Future proofing your organisation through competency frameworks 

Growth, transformation and hybrid working have changed the game. What used to work when your team sat in one office with a dozen people no longer cuts it when you’re managing numerous employees across multiple locations and service lines. Processes become inconsistent. Expectations blur. People feel confused about what ‘good’ looks like, let alone how to get there. And when that happens, performance takes a hit.

This was exactly the challenge facing one of our clients — a global accounting firm experiencing rapid growth. An increase in headcount had led to difficulties in unifying processes, recruiting the right people and providing a consistent employee experience. Staff were unsure where to turn, what to prioritise and which tools to use. The solution? Competency frameworks that would act as the golden thread connecting everything together.

In this article, you’ll learn:

• What competency frameworks are and why they matter now
• The benefits of competency frameworks during rapid growth
• When you should use competency frameworks
• Our proven approach to designing frameworks that work
• How to embed frameworks for long-term success
• What ‘good’ really looks like

What is a Competency Framework (and Why Now)?

A competency framework is a structured description of the skills, behaviours, knowledge and sometimes experiences required to perform effectively in roles and at different levels across your organisation. Think of it as your blueprint for success — defining not just what needs to be done, but also how and why.

Why do they matter right now? Here’s what we’re seeing:

• Growth is messy — scaling up quickly means processes that worked for 50 people buckle under the weight of 500
• Skills are changing fast — what made someone excellent two years ago might not be enough today
• Hybrid work demands clarity — when teams are distributed, everyone needs to be crystal clear on expectations
• Fairness matters more than ever — transparent criteria help ensure that promotion and reward decisions are equitable
• Internal mobility is the new retention — employees want to see where they can go, not just where they are
• Succession planning can’t wait — you need to know who’s ready for the next step and what they need to get there

When properly designed, competency frameworks become the foundation for everything from performance management and development to careers, reward and recruitment. They’re the lynchpin that supports your mission and ensures everyone is aligned towards the same objectives.

The benefits of competency frameworks in times of rapid growth

Our client, that global accounting firm, faced a perfect storm. Rapid headcount growth had created inconsistent processes and unclear expectations across teams. While the business had created plenty of resources — detailed guides, templates, procedures — employees struggled to cut through the noise. They felt overwhelmed and confused about what was expected of them and how to develop their careers.

Here’s what competency frameworks delivered for them (and can deliver for you):

• Crystal-clear role expectations — everyone knows what’s required at their level and what it takes to progress
• Consistent performance conversations — managers have a shared language for feedback, development and goal-setting across all teams
• Better hiring and promotion decisions — recruitment and succession become fairer and more objective when everyone uses the same criteria
• Stronger employee experience — whether you’re in London, Leeds or remote, you know what ‘good’ looks like and how to achieve it
• Aligned development — learning and development becomes targeted and relevant rather than scattergun
• Future-ready capability — you can identify skills gaps before they become critical and build the talent pipeline you need

As Jo Taylor, MD and Founder at Let’s Talk Talent, puts it:

“Competency frameworks go further than job descriptions. They aren’t just about what needs to be done as part of an individual’s role. They highlight the ‘why’ but also the ‘how’. The behaviours and attributes that are valued within your business need to be clearly established for your people to be able to live them every day.”

When should you use competency frameworks?

Competency frameworks are particularly powerful at inflection points — those moments when you realise what got you here won’t get you where you need to go. If your people processes feel fragmented, inconsistent or simply aren’t fit for the organisation you’re becoming, frameworks provide the structure to tie everything together.

Consider building competency frameworks if you’re facing any of these situations:

• Rapid growth or scaling — you’re adding headcount quickly and need to maintain standards and culture while doing it
• Restructuring or transformation — roles are changing, new teams are forming, and everyone needs clarity on what success looks like in the new structure
• Moving to hybrid or remote models — distributed teams need even clearer expectations and ways to demonstrate performance
• Launching new services, markets or roles — when you’re creating something new, frameworks help define what excellence looks like from day one
• Building career pathways and internal mobility — employees want to see progression routes and understand what skills they need to advance
• Professionalising HR processes — if your performance management, recruitment or development practices have grown organically and feel inconsistent, frameworks create the backbone for consistency

In our client’s case, rapid growth was the trigger. But the frameworks we built became the solution to multiple challenges at once — from recruitment to performance management to career development.

Our approach to designing competency frameworks that work

At Let’s Talk Talent, competency frameworks are always tailored, and never just generic templates. We design frameworks that reflect your culture, strategy and the reality of how work gets done in your organisation. Here’s how we do it:

Step 1: Discovery and definition of success

We take time to understand your business context, culture and what you already have in place. During the discovery phase, we:

• Review existing materials — role profiles, performance processes, learning and development content, strategy documents
• Run desk research to understand your market, challenges and growth trajectory
• Facilitate steering groups with senior leaders to align on strategic direction
• Conduct focus groups across all levels and functions to ensure everyone has input

The aim is simple but crucial: define what it means to be successful in your business. Not in theory. Not copied from another organisation. But what actually drives performance and results in your world.

For our accounting firm client, this meant understanding how success looked different across service lines while identifying the core elements that should be consistent everywhere.

Step 2: Designing the framework (including STAR)

Now we bring your culture to life. We establish core competencies that apply across all service lines, providing a baseline for everyone. These might include things like client focus, commercial thinking, collaboration or technical excellence — whatever matters most in your context.

Next, we define what these competencies look like at different levels. For our client, we created four levels of hierarchy, from senior leadership to specialised experts. This gives everyone a clear line of sight to what progression looks like.

Then we get practical using our STAR framework. STAR stands for Skills, Training, Attributes and Relationships, and it’s how we make competencies real and actionable:

• Skills — the technical capabilities and expertise needed to excel in the role
• Training — the formal and informal development opportunities that build these capabilities
• Attributes — the behaviours and personal qualities that drive success (how people work, not just what they do)
• Relationships — the key stakeholders and connections that matter at each level

For each competency and level, we map out all four dimensions. This tells employees not just what they need to be good at, but exactly how to develop those capabilities and who to connect with along the way. It’s the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ for performing well today and progressing tomorrow.

This approach also helps with people development strategy by making development pathways visible and achievable.

Step 3 — Calibration and iteration

With shiny new frameworks ready, should we launch them company-wide? Actually, no. We believe in testing first.

We take the draft frameworks to a sample of stakeholders — a mix of levels, functions and locations — and run focus groups and one-to-one interviews. We want to know:

• Does the language feel right for this organisation?
• Are the levels realistic and differentiated enough?
• Do the behaviours resonate, or do they sound like generic HR-speak?
• Can people see themselves and their colleagues in these descriptions?

Armed with this feedback, we refine and improve. Sometimes it’s small tweaks to wording. Sometimes we add missing elements or adjust level descriptors. The result is a set of frameworks that feel real and owned, not imposed.

Step 4 — Launch, training and embedding

Once the frameworks are calibrated, we launch them across the business. But the work doesn’t end there — far from it. Launch is just the beginning.

We create toolkits, guides and manager packs that make the frameworks easy to use. They go on the intranet, into onboarding materials, and into every people process where they’re relevant. But tools alone won’t drive adoption.

That’s why training is critical. We focus especially on managers and leaders as multipliers — they’re the ones having performance conversations, running career discussions and making hiring decisions. We train them on how to:

• Use frameworks in regular one-to-ones and performance reviews
• Have better career conversations that link current performance to future potential
• Assess candidates and internal talent against clear criteria
• Create development plans based on competency gaps

In large or global organisations, we often recommend a staggered roll-out. Change is like turning a huge ship around — it takes time. A phased approach with ongoing support gives people time to embed new ways of working without feeling overwhelmed.

This is where frameworks start to strengthen team performance by giving teams a shared understanding of what great looks like and how to achieve it together.

Ensuring the future of the organisation through competency frameworks

Competency frameworks don’t just tidy up your job descriptions – they create future capability by connecting your strategy to the skills and behaviours you need to deliver it.

When frameworks are embedded properly, they become the thread running through everything you do with people:

• Performance management — goal setting, regular feedback, year-end ratings and performance reviews all reference the same competencies, making expectations consistent and fair
• Development — learning and development offers are mapped directly to competencies, helping people target the skills they need; workshops and development programmes can be built around competency gaps
• Careers and succession — career pathways show the competencies needed at each level, making progression routes transparent; talent reviews identify who’s ready for the next step based on clear criteria
• Reward and recognition — promotions, bonuses and recognition are based on demonstrated competencies, not favouritism or guesswork
• Recruitment, onboarding and EVP — role profiles are built from frameworks, giving consistency to how you attract, select and welcome people; interview guides assess candidates against the same criteria internal people are measured on

For our client, we started by embedding frameworks into performance management and careers and performance processes. Over the following two years, the plan is to weave them into every aspect of the employee experience. This isn’t a quick fix — it’s a long-term investment in organisational capability.

Painting a picture of what ‘good’ looks like

At the end of the day, competency frameworks do one essential thing: they define what ‘good’ looks like. And not just good — they show what great looks like and what ready-for-the-next-step looks like, too.

When frameworks are working well, you’ll see:

• Employees who know exactly what’s expected — no more guessing games or conflicting messages from different managers
• Managers having better, more meaningful conversations — because they have a shared language and clear criteria to reference
• Fairer, more consistent decisions — on hiring, promotion, development and reward
• Stronger internal mobility — people can see where they can go and what they need to do to get there
• Higher performance across the board — when everyone knows what success looks like and has the support to achieve it, performance improves

Life is too short for beige competency frameworks that sit in a drawer and never get used. If you’re facing rapid growth, transformation or just know your people processes need to work harder, it’s time to build frameworks that truly work.

If it’s time to build competency frameworks that truly define ‘what good looks like’ and connect your strategy, speak to our team of expert consultants at Let’s Talk Talent.

In the meantime, download our competency frameworks whitepaper for more guidance and advice on aligning the needs of the organisation.

FAQs

What is a competency framework?

A competency framework is a structured set of descriptions that define the skills, behaviours, knowledge and sometimes experiences needed to perform effectively in roles and at different levels across an organisation. It goes beyond job descriptions by explaining not just what needs to be done, but how and why — the behaviours and attributes that your organisation values.

How do competency frameworks future-proof an organisation?

Competency frameworks future-proof organisations by creating clarity and consistency across all people processes. They help you identify skills gaps before they become critical, build clear development pathways, make fairer decisions about hiring and promotion, and ensure everyone is aligned to your strategic goals. By defining the capabilities you need now and in the future, frameworks help you build that capability systematically rather than reactively.

When should we build a competency framework?

Competency frameworks are particularly valuable during periods of rapid growth, restructuring or transformation — essentially any time when your existing people processes feel fragmented or inconsistent. They’re also useful when moving to hybrid or remote working models, launching new services or roles, building career pathways, or professionalising HR processes that have grown organically. If your people are unclear on expectations or you’re struggling to provide a consistent employee experience, it’s probably time.

How do you create a competency framework?

Creating effective competency frameworks involves four key steps:

1. Discovery — understanding your business strategy, culture and existing materials through research and stakeholder engagement
2. Design — establishing core competencies and defining them at different levels using a model like STAR (Skills, Training, Attributes, Relationships)
3. Calibration — testing draft frameworks with a sample group and refining based on feedback
4. Launch and embedding — rolling out frameworks with proper training and embedding them into performance management, development, careers, recruitment and reward processes. The key is making them tailored to your organisation, not off-the-shelf templates.