Just in case you find yourself wondering what you (or your boss) should be doing. This is from work in local government in Chesterfield, which also provides a slightly less simplified version of these bullets. Thanks to Rebecca for the pointer.

Acting assertively

• Takes a leading role in initiating action and making decisions
• Takes personal responsibility for making things happen
• Takes control of situations and events
• Acts in an assured and unhesitating manner when faced with a challenge
• Says no to unreasonable requests
• States own position and views clearly in conflict situations
• Maintains beliefs, commitment and effort in spite of set-backs or opposition

Acting strategically

• Displays an understanding of how the different parts of the organisation and its environment fit together
• Works towards a clearly defined vision of the future
• Clearly relates goals and actions to the strategic aims of the organisation
• Takes opportunities when they arise to achieve the longer term aims or needs of the organisation

Behaving ethically

• Complies with legislation, industry regulation, professional and organisational codes
• Shows integrity and fairness in decision-making
• Sets objectives and creates cultures which are ethical
• Identifies the interests of stakeholders and their implications for the organisation and individuals
• Clearly identifies and raises ethical concerns relevant to the organisation
• Works towards the resolution of ethical dilemmas based on reasoned approaches
• Understands and resists personal pressures which encourage non-ethical behaviour
• Understands and resists apparent pressures from organisational systems to achieve results by any means

Building teams

Relating and showing sensitivity to others

• Actively builds relationships with others
• Makes time available to support others
• Encourages and stimulates others to make the best use of their abilities
• Evaluates and enhances people’s capability to do their jobs
• Provides feedback designed to improve people’s future performance
• Shows respect for the views and actions of others
• Shows sensitivity to the needs and feelings of others
• Uses power and authority in a fair and equitable manner

Managing and obtaining the commitment of others

• Keeps others informed about plans and progress
• Clearly identifies what is required of others
• Invites others to contribute to planning and organising work
• Sets objectives which are both achievable and challenging
• Checks individuals’ commitment to a specific course of action
• Uses a variety of techniques to promote morale and productivity
• Protects the work of others against negative impacts
• Identifies and resolves causes of conflict or resistance
• Communicates a vision which generates excitement, enthusiasm and commitment

Communicating

• Identifies the information needs of listeners
• Listens actively, asks questions, clarifies points and rephrases others’ statements to check mutual understanding
• Adopts communication styles appropriate to listeners and situations, including selecting an appropriate time and place
• Uses a variety of media and communication aids to reinforce points and maintain interest
• Presents difficult ideas and problems in ways that promote understanding
• Confirms listeners’ understanding through questioning and interpretation of non-verbal signals
• Encourages listeners to ask questions or rephrase statements to clarify their understanding
• Modifies communication in response to feedback from listeners

Focusing on results

Planning and prioritising

• Maintains a focus on objectives
• Tackles problems and takes advantage of opportunities as they arise
• Prioritises objectives and schedules work to make best use of time and resources
• Sets objectives in uncertain and complex situations
• Focuses personal attention on specific details that are critical to the success of a key event

Striving for excellence

• Actively seeks to do things better
• Uses change as an opportunity for improvement
• Establishes and communicates high expectations of performance, including setting an example to others
• Sets goals that are demanding of self and others
• Monitors quality of work and progress against plans
• Continually strives to identify and minimise barriers to excellence

Influencing others

• Develops and uses contacts to trade information, and obtain support and resources
• Presents oneself positively to others
• Creates and prepares strategies for influencing others
• Uses a variety of means to influence others
• Understands the culture of the organisation and acts to work within it or influence it

Managing self

Controlling emotions and stress

• Gives a consistent and stable performance
• Takes action to reduce the causes of stress
• Accepts personal comments or criticism without becoming defensive
• Remains calm in difficult or uncertain situations
• Handles others’ emotions without becoming personally involved in them

Managing personal learning and development

• Takes responsibility for meeting own learning and development needs
• Seeks feedback on performance to identify strengths and weaknesses
• Learns from own mistakes and those of others
• Changes behaviour where needed as a result of feedback
• Reflects systematically on own performance and modifies behaviour accordingly
• Develops self to meet the demands of changing situations
• Transfers learning from one situation to another

Searching for information

• Establishes information networks to search for and gather relevant information
• Actively encourages the free exchange of information
• Makes best use of existing sources of information
• Seeks information from multiple sources
• Challenges the validity and reliability of sources of information
• Pushes for concrete information in an ambiguous situation

Thinking and taking decisions

Analysing

• Breaks processes down into tasks and activities
• Identifies a range of elements in and perspectives on a situation
• Identifies implications, consequences or causal relationships in a situation
• Uses a range of ideas to explain the actions, needs and motives of others

Conceptualising

• Uses own experience and evidence from others to identify problems and understand situations
• Identifies patterns or meaning from events and data which are not obviously related
• Builds a total and valid picture from restricted or incomplete data

Judgement and decision making

• Produces a variety of solutions before taking a decision
• Balances intuition with logic in decision making
• Reconciles and makes use of a variety of perspectives when making sense of a situation
• Produces own ideas from experience and practice
• Takes decisions which are realistic for the situation
• Focuses on facts, problems and solutions when handling an emotional situation
• Takes decisions in uncertain situations or based on restricted information when necessary

Tags: management, competencies, skills