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Approach to Competency Mapping & Succession Planning
Approach to Competency Mapping & Succession Planning
RK Sharma | Blog | April 3, 2025

Succession planning and mapping competencies are the backbone of a robust workforce today. They determine the job success skills and knowledge required. This process assists in the creation of effective recruitment and employee development strategies.

Research shows that 80% of employee turnover is the result of poor hiring decisions. This highlights the importance of a well-crafted competency framework within HR. It facilitates the alignment of talent with business goals.

Succession planning allows for an easy transition of leadership by growing others to assume their place. Effective succession planning reduces the leadership pipeline, improves growth, and increases productivity.

In this blog, explain the benefits of competency mapping and succession planning. How these methods can lead to long-term success.

What is competency mapping?

Competency mapping is a structured process of human resource management. It is aimed at identifying and assessing skills, knowledge, and behaviour capabilities for employees to function effectively. It makes a detailed inventory of competencies critical to success at the job role or entire organisation.

competency mapping

Did you know?

Competency mapping started in the 1970s as a basic tool. Now, it’s a detailed way to check if people have the skills, knowledge, and behaviours needed for their jobs.

Key Objectives of Competency Mapping

  1. Alignment of Skills to Organisational Goals: Ensures the adequacy of employee capabilities to meet the organisation’s needs.
  2. Improving the Recruitment Process: Provides a framework for defining ideal candidate profiles.
  3. Employee Development: Facilitates areas of improvement and growth.
  4. Supports Performance Management: It aligns performance evaluations with competencies and therefore brings fair and clear appraisals.

The 7-Step Competency Mapping Process

Competency Mapping Process

1. Aligning with Company Vision

Long- and short-term goals, key strategic initiatives, and organisational capabilities/gap assessments are important in determining future talent needs and target markets and will give an indication of how to develop your employees.

2. Conducting a Skills Inventory

Assess current employees to determine suitability for higher roles. Using a competency framework, you can identify specific competencies needed for success. Skills inventory helps assess employees against these competencies, making it easier to determine what is already present and what is still required.

3. Identifying & Recruiting Talent

If you already have the right talent pool, you can move to Step 4. Otherwise, you will have to recruit talent based on the competency gaps you identify in your skills inventory.

4. Evaluating & Providing Feedback

Conduct a competency assessment of employees to see if their current competency levels match or are close to those required for the proposed position. It is good to let your employees know they have future opportunities in your company.

5. Developing Employee Capabilities

Once you have a selection of employees who have the potential for growth, it is important to develop their skills according to competency assessment. The company must provide learning and development opportunities.

6. Enhancing Engagement & Retention

It is an issue for many organisations, so you need to ensure your high-potential employees are engaged and want to remain with your organisation.

7. Integrating Competencies into HR Processes

The competency map can be integrated into job descriptions, performance appraisals, and competency mapping training programs to bring consistency to the organisation.

The Role of Technology in the Competence Mapping Framework

With most of the organisations relying more and more on the route of technological excellence to enhance their HR processes, several advancements have come in the way of skills mapping tools in HR software, especially in their implementation.

The tools further streamline the process through automatic assessments, dashboards, and analytics support to ensure decision-making based on data. For a company that gives priority to sales, we shall illustrate how such competency is defined & performance level established.

The Importance of Succession Planning

Succession planning is a proactive leadership strategy. It makes sure organisations identify, develop, and prepare internal talent for key roles. A good plan helps keep the business running smoothly. It also helps avoid big problems and fosters a leadership pipeline for the future. The process ensures an arrangement of stability and organisational continuity at the transition point.

The Succession Planning Process for Effective Leadership Transition

Succession Planning Process
  1. Identifying Critical Positions: Organisations must know which roles are critical to the organisation’s success and thus require a succession plan.
  2. Defining Competency Requirements: There is a critical requirement that clear competencies in these key positions must be defined for effective succession planning.
  3. Assessing Internal Talent: This internal talent can then be assessed against those competencies to spot candidates with high potential for leadership roles in the future.
  4. Developing Future Leaders: Based on this identified candidate, development plans can then ensure that he/she is adequately prepared to take up a leadership role when the need arises.
Succession Plans

(Source:bullseyeengagemen)

Did you know?

According to Research Employers, 94 % of succession plans are believed to improve employee engagement.

 

Essential Competence Analysis Tools for Effective Succession Planning

Organisations use different tools for effective competency analysis and leadership transition:

Competence Analysis Tools
  1. Competency Management Systems: Software programs that automate tracking and monitoring competency development processes as well as other competence-based assessments.
  2. Psychometric Evaluations: The assessment tools aim at checking leadership potential and critical thinking, among others, to become good leaders.
  3. 360-Degree Feedback Systems: These are those systems that provide multi-source feedback from various sources from which an employee obtains insight about his or her competencies.

Expert Insight

“Feedback should focus on behaviours and actions rather than personal traits. This ensures objectivity and actionable improvements.”
— Jonathan Westover, HR & Leadership Consultant

Competencies Mapping Format for Sales Roles

competencies Mapping format for sales role

Proficiency levels may range from Level 1 (Novice) to Level 5 (Master). Each role will have a Desired Proficiency Level (DPL).

The analysis of competencies required for higher roles and mapping them with proficiency shown by potential leaders, a clear roadmap for successive planning can be created.

Effective succession planning has advantages both for employers and employees. Employees benefit by knowing the organisation has plans for their future development opportunities and an increased perception of self-worth and value.

Competency Mapping

(Source: Imocha)

Did you know?

Organisations update 8% of job-related skills annually. This makes continuous competency mapping essential.

Integrating Competency Mapping with Succession Planning

Competence mapping in succession planning helps create a cohesive strategy related to workforce capabilities as they align with the future needs of leadership positions. It helps organisations anticipate when shortages in the workforce will likely occur as well as cultivate a continuing development culture.

How do organisations overcome succession planning challenges?

This creates issues within an organisation that can be defined more clearly as under-identification of high potentials and lack of engagement among possible successors. Steps to overcome these issues are as follows:

  • Conduct talent reviews regularly.
  • Provide clearly defined career pathways.
  • Create a culture of lifelong learning and development.
Is Your Succession Plan Ready?

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How Does AITD Support Competency Mapping & Succession Planning?

Amity Institute of Training and Development (AITD) provides offers tailored solutions that help organisations successfully implement competency mapping training & leadership continuity planning.

Being a well-known HR training & development programme delivery institution, AITD is well aware of the issues organisations face in achieving workforces with desired skills to meet strategic goals.

AITD’s Succession Planning Solutions

AITD provides diverse tools to develop effective key position planning efforts:

AITD’s Succession Planning Solutions

1. Competency Alignment Training

AITD develops the practice of talent succession through different training and development programmes in the selected employees so that they become ready to take on greater challenges when the organisations need it.

2. Workshops/Seminars

The AITD provides industry insight to organisations familiar with new ideas and developments in career mapping by conducting workshops to provide the best practices.

3. Competence Mapping Certification

AITD to empower the HR professionals with knowledge mapping and linking process learning to be implemented within their organisations.

In today’s fast-evolving business landscape, competency mapping and succession planning are key. They help with talent retention, leadership development, and business continuity.

By working with AITD, organisations can align workforce skills with strategic goals. This ensures a competent, future-ready workforce.

Partner with AITD today and future-proof your leadership pipeline!

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Brig. RK Sharma -Our team
RK Sharma
"Awarded Yudh Seva Medal by the President of India in 2004 for leadership in battle on the Line of Control in Kashmir, Brig Rajesh Sharma brings his vast operational experience to corporate training. During the last 12 years he has designed and delivered training programs for more than 40 multinational corporations, Indian public and private sector enterprises. He is an expert in leadership, change management and decision making in complex situations. He holds an M. Sc (Defence & Strategic Studies) from Madras University and PGDHRM from IGNOU, Delhi."
Frequently Asked Questions
Get answers to commonly asked questions about Amity.

What is competency mapping in HRM?

Competency mapping in HRM is the systematic process of outlining and evaluating what is required for employees to go about their work effectively. It ensures that individual capabilities align with organisational goals, and this eventually improves the recruitment and development of employees.

Which tools are applied to competency mapping?

Some competency mapping tools include psychometric assessments, job analysis questionnaires, 360-degree feedback systems, and HR software that smooths the process of assessment and provides analytics for intelligent decision-making.

How does competency mapping relate to succession planning?

Competency mapping helps an organisation identify those high-value candidates who will be taken into consideration. This has emerged as a vital strategy in succession planning, as it will ensure alignment of competencies with needs and thus establish a smooth chain of leadership within the organisation.

What is competency mapping in succession planning?

AITD offers a bespoke training programme on how competency mapping identifies key skills and behaviours for leadership and allows an organisation to assess their internal talent, focus on developing high-potential employees, and eventually position them into future roles.
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