Committing to Competencies
The National Housing Authority (NHA) is the sole national agency mandated to engage in housing production for low income families. It traces its roots to the People’s Homesite Corporation (PHC), the first government housing agency established on 14 October 1938 and to the National Housing Commission (NHC) which was created seven years later, on 17 September 1945. These two agencies, the PHC and NHC, were eventually merged on 4 October 1947 into the People’s Homesite and Housing Corporation (PHHC).
For its 2020 Charter Statement and Strategy Map, one of NHA’s Strategic Objective under the Learning and Growth Perspective was the development and installation of a Competency Framework and a Competency-Based HR System. The intended initial application of this model were in the areas of Employe Development as well as Succession Planning and Management. While NHA succeeded in developing these, it had critical questions that begged for answers – How do we make the Competency Model compelling? How do we know the organization is ready to adopt a Competency-Based approach to its HR Systems and Processes?
To answer the question, we went through a long process of conducting a Competency Masterclass among select members that would comprise their Technical Working Group. We used the Competency cards and Influence Canvass, as well as Change Management Card Play. Sessions in The Roles of HR and Stakeholder Management were also covered, alongside simulations of Competency Assessment and Integration in the different HR Systems and Processes.
Finally, we explored the areas of role modeling, involvement, skill building and reinforcement. Specifically, for role modeling, NHA agreed that if Senior Leaders, members of the Technical Working Group, certain Influence Leaders and a Critical Mass of Employees were knowledgable of Competency Models, its purpose and benefits, the competency roll out might work. In terms of involvement, NHA agreed that the key to building these among a critical mass of employees would be to conduct Competency Cascades, establish Ongoing Communication of the Competency Model and incorporate certain Language and Rituals that would constantly refer back competencies.
Similarly, instituting Field Learning and updating the Talent Acquisition process, as well as Refreshing the Talent Pool who are compliant and measured against the Competency Models and its standards would have tremendous effect to make the new system work. Lastly, if all the earlier measures were supported by Organization Design, Business Processes and Supporting Systems and Consequence Management, NHA would succeed in their role out of the competency model.
As of 2019, NHA, through its Technical Working Group on Competency Model Development, was able to complete a Board-Approved Competency-Based Framework/Model which include Competency Tables, Competency Matrices and Position Profiles, as well as Competency-Based Job Descriptions. Board members from the different housing-related agencies of the Philippine Government were inclined to similarly develop the same project for their respective organizations. Presently, NHA is now preparing to conduct competency assessment based on approved the framework to 100% of employees under Executive and Managerial levels.
