and highest in organizational level (corporate competencies as a type are inherent in all positions of the organization located at all levels of the organizational structure, including the highest) are corporate competencies. This type includes corporate standards of conduct- business and personal qualities that all employees of the organization must possess, regardless of their positions and responsibilities. In other words, these are the competencies that every employee of this particular organization must have. Corporate competencies tend to be the most clear, concise and easily identifiable; are intended to identify the employee with the corporate values ​​and corporate culture of the organization. They contribute to the formation of corporate culture and the implementation of the organization’s strategic goals. When reading corporate policy documents, corporate codes, and simply hiring advertisements, you can often see phrases like “our employees have an active lifestyle, strive for personal development, are loyal to customers, etc.” In fact, the very corporate competencies we are talking about are “hardwired” into such phrases.

As a real example of corporate competencies, we can cite an excerpt from the company’s Code of Ethics N.

“The company especially values:

• 1) respect the personal rights and interests of our employees, customer requirements and terms of cooperation put forward by our business partners and society;
• 2) impartiality, which involves remuneration in accordance with the results achieved and provides equal rights for professional growth;
• 3) honesty in dealings and in providing any information necessary for our work;
• 4) efficiency as sustainably achieving the best possible results in everything we do;
• 5) courage confront what is unacceptable and take responsibility for the consequences of your decisions;
• 6) care, manifested in efforts to protect people from any harm or threat to their life and health and environmental protection;
• 7) confidence employees, which allows us to delegate authority and responsibility for decisions and how to execute them.”

These paragraphs list the corporate competencies of the organization. This example clearly shows that corporate competencies are often confused in meaning with corporate values ​​in their perception. In addition, their set is almost identical in companies with completely different corporate cultures, values ​​and business styles. When developing corporate competencies, it is necessary to separate the truly necessary competencies from slogans, and also check the competencies for non-conflict with each other (they should not contradict each other).

Corporate competencies have a total distribution, i.e. should be characteristic of every employee of the organization, which means you should know that the larger the list of these competencies, the more difficult it is to ensure that each employee has a complete set. Therefore, it is recommended to make the set of corporate competencies optimal: short, succinct, reflecting only what without which it will be extremely difficult for an employee to work effectively in a given organization.

In addition, we should not forget that competence must be measurable, i.e., when introducing a competence, it is necessary to check it for its ability to be assessed. This is important to remember when developing corporate competencies, since there is often a great temptation to include personal qualities of a social nature, for example, fairness. Measuring the presence of this competence in an employee is very problematic, since the concept of “fair” is largely relative and difficult to identify.

Professional competencies are less broad in scale (do not cover a wide range of positions, but are tied to specific positions, down to the competencies characteristic of any one specific position) and localized. Usually they are localized to specific positions (perhaps to one specific one), but a certain set of professional competencies is inherent in any job position. This type of competence is a set of personal characteristics, as well as knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for effective work in a specific job position. Given that our classification of competencies is limited to a corporate framework, we should not confuse the professional competencies of a position with the professional competencies of activities or professional areas.

Professional competencies of activities and areas are more generalized. And the professional competencies of the position are limited within the framework of a specific organization. For example, there may be the competencies of an employee in the pedagogical field - they are characteristic of all specialists conducting teaching activities, regardless of the organization in which they work, or there may be the professional competencies of a teacher in a specific educational organization. When we talk about professional competencies as a type of competencies, we mean precisely them. Most often, a set of professional competencies in an organization is formalized in the so-called job profile.

Management competencies- the most localized and complex type of competencies. These are the competencies necessary for a manager to perform leadership responsibilities. Most often, companies develop multi-level management competencies. At the top level - competencies that all management employees of the organization must have. Next - management competencies corresponding to the management levels of the organization. For example, management competencies of top managers, middle managers, etc. Last in this hierarchy are specific management competencies that are characteristic of a specific specific management position. Oddly enough, the development of management competencies is the most difficult - the temptation to create a model of an ideal supermanager is too great, which is unlikely to be implemented in practice. Therefore, it is recommended to include in the list of management competencies an optimal set based on the principle of necessity and sufficiency.

Let's consider some of the opportunities that the competency-based approach provides for organizing effective personnel management.

1. It is necessary to remember the chain “goal - activity” - competence" and apply this model to strategic human resource management. This chain means that larger goals tend to require more complex activities to achieve. More complex activities require higher specialist competence. Acquiring higher competence requires time, often considerable time. After all, even a simple skill is formed in an average of 21 days, and there may be several necessary skills. In addition, the development of personal qualities requires much more time - sometimes it takes years.

Ways to solve this problem may be the following:

• introduce a strategic management system and a strategic personnel management system into the organization. And then, knowing what goals the employee will have in a few years and how he will achieve them, you can plan a long-term program for his training and development;
• consider the employee’s current activities not only as practical, but also as educational. In this case, we can turn to the experience of big-time sports, and we will see that any competitions, except the main ones (World Championships, Olympic Games), are preparatory for larger competitions, i.e. During his training, an athlete trains directly in the conditions in which he will compete in the future and win new achievements. Thus, he forms and develops a set of competencies that he will need. For example, competitions are educational. And the athlete’s task is not only to win them, but also to improve his level of skill. Moreover, the mindset of winning all competitions has long been a thing of the past - it is more profitable to lose at simple competitions, but at the same time study and prepare in order to win the main competitions.

Applying this concept to business, you can say this: “Let my employee make mistakes if they are educational errors and not due to negligence. The damage from these mistakes will be covered many times in the future. After all, when an employee improves his competence, he will begin to bring profit, immeasurably greater than he brings now (even if now he does not make any mistakes).”

2. Talent management can be formulated as follows: if the competence of a talented employee exceeds the competence of his position in at least one of the parameters, then the employee feels dissatisfied, and his competence begins to decline.

Moreover, in order for such an employee to feel happy, it is necessary to place demands on him above his current competence (at least in one of the parameters) for his position. Naturally, there are a number of conditions: the excess must be adequate to the position, the current tasks of the organization and the psychological type of the employee; he must be aware of this discrepancy and work with it, etc. This discrepancy is the zone of its development.

Still, despite all the difficulties, this conclusion opens up a whole range of opportunities for motivating and retaining staff. The most striking (even paradoxical) example: instead of increasing the amount of payments, you can complicate the employee’s professional activity. Of course, you need to know how to complicate it and how much? To answer this question, it is necessary to analyze the competency profile of this employee.

This conclusion resonates with the idea of ​​realizing human potential. The idea is that strategic directions and goals are determined based not only on the decisions of the top officials of the organization, but also on the existing unrealized competencies of personnel (which, again, can be helped by an analysis of employee competencies). If people feel that the organization not only provides their standard of living, but also allows them to be more fully realized, then a phenomenon will arise that has recently been called “personnel involvement.” But employee engagement provides not only a psychological, but also an economic effect. It has already been irrefutably proven that due to low employee engagement, organizations lose huge amounts of money, incomparable in size to the costs of quality personnel management.

The attractiveness of the competency-based approach, in our opinion, lies in a special method for analyzing and assessing the development of personnel competencies, in particular managerial ones, at each level of the hierarchy in the organization, thanks to this, those qualities are determined that determine the good performance of a specific job.

The competency-based approach implies that the main emphasis is not simply on students acquiring knowledge and skills, but on the comprehensive development of the competencies of management personnel.

This can be clearly seen in Fig. 2.6.

Rice. 2.6.

Motivational competencies managerial personnel include goal orientation, initiative, self-confidence, interest in the individual’s work, responsibility, self-control, self-realization, flexibility in work, influencing personnel.

Intellectual competencies management personnel are based on knowledge related to basic principles, as well as information technology, decision-making technologies and the rapid perception of innovations.

Functional competencies management personnel are manifested in the skill set of management personnel (self-awareness, leadership, interpersonal communications, negotiation, decision-making skills, delegation, team building, conflict management, effective use of time).

Interpersonal competencies management personnel contribute to the formation of balanced relationships, interpersonal understanding, loyalty to the company, willingness to help, customer orientation, staff optimism, etc.

Many organizations do not use ready-made developments; they fundamentally go their own way and develop their own competency structures. This can only be justified if the development is carried out by experienced specialists, since for novice developers, which are often HR- managers in the organization, this task is either beyond their capabilities or threatens to create an incorrect and inefficiently functioning competency structure.

• See: Kibanov L.Ya. Fundamentals of personnel management: textbook. M.: INFRA-M, 2009.
• Odegov Yu.G., Rudenko G.G., Babynina L.S. Labor Economics: textbook: in 2 volumes /ed. SOUTH. Odegova. M.: Alfa-press, 2007. T. 1. P. 678.
• Ksenofontova Kh.Z. Competencies of management personnel and the formation of competitive advantages of an enterprise // Man and Labor. 2010.№ 7. pp. 63-65.

Lukashenko M. A. D. eq. Sc., professor, vice-president and head of the department of corporate culture and PR, MFPA
Magazine "Modern Competition"

From the point of view of business practitioners, professional competencies are the ability of a subject of professional activity to perform work in accordance with job requirements. The latter represent the tasks and standards for their implementation adopted in an organization or industry. This point of view is very consonant with the position of representatives of the British school of occupational psychology, who mainly adhere to the functional approach, according to which professional competencies are understood as the ability to act in accordance with the standards of work performance. This approach focuses not on personal characteristics, but on performance standards and is based on a description of tasks and expected results. In turn, representatives of the American school of occupational psychology, as a rule, are supporters of the personal approach - they prioritize the characteristics of the individual that allow her to achieve results at work. From their point of view, core competencies can be described by KSAO standards, which include:

• knowledge;
• skills;
• abilities;
• other characteristics (other).

Experts note that the use of such a simple formula to describe key competencies is associated with difficulties in defining and diagnosing two of its elements: knowledge and skills (KS) are much easier to determine than abilities and other characteristics (AO) (in particular, due to the abstractness of the latter ). In addition, at different times and among different authors, the letter “A” meant different concepts (for example, attitude), and the letter “O” was completely absent from the abbreviation (used to denote a physical condition, behavior, etc.).

However, we intend to focus specifically on skills and abilities because:

• they play a huge role in ensuring the competitiveness of the company headed by this manager;
• Either this is not taught in universities at all (unlike knowledge), or it is introduced in individual universities - in the so-called entrepreneurial universities. As a result, the market for educational services is flooded with educational and training structures that compensate for the gaps in university education. By the way, corporate universities, in addition to conducting special training programs tied to professional specifics, also train so-called soft skills (literally translated - “soft skills”, or, in other words, life skills). Examples are communications skills, negotiation skills, etc.

Key competencies of a modern top manager

Effective goal setting

So, the first key competency is goal setting. Every management course—whether general management, project management, or brand management—teach goal setting. However, nowhere do they teach personal and corporate self-identification, identifying the meaning of life and the meaning of the company’s existence, or forming a value basis for both personal life and the company’s activities. Hence the crises and disappointments of middle age in personal life, when a person thinks: he seems to have achieved everything, but why he lived and what I will leave behind is unclear. As for the company's activities, in the Western approach the raison d'être of the company is reflected in its mission. However, in Russian practice, a company’s mission is often perceived as a formal invention of attracted image makers, posted on the website. No one can remember it, much less reproduce it. Such a mission does not cement anything and does not motivate anyone. On its basis, it is impossible to set bright strategic goals that can ignite and unite the team. Meanwhile, according to practitioners, one of the most difficult tasks for top management of companies is organizing the implementation of the tactical goals of divisions in such a way that the strategic goals of the organization are ultimately achieved. But how can they be fulfilled when strategic goals are often unknown not only to the staff, but also to the management itself. It happens that each top manager has his own vision of the company’s strategic goals and general directions for its development. Not “brought together,” such goals can give rise to a classic situation in a company: “swan, crayfish and pike.”

Without creating a value basis for a company's activities, it is impossible to form its corporate culture. This is obvious because corporate culture is a system of values ​​and manifestations inherent in the company community, which reflects its individuality and perception of itself and others in the market and social environment and is manifested in behavior and interaction with market stakeholders. The point of corporate culture is to ensure that the values ​​of the company and its employees coincide. This is not an end in itself, and there is nothing sublime about it. But this is the highest level of management, because if the goals and values ​​coincide, the employee will “drag” the entire company forward in order to achieve his goals and in the name of his values. In turn, the company, in order to achieve its market goals, will create all conditions for the professional development and personal growth of the employee.

The goal of corporate culture is to ensure the company’s competitiveness in the market, high profitability of its activities through the formation of an image and good reputation, on the one hand, and improvement of human resource management to ensure employee loyalty to management and its decisions, cultivating in employees an attitude towards the company as their own home - on the other. What does corporate culture depend on? Obviously, first of all, from the management. No wonder the famous Russian proverb says: “Like the priest, so is the parish.”

Thus, the first key competency of a top manager is the ability to work with the company’s goals and values.

Communication competence and working with key employees

The second key competence is communication competence. An analysis of the daily activities of top managers of large corporations revealed an interesting fact: from 70 to 90% of their working time they spend interacting with other people both inside and outside the organization. There was even a special term: “walking management.” Thus, the professional activity of a top manager is carried out through communications. In this regard, two key problems arise in increasing the effectiveness of a manager’s communication activities. The first is related to ensuring the completeness of communications, their consistency and controllability. The second depends directly on the top manager’s sociability, his ability for business communication as such, his knowledge of communication technologies and the ability to apply them in the right context.

Thus, the communicative competence of a top manager is formed in two ways: on the one hand, it is increasing the efficiency of managing communications as a business process of interaction between the company and market stakeholders; on the other hand, it is the development of personal communication skills, the ability to listen, persuade and influence the interlocutor. The manager must have a clear understanding of the structure of his own business communications: with whom he needs to communicate, why and how. Oddly enough, it is precisely these seemingly simple questions that make executive listeners at business trainings think and help form a personal system for managing external and internal communications. Communicative competence presupposes that the manager has psychological knowledge in the amount necessary and sufficient to correctly understand the interlocutor, ensure his influence on him and, most importantly, to resist the influence of others.

In practice, the manager’s attitude towards the performance of communicative, including representative, functions is very ambiguous - from focusing business contacts on himself to delegating these functions to deputies. This is not surprising, since managers, like other employees, belong to different psychological types, and what is a pleasure for some, causes great discomfort for others. In the latter case, a person, wanting to minimize (if not avoid altogether) negative feelings, tends to downplay the role of communications as such (in any case, the role of personal communications). Due to the fact that in a market environment the processes of both cooperation and competition are realized through communications, a top manager who tries to minimize business communications in his activities jeopardizes the competitiveness of his company. In this regard, an approach that deserves attention is one in which the strategy and tactics of all company communications are scrupulously worked out, objects of communication impact are identified, and responsible executors are appointed. A pool of contacts is formed, for which the top manager is directly responsible, the rest are delegated, but are under control. A list of communication activities with the participation of the top manager is also determined.

As you know, communications are conventionally divided into external and internal. External communications include the top manager’s communications with market stakeholders - partners, competitors, clients, government and management bodies. These communications should first of all be objects of strategic goal setting. Internal (intra-company) communications reflect the vertical and horizontal processes of interaction between a top manager and colleagues and subordinates. In order for them to be as effective as possible and at the same time take up minimal time from the manager, it is advisable to regulate communication processes. To do this, the company must first reach agreements regarding communications, and then, based on them, corporate communications regulations (standards) must be developed. The forms and methods of assigning instructions to subordinates, the formulation of tasks, setting deadlines for the execution of instructions and dates for intermediate control may be subject to standardization. For example, at trainings we often hear “the voice of one crying in the wilderness”, that an urgent task is regularly “descended” by the manager immediately before the end of the working day.

A huge amount of time of both the manager and his subordinates is wasted due to ineffective preparation and conduct of meetings. A clear typology of meetings, development and subsequent adherence to appropriate standards for preparation and conduct, including the use of new information and communication technologies, for example, the Skype software product, can significantly increase the efficiency of intra-company communications of a top manager.

Closely related to communicative competence is the third, purely managerial, competence - the ability to accurately select key employees of the company and use their greatest strengths in business. This competence acquires particular relevance in an adhocratic corporate culture, which involves the formation of mobile teams and active project activities. At the same time, the question arises again: to what extent should this competence be characteristic of a top manager if there is a personnel management service? However, successful top managers, in our opinion, should be like a theater or film director: the more carefully the search for performers for the main roles is carried out, the more accurate the performance and the greater the box office receipts. Therefore, it is advisable for the manager to pay great attention to the process of recruiting personnel for key positions, which does not exclude serious preparatory work by HR specialists.

Personal and corporate time management

The fourth key competence of a manager is the effective organization of his own time and the time of company employees, i.e. personal and corporate time management. The ability to plan your time in such a way as to have time to solve the most important, priority tasks for the company, the ability to systematize and structure work, motivate yourself to complete complex, voluminous, and sometimes very unpleasant tasks - this is not a complete list of the results of mastering personal time management technologies. It is an excellent tool for increasing personal effectiveness, but it is not enough to ensure the competitiveness of a company. The fact is that top managers can try to optimize their time for as long as they like. But the effectiveness of using our time, unfortunately, depends not only on ourselves. If we work with people who are unable or unwilling to treat their own and other people’s time as the most important non-renewable resource, all our efforts will be in vain. Therefore, not only personal, but also corporate time management is necessary. And this is a very difficult task, because back in 1920, the director of the Central Institute of Labor A.K. Gastev convincingly proved that it is almost impossible to force people to increase their personal effectiveness. But... they can be inspired, “infected” with this idea, and then people themselves, without any coercion, will begin to optimize the expenditure of their time. A.K. Gastev even coined the term “organizational labor bacillus,” which 80 years later was adopted by the creators of the Russian time management community and transformed into the “time management bacillus.”

The ability to competently and “bloodlessly” implement the “rules of the game” in the company, optimizing the time spent by all company employees, is another important competence of a top manager. However, time management is not a panacea. In our training practice, there are often cases when managers are convinced that employees are organizing their working time incorrectly, and during the training it turns out that the problem is not time management, but in the ineffective organization of business processes or chaotic communications. However, we note that such a problem is at least easily identified using time management techniques.

As you know, in everyday activities, a manager, in addition to solving a large number of problems, has to remember key agreements, meetings and assignments, and quickly find the necessary information. In order to concentrate on the most important tasks that serve the company’s strategic goals, a top manager must properly organize the execution of routine tasks so that a minimum of time is spent on them. This is achieved through delegation of tasks and streamlining the work of the secretariat. If the manager has information technology competence (this is the fifth competence), this task is greatly simplified by introducing time management tools in common office programs (such as Outlook/Lotus Notes).

Rice. 1. Interaction of the top manager with the secretariat

The interaction diagram between the top manager and the secretariat, which minimizes the manager’s time spent on routine operations, is presented in Fig. 1.

The entire flow of incoming information received by a secretariat employee is recorded by him on the basis of the “Secretariat Operating Regulations” in a unified Outlook/Lotus Notes system. The manager, at a time convenient for him, accesses the unified system, views information on calls, meetings, instructions and gives feedback to the secretariat, making appropriate changes. Secretariat employees immediately see all changes made in a single system, which gives them the opportunity to confirm or not the meeting accordingly, remind them of the execution of the assignment, organize a meeting, etc.

As you know, contacts are the currency of business. Microsoft Outlook/Lotus Notes programs have a special section for storing contact information. Secretaries, receiving new business cards from the manager, immediately enter their data into the “Contacts” section. The rules for recording information should be determined by the “Regulations for the processing and storage of contact information.” The result of this activity is the formation of a database of contacts for the manager and minimization of time for searching for the necessary contact. In addition, such a database, as a rule, contains the entire background of the contact: under what circumstances they met, what they discussed and outlined, what documents they sent, etc.

If the company has adopted the standard for scheduling time in the Microsoft Outlook/Lotus Notes calendar, then the manager, when scheduling a meeting with key employees whose time is very expensive for the company, can open their calendars and set the optimal time for the meeting, taking into account the busyness of all participants. The development of “Regulations for planning the manager’s working day” turns out to be very useful, with the help of which secretaries, without interrupting the manager once again, optimize his working time, organize the necessary meetings, and provide the necessary rest.

The ability to relax and the ability to create

Yes, yes, exactly rest. And related to this is the sixth key competency—the ability for managerial orthobiosis. Orthobiosis (gr. orthos - straight, correct + bios - life) is a healthy, reasonable lifestyle. It is no secret that due to the increase in professional workload, the increase in the number of tasks to be solved, constant overwork and overwork, stress and lack of sleep, the profession of a manager has become one of the most risky and dangerous to health. At the end of the 20th century. In Japanese, a new term “Karoshi syndrome” even appeared, denoting death from overwork at the workplace. And a couple of years ago, another term appeared - “downshifting” - a transition from a highly paid job, but associated with constant stress and burnout, to a low-paid job, but calm, not requiring enormous effort. Essentially, this is a choice between, on the one hand, income and stress, and on the other, mental comfort for less reward. A downshifter is a person who has reached the end of his rope (nervous breakdowns, depression, exacerbation of chronic diseases, when medications do not help and life itself is not a joy). Let us note that downshifting does not appear in a company overnight, but, in fact, is provoked by the attitudes of top management. As an example, let’s take a training session on the topic of processing. We expressed a fairly firm position on the ineffectiveness of constant overtime for employees for the company, since they do not have time to recover, gradually leave the resource state, and the efficiency of their work is steadily declining. We proposed organizing working hours in such a way as to leave work on time and have proper rest. During a coffee break, a top manager who was present at the training approached us and asked us to change the emphasis: “Instead of considering the optimization of work from the point of view of its completion in a shorter time, let’s emphasize a multiple increase in income with the same multiple increase in time costs." That's all managerial orthobiosis!

However, it must be said that very serious positive changes are currently being observed in business. Thus, a number of companies have adopted corporate standards regulating delay time at work: for managers - no more than one hour, for ordinary employees - no more than half an hour. Even (though this is still rather an exception to the rule) physical education breaks are being introduced, similar to industrial gymnastics, which was in Soviet times and, alas, which was mostly ignored by workers.

As noted earlier, everything in the company depends on the top manager, so we focus on developing his ability not only to properly and effectively rest himself, but also to integrate proper rest into the corporate culture system. Otherwise, “they shoot driven horses, don’t they?”

Finally, the seventh, most important competency is the top manager’s ability to find non-standard, non-trivial solutions. Today this trait does not necessarily have to be innate. There are technologies for finding new, unusual solutions. For example, these are TRIZ (theory of inventive problem solving) technologies, widely known among technical specialists, but little known in management circles, as well as TRTL (theory of creative personality development). In fact, the ability to find new solutions is inextricably linked with the ability to learn and retrain in general. And the latter, back in the early 90s of the last century, was recognized by American specialists as the most important competence of any modern person.

On the participation of universities in the formation of key competencies

To what extent are top managers aware of the need to develop these professional competencies? Judging by the presence of a large number of offers for the provision of educational services posted on the Internet, the demand for programs for the formation of soft skills (life skills) is very high. In large companies, this demand is met by the corporate university with the help of either internal or external resources. Small companies simply do not have such internal resources. Therefore, the company carries out the following actions:

• a request for certain training programs is generated;
• there are providers (not universities!) providing the required educational or consulting services;
• the package of proposals from providers is reviewed and, if necessary, a tender is held;
• training and feedback are provided.

Most training is conducted for top managers, middle managers and specialists from interested departments.

Let us pay attention to the age composition of the participants in the training seminars: most of them are young managers who have recently graduated from university. However, if these competencies are objectively necessary and in demand, the university can ensure their formation directly during the educational program of higher or postgraduate professional education or create an educational product intended for corporate universities and organize the promotion of this product in this market segment. In the latter case, it is necessary to create educational alliances between the university and corporate universities of various companies. It should be noted that the subject of interaction is not only short-term programs, but also second higher education programs, including an MBA, as well as training for company executives in graduate school at the university. Practice shows that these educational needs are quite common, but they cannot be satisfied either by corporate universities, or even more so by educational structures operating on the market.

Conclusion

Thus, we consider the following to be among the key competencies of a top manager:

• ability to work with the goals and values ​​of the company;
• ability for effective external and internal communications;
• the ability to accurately select key company employees and use their greatest strengths in business.

The most important competencies of a manager, which are directly related to issues of ensuring the company’s competitiveness, today are the ability to effectively organize one’s own time and the time of the company’s employees, i.e. personal and corporate time management. It is obvious that long-term fruitful and productive work is impossible without the ability to relax, and innovation is extremely problematic without the ability of a top manager to find non-trivial solutions.

Concluding our consideration of the key competencies of a top manager that contribute to increasing the company’s competitiveness, we note that a long time ago in the Soviet film “Sorcerers” the main one was formulated - the ability to pass through a wall. And even recommendations were given - precise, effective and dashing: “In order to get through the wall, you need to see the goal, believe in yourself and not notice obstacles!” Very relevant, isn't it?

Bibliography

1. Altshuller G. Find an idea: an introduction to TRIZ - the theory of solving inventive problems. M.: Alpina Business Books, 2007.

2. Arkhangelsky G.A. Corporate time management: Encyclopedia of solutions. M.: Alpina Business Books, 2008.

3. Sidorenko E.V. Training of communicative competence in business interaction. St. Petersburg: Rech, 2007.

4. Managerial effectiveness of a leader / Churkina M., Zhadko N.M.: Alpina Business Books, 2009.

5. Professional competencies. Materials from the Smart education portal 01/23/09. Access mode: http://www.smart-edu.com

These and subsequent regulations are corporate standards that are specially developed within the company itself, taking into account the specifics of its activities. The work rules described in the regulations, as a result of their rooting in the company, become elements of its corporate culture.

Karoshi is the name of the Japanese city in which the first case of death of a worker from overwork was recorded. A 29-year-old employee of a large publishing house was found dead at work. This case was not the only one; moreover, over time, the number of deaths from overwork only increased, so since 1987, the Japanese Ministry of Labor has been keeping statistics on the manifestations of this syndrome. There are from 20 to 60 of them per year.

See, for example: Altshuller G. Find an idea: an introduction to TRIZ - the theory of solving inventive problems. M.: Alpina Business Books, 2007; Altshuller G., Vertkin I.M. How to become a genius: Life strategy of a creative personality. Belarus, 1994.

• For what reasons do management competencies change?
• How management competencies have changed over the past 10 years
• Why the role of the CEO is transforming from a traditional manager to a partner for his employees

Western business schools were the first to talk about the evolution of management competencies in the late 1980s. The ideas and skills they taught to entrepreneurs gradually became less effective.

Thus, some educational institutions have come to the conclusion that the leader independently makes more informed and quicker decisions than during a team discussion. Simply because the top manager does not have to simultaneously fight for legitimacy, make compromises, or regulate “underground currents” within the team.

Another example: previously the dominant idea was that any open contradictions should be quickly eliminated. Now conflict is considered an inevitable stage of development. And if there are no conflicts in the organization, they must be provoked artificially.

The global economy is evolving so rapidly that the skillsets that executives graduate from business school with are no longer relevant ten years into the future.

Today's business environment requires every CEO to do complex internal work: monitor the relevance of their competencies and change them in accordance with the requirements of the time.

In-demand management competencies

At the economic forum in Davos, representatives of the business community periodically discuss management competencies. At one of the sections, participants are given questionnaires and asked to rate on a ten-point scale, naming the competencies that, in their opinion, are the most important today.

As a result, some competencies become leaders, while others, on the contrary, fall off the list. But not because they cease to be needed. Outlier management competencies often fall into the category of “needed by default,” that is, without them, a manager’s work is no longer possible.

For example, not long ago “quality control” was included in the standard director’s skill pool. Today, any element of a manager’s work must be of high quality, otherwise the market will not forgive it.

A practitioner tells

The significance of certain management competencies is determined by what stage of the life cycle the organization is at.

For a company that is in the early stages of development, it is important to be flexible and quickly respond to changes in the market. In other words, focus on entrepreneurship and innovation. Only through this can it grow.

A company that is moving from go-go to adolescence requires centralization. The director needs to strengthen the administration function and emphasize efficiency by developing the necessary competencies.

Finally, a mature organization cannot be allowed to become rigid or politicized. If a company loses its entrepreneurial spirit, it will inevitably begin to age prematurely.

Thus, in the context of rapid change today, there are four important groups of management competencies:

• ability to achieve intended goals;
• the ability to structure, analyze, systematize information and make decisions based on it;
• entrepreneurship and innovation;
• competencies in the field of integration (team work).

General Director speaks

The market has formulated five new demands for managers that had not been heard before.

Experience working in high uncertainty environments. Until 2014, markets were growing, and it was enough to simply keep up. Now only those sectors that could not have been thought of a few years ago are growing: agriculture and the defense industry. However, other sectors are stagnating non-linearly - the revenue of medical centers is declining, but at the same time telemedicine is actively developing. As a result, the “cutting tails” scenario also does not work linearly - this way you can miss a new point of growth.

Willingness to work in conditions of limited resources. Together with the first factor, this is called internal entrepreneurship. Companies are forced to experiment a lot with new directions, not understanding which one will work. The ability to make five hats from one skin becomes critical. This includes the ability to enter into situational alliances with competitors, and the ability to quickly enter new markets and wisely reduce costs.

"Entrepreneurial" approach. Nobody canceled the task of growing or falling too much for managers and shareholders. However, there are no longer the resources to accelerate this growth. The director today is required to “find a topic.”

Practical experience in a real field. For example, work in regional branches where “real business” is done, as well as successful experience in bringing enterprises out of a crisis, growing a business in a falling market, etc.

Ability to instill confidence in employees about the future. An important quality of a leader is the ability to remove entropy from staff - the fear of uncertainty. And also its accessibility to the general public: the opportunity to ask a question to the top manager directly from each employee.

These changes are confirmed by modern analytics. There is a clear disproportion - today the market needs entrepreneurs and innovators. Modern companies expect managers to develop their business, improve financial results (even in a falling market) and grow in conditions of uncertainty. And the market offers bureaucrats and stagnators with experience in large, slow-moving companies. Current top leaders are ready to manage only established businesses, which they will optimize without active changes, making only fine adjustments.

Management competencies that have lost relevance

The famous phrase of Kozma Prutkov “A specialist is like flux, his completeness is one-sided” no longer has practical meaning. The world has changed, many narrow-profile competencies, such as knowledge of foreign languages, project management, can no longer successfully compete with “broad profile” competencies: cross-cultural, adaptation, etc.

General Director speaks

Konstantin Borisov, General Director of Support Partners, Moscow

Until 2014, companies were looking for managers with the following competencies:

• experience working in a large company with well-established business processes and established practices (preferably a “Western” school);
• experience in rapid business growth (often regardless of marketing costs), opening new directions or regions;
• strategic vision, the presence of an ambitious growth plan, the willingness to infect the team with it;
• the ability to inspire and lead people;
• “expensive” appearance – a custom-made shirt, personalized cufflinks and other attributes of a “real top”; beneficiaries of large companies wanted to see people like them - ambitious and expensive managers.

General Director speaks

Until recently, the director was required to have industry expertise: have experience in the field in which his company operates, and have an excellent knowledge of all processes. Now that technology is developing at an explosive pace, this requirement has lost its former relevance. Today, a director must understand technology and its impact on business, and anticipate the changes that it will bring to the way a company is managed in a particular industry. This requires developing digital competencies and increasing technology awareness.

This competency emerged relatively recently and is rapidly progressing. New technologies can unsettle any organization. If the CEO ignores them, the business is most likely doomed to failure.

What management competencies will be in demand in the future?

The British business school has formulated 50 trends in modern management. For example, project work will be carried out by virtual teams consisting of representatives of different cultures and ages.

Accordingly, the director needs to learn to communicate and understand the characteristics of each team member. The authoritarian style will finally become a thing of the past. And the manager will perform many functions: not only a manager, but also a psychologist and a social engineering specialist.

In other words, management will become a collective concept. To be called a manager, a leader will have to master several required areas of knowledge at once.

For example, become a manager-teacher who transfers knowledge. The now popular concept of a self-learning organization is based on this approach.

• Making management decisions during periods of crisis: boards of authoritative directors

General Director speaks

Vladimir Mozhenkov, Founder, member of the board of directors of the AvtoSpetsTsentr group of companies, founder of the Audi Center Taganka company, ex-president of the Russian Automobile Dealers Association, business coach, Moscow

It is not buildings and equipment that make a business successful, but the intellectual abilities of employees. Therefore, the role of the director is changing: from a traditional manager, he turns into a partner. Managers, instead of imperative functions, begin to perform service functions, thereby creating conditions for comfortable work in the company. Previously, as the director progressed in his career, he could remain, relatively speaking, a production worker; only his powers changed. Today, a leader must possess psychological rather than applied skills. The key is the ability to form personal relationships. Many processes now take place at the intersection of technologies, and the manager must not only be well versed in this, but also find narrow specialists from each area in order to create comprehensive teams to work in new conditions.

General Director speaks

Yaroslav Glazunov, Managing Partner of the Russian office of Spencer Stuart, Moscow

There are three universal management competencies of the General Director that do not depend on external factors and are always relevant:

• strategic vision;
• leadership;
• change management.

These three skills will continue to be a priority in the future. Leaders are distinguished by their ability to lead people, their adaptability, and their talent for managing change. But a skill such as understanding technology will most likely disappear, since it is only applicable at a specific moment. In a few years, new technologies will become so dissolved in our worldview and everyday life that we will simply stop paying attention to them.

General Director speaks

Konstantin Borisov, General Director of Support Partners, Moscow

Soon requests will begin to come in to find a manager who can work with young employees in a democratic agile mode, and not in a system of strict subordination and the “I’m the boss - you’re a fool” relationship. The authoritarian style is good at short distances, but at long distances it no longer works. It will be replaced by a team style of work. We will need directors who can engage and lead. The problem is that this cannot be taught on the side; managers must develop these competencies themselves.

Why are management competencies changing?

What did managers do in the past? Relatively speaking, they found tools to solve problems and put them in a large bag; and the more tools there were in the bag, the more experienced the manager was considered. And if he needed to hammer a nail into the wall (to solve a problem), he would take the necessary hammer out of his bag and hammer it in. Today, to continue the analogy, the walls have become concrete and the old tools are useless.

Reason 1. Changes in the external environment. For example, yesterday's motivation systems are absolutely inapplicable to today's generation Z - the “digital” generation born during the period of globalization. The main goal of their life is not to earn money or make a career, but simply to “be happy.” A representative of this generation, when asked “Why didn’t you come to work yesterday?” can easily answer: “I wasn’t in the mood, and I won’t come tomorrow either, if I want to.” These employees are primarily motivated by immediate results. The old methods don't work for them. The time when such employees will make up the majority of the company's workforce is not far off.

General Director speaks

Vladimir Mozhenkov, Member of the Board of Directors of the AvtoSpetsTsentr group of companies, founder of the Audi Center Taganka company, Former President of the Russian Automobile Dealers Association, business coach, Moscow

Just five to seven years ago, strategic decisions were considered the prerogative of only top management, because only top management had the necessary knowledge. Today, so much information is received daily that the director physically cannot be its only consumer. He has to share data with employees. The more people know what is happening in the next unit and what a colleague is doing, the better the results. As a result, employees can have sufficient information to make sound strategic proposals at the business unit level.

A practitioner tells

Peter Strohm, Head of the Representative Office of the Adizes Institute in Russia, Vice President of the Adizes Institute, Moscow

Reason 2. Change in corporate standards. Once upon a time, a stable company was considered good. Later – the one that adapts to changes faster than others. Lately, a good company is primarily proactive. That is, it is an organization that is better able than others to predict external changes and anticipate the development of new needs. Accordingly, managers need to perform entrepreneurial functions: conquer new markets, introduce innovations, including small innovations in the workplace. Both require creative thinking, initiative, resourcefulness, and a willingness to take risks. In today's realities, you need to react to changes with lightning speed. At the same time, one must not lose sight of efficiency in achieving results. And for this it is important to keep up with technology.

How can a manager develop new management competencies?

To monitor the relevance of skills and management competencies, the West has introduced the practice of evaluating educational programs based on so-called credit points.

Recruiters now have a rating scale where each training event receives credit points. Relatively speaking, current knowledge in a professional field is valued at 500 credit points. The director must recruit this number every five years. Of these, 200 points are a basic advanced training course, and the rest are courses or seminars on the development of cross-functional areas of knowledge that the director masters independently. An average four to six month course is worth approximately 30 credit points. By constantly learning, a manager can gain 50-60 points in a year.

In other words, the director must undergo training approximately twice a year. And on average, once a year, compare notes with the industry to understand where to grow.

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