What Is The Difference Between Skill & Competency

HI All,
What is the difference between Skill and Competency ? How we can access skill & competency of our workmen of our organization ? pls put your details view on it?
Regards
Awdhesh kumar

Dear Awdesh

In simple words, skill is something which has been learnt and can be seen most of the time in work. For example, a vehicle mechanic has the skill to understand and fix vehicle problems. that's apparent.

Competency is a mix of skills, attitude, knowledge and behaviour. Now if the same vehicle mechanic goes one step ahead and does something extra with the vehicle which delights the customer that is competency.

Its like an iceberg model. What you see on the top is basic skills, IQ and knowledge.

What is beneath the surface is a mixture of knowledge EQ, skills, behaviours i.e competence.

To measure competency, there are several ways. Simple task- as HR you have to identify the competencies which the profile (the workman's profile) needs to complete the task in a manner and then you have to assess whether the person sitting in that profile exhibits the competency to what degree.

THere are several articles on the net on competency and simple ways to measure them.

I would also invite you to visit our portal: Home | Mindshare HR Knowledge Portal which will give you varied information and knowledge.

regards

lets make it simple...it was your skill to use this app and post this question and it is upto competency of people to understand and answer it. Also...Skill is what you have and it can be increased and competency is the maximum you can go to...

To clarify it in simple terms: I saw a video/reports of a boy of only 7 yrs. drives a car at ease on a busy road sitting on a driver's seat and someone simply sitting next to him. The boy has a skill, ability, courage, IQ et al to drive that car. But he has no licence to drive a car being under aged under the Motor Vehicles Act. In other words he had no competency to drive a car which is an authenticated Driving Licence issued by a Competent Authority (RTO only competent to issue a driving licence). Like wise a Sr.Officer of a firm prepares an investment plan involving Rs.500 crores and forward it to his MD for approval. MD goes thru' the report and approves it when found OK. The Sr.Officer knows everything about the project but he is not competent to approve it, whereas the MD knows not much about the project but he knows the skill, capabilities of the Sr.Officer who proposed the project but has the Competency to approve the 500 Cr. investment and if and when he found OK with him approves it. Hope you have the skill to differentiate the differences.

Dear Kumar S.
I beg to differ on your opinion. The Sr. Officer is not "Eligible" to approve the project. The word competent here does not have anything to do with his competency level. Similarly, the 7 yr kid is not legally allowed. He may have the competency to drive a car. In this case, the real test is when this kid is compared to the other kids who may drive their toy cars. His competency level is higher. It should also be kept in mind, that the kid should not be compared to a grown up when assessing his competency. Competencies are measured at par.
regards

In short, skill denotes the required level of efficiency to perform a task assigned Whereas competency is the quality to accomplish the same effectively.