My organisation provides money guidance | The Money and Pensions Service

There are a range of practical ways you can put the competency framework into action.

Ways you can use the framework

Here are some ideas about how the framework can support peer-to-peer discussions, self-reflection, inform HR processes and as part of an in-depth review.

If you want to review in more depth the money guidance your organisation delivers, you can use our Self-Development tool

Getting started

Self-reflection

Peer-to-peer discussion

To inform HR processes

Begin by finding your way around the competency framework:

Familiarise yourself with the foundation attributes. These are the 'must haves' needed by everyone delivering money guidance so they can provide a safe, quality service for customers.
Explore the 12 technical domains and their levels of complexity. Identify the domains and tiers your service covers and familiarise yourself with the competencies they include.

Reflect on the money guidance your service delivers and use the competency framework to help review and inform your provision:

How does my organisation currently address the foundation attributes and technical domains? Are there any gaps we need to address?
In what ways are staff roles similar, and where do they vary, across my organisation?
In which areas do we have more confidence in our delivery?
Are there areas in which staff could benefit from training and development? e.g. mentoring, coaching, supervision?
Am I clear where staff roles meet any regulated boundaries?

Use the competency framework to structure discussions with colleagues in your own or other organisations that also deliver money guidance:

How does the breadth and depth of the competency framework relate to the money guidance we deliver and to individual job roles? How does this compare with other money guidance providers?
Are there any shared gaps in our coverage or training and development areas?
Can we share useful training and development that supports different competencies?
How can we share our learning? Can we agree what constitutes 'good practice' in different areas by sharing customer experiences and other work-based examples?
How do we communicate the framework to staff? Do they understand what it is, why we are using it, how it relates to different job roles, how it informs developments across the organisation? Have we got staff buy-in?

Vision, values and aims:

How do our organisational vision, values and aims align with the competency framework?
How do we help our staff understand and use the competency framework?
Are we cultivating a shared understanding of the competencies that our organisation prioritises and values?

Recruitment:

How do the competencies in the framework match our job descriptions and person specifications?
Are relevant competencies an integral part of our selection processes, including competency-based application and interview questions?
How do we build the competencies into staff induction programmes?

Staff development

Do we refer to relevant competencies for individual performance management, including staff appraisals and annual reviews?
Can we identify the competencies required by different teams and team members?
Do we use the competencies to consider skillsets, gaps, development areas, and recruitment into teams?
How can we use the competency framework to inform succession planning, to match staff experience and capability to more senior roles, and consider the career progression of those staff who can fill vacancies as they become available?

Training and development planning:

Can we use the competencies relevant to our service to identify gaps in the training and development we have provided our staff? e.g. over the last three years
Do we allocate resources to areas of the competency framework that our organisation identifies as priorities for staff training and development?

Use our self-development tool for money guidance providers

We’ve created a four-step process and a tool (built in Excel and coming soon) to help you review the money guidance your organisation delivers and identify areas for development. It can be used flexibly to meet your needs and revisited over time.

1. Map your money guidance provision

The first step is to map the money guidance your organisation delivers against the breadth and depth of the competency framework. The self-development tool helps you:

identify the competencies involved in the money guidance your organisation delivers;
identify areas in which you have provided training or other continuing professional development (CPD), e.g. coaching, supervision;
identify gaps in service provision, training and CPD that you could consider for future development and
prepopulate the tool with the competencies your staff will self-assess against in step two.

When you're ready you can move onto step two where your staff will self-assess their confidence levels. However, you can stop here if you simply want to explore the detail of the framework and establish how it fits with your service provision, and staff training and development. Alternatively you can go straight to step three.

2. Self-assess confidence levels

The next step is to consider how confident your staff feel about the money guidance they deliver. The self-development tool:

gives your staff a rating scale to self-assess their levels of confidence in the competencies their individual roles cover;
helps you reflect on the areas in which staff feel most and least confident;
helps you consider areas of least confidence as potential future training and development opportunities and
gathers together information to review in step three.

When you're ready you can move onto step three where you will review your organisation's strengths, gaps and areas for improvement. However, you can stop here if you simply want to record your staff's combined confidence ratings for your own purposes.

3. Review

The next step is to review your organisation's strengths and areas for improvement. The self-development tool helps you:

review gaps in your organisation's coverage, and related training and CPD;
acknowledge your strengths and reflect on the areas in which your staff have most confidence (if you completed step two);
identify where your staff feel least confident and potential areas for development (if you completed step two);
use the collated information to prioritise areas for development within a flexible timetable or
prepopulate the organisational training and development plan you will complete in step four.

When you're ready you can move onto step four where you will form your organisational training and development plan. However, you can stop here if you'd prefer to transfer the information onto your own template.

4. Action planning

The final step is to form your organisational training and development plan. The self-development tool will help you:

synthesise the areas you have prioritised for staff development;
record training, development or other activities that can provide appropriate support;
allocate budget and resources to priority areas and
plan your actions across a manageable timescale.

You can revisit the organisational training and development plan – and all the other steps in the process – over time, for your own purposes or as part of a more formal review. Whatever the purpose, it can form the basis of a sustainable process to review, develop and enhance your service provision in line with the competency framework.