A few weeks ago, I took on a project that many would consider impossible without traditional frameworks: building a competency model for a large sales team—without job evaluation, grading charts, or HR calibrations. The idea was to get it quick and dirty, and with full support to fail fast.
Instead of traditional job grades and evaluation reports, I had the following things:
- A brief Job Description
- KRAs from the PMS
- Insights from managers, trainers, and field leaders, and
- A strong belief that capability should be grounded in performance—not paperwork.
If it works in the field—it works. Period.
Here’s how I made it work
Step 1: Anchor Everything in KRAs
KRAs are already aligned with business performance—why reinvent the wheel? I broke down each KRA to uncover underlying competencies.
Example:
- KRA: Sales Turnover with a certain target → Competencies: Sales Target Planning, Dealer Score tracking, order quality monitoring and tracking
- KRA: Channel Management → Competencies: Acquiring New Dealers, Relationship Building, Distribution Knowledge, etc.
This alone gave me 60% of the framework.
Step 2: Listen to the Field
I spoke with regional managers, AMs, top TEs, and trainers. Their insights were gold:
- Great TEs don’t just follow beat plans—they build them
- Scheme communication needs timing, simplification, and confidence
- Tools are available—but only some know how to apply them well
This helped shift the lens from task execution to observable behaviors.
Step 3: Group Into Capability Pillars
To bring clarity and structure, I created three competency buckets:
- Product Knowledge
- Process Knowledge
- People Knowledge
Every skill or behavior could now be linked directly to one of these pillars.
Step 4: Define What Good Looks Like
For each competency, I defined three behavioral levels:
- Basic: Understands or observes the task
- Proficient: Performs independently and consistently
- Expert: Coaches others and adapts in new situations
This turned the framework into a training and development tool, not just a reference document.
Step 5: Test It in the Real World
We validated the framework using real field scenarios:
- How does a Proficient TE handle claim disputes?
- How would an Expert communicator diffuse dealer friction?
- Can we spot a knowledge gap in the first 30 days of onboarding?
When the framework predicted expected performance gaps, we knew it was ready.
Achievements
- Built the entire framework in under 4 weeks
- Managers immediately recognized their reality in the model
- Aligned training content with real capability needs
- Extended the model to AMs, RSMs with zero resistance
And most importantly—this framework is usable, practical, and built for the field.