Department
of the Interior
Departmental Manual
Effective Date: 10/19/07
Series: Personnel Management
Part 370: Departmental Personnel Program
Chapter 312: Position Management
Subchapter 3: Competencies
Originating Office: Office of Strategic Development of Human Capital
370 DM 312.3
3.1 Purpose. This chapter establishes the Department of the Interior (DOI) requirements and provides guidance for developing and implementing competency-based human capital management. Implementing human capital management practices will ensure congruency and continued enhancement of competency use in recruitment, selection, performance management, and promote continual learning strategies to support workforce planning within DOI.
3.2 Policy. All bureaus and offices will implement competency-based human capital management practices.
3.3 Scope. This policy is applicable to all DOI bureaus and offices.
3.4 Authority. This chapter is issued under the authority of
the DOI Strategic Management Plan, Management Excellence, OPM Strategic
Management Plan, 5 CFR 410.601 and 5 CFR 300.103.
3.5 Responsibilities. Heads of bureaus and offices and Human Resource Managers are the accountable officials responsible for determining and managing a process that identifies competencies for all mission critical positions and for adopting a competency-based approach to recruitment and retention strategies, training, workforce planning and succession planning.
3.6 Definitions. Definitions for key terms used in this chapter include:
A. Competency - An observable, measurable set of skills, knowledge, abilities, behaviors, and other characteristics an individual needs to successfully perform work roles or occupational functions. Competencies are typically required at different levels of proficiency depending on the specific work role or occupational function. Competencies can help ensure that individual and team performance aligns with the organization's mission and strategic direction.
B. Mission Critical Occupations - Occupations
that have been identified as being critical to an organization’s successful
accomplishment of its legally mandated work.
Without these occupations, the organization cannot function effectively
and may cease to exist.
C. Mission
Critical Competencies - Mission critical competencies are those clusters of
knowledge, abilities, skills and attributes that are critical to producing the
key outcomes for mission accomplishment.
D. Competency
Gaps - The difference between the competencies an organization
has within the existing workforce and those that are needed to meet present and
future workforce requirements.
3.7 Requirements. All bureaus and offices must include at a minimum a component of their competency-based human capital management practices:
A. Competency Identification - Bureaus and offices are required to identify competencies for all occupations beginning with those occupations that have been identified as mission critical.
B. Recruitment and Hiring - Competencies will be used as the framework to recruit and hire employees. All bureaus and offices must move toward a competency-based analysis for hiring and for assessing and documenting competency development.
C. Competency Development - A competency gap analysis will be used to identify and manage appropriate training and development program delivery. Individual Development Plans are encouraged for each employee, as per 370 DM 410, and are a critical component to competency development.
D. Assessment - Bureaus and offices will use the Departmental Learning Management System to assess competencies by occupational series or job type to identify gaps in critical competencies needed to meet current and future needs. Based on these gap analyses, bureaus and offices will develop strategies to close the gaps as part of regular workforce planning processes.
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