Competency Model Examples: Types, Structures and Key Differences
The phrase "competency model" gets used to describe things that are structurally quite different. Korn Ferry's Leadership Architect has 38 competencies arranged across four factors. SHRM's BASK has eight behavioural competencies mapped to career stages. The NHS Leadership Framework covers seven domains with sub-behaviours and indicators. These are all called competency models, but they work differently, serve different purposes, and should not be treated as interchangeable. Understanding what distinguishes them is essential before you start building or adopting one.
What Is a Competency Model?
A competency framework is the broader structure within which a competency model sits. At its core, a competency model is a structured set of competencies — defined behaviours, capabilities, knowledge areas, or personal attributes — that an organisation uses to describe what effective performance looks like in a given role, function, or career stage.
The core unit is the competency itself, which typically describes observable behaviour rather than task outputs. Most models group competencies into clusters or domains, and many add proficiency levels to describe what each competency looks like at different stages of seniority.
A competency model gives organisations a common language for performance: what to hire for, what to develop, how to assess. Without one, those conversations are inconsistent — different managers interpret capability differently, and there is no shared reference point. Research on competency framework development confirms that structured models improve consistency in both selection and development decisions (Sage Journals).
Named Competency Model Examples
Korn Ferry Leadership Architect
The Korn Ferry Leadership Architect is one of the most widely adopted commercial competency models globally. It contains 38 competencies organised across four factors: Thought, Results, People, and Self. Each factor contains several clusters, and each cluster groups related competencies.
What distinguishes this model is its research base. Korn Ferry built it from decades of executive assessment data, which means the competency definitions and relationships between them are grounded in evidence about what actually differentiates high performers from average ones. Each competency has associated "skilled" behaviours, development suggestions, and derailer indicators — making it useful for both assessment and development contexts.
SHRM Body of Applied Skills and Knowledge (BASK)
The SHRM BASK model defines the competencies required for effective HR practice. It organises competencies into two broad areas: Behavioural (eight competencies including Leadership, Communication, and Ethical Practice) and Technical (HR knowledge domains from people strategy to organisational effectiveness).
What makes BASK distinctive is its career-stage layering. Each competency is defined differently at Foundation, Emerging, Developing, Accomplished, and Executive levels. This structure makes it useful for workforce planning and development across HR career paths, not just for current role performance.
CIPD Profession Map
The CIPD Profession Map structures professional expectations for people practice across three elements: values and ethics, core knowledge, and behavioural competencies. It applies across HR, L&D, and organisational design roles.
The Profession Map is notable for its emphasis on purpose and values alongside technical competence. CIPD treats ethical practice and a commitment to the profession as foundational — not just desirable. This reflects a broader philosophy that competence in people practice has an ethical dimension that other profession maps often understate. The CIPD publishes detailed guidance on competency frameworks and their application in practice (CIPD).
DDI Success Profiles
DDI's approach distinguishes between threshold and differentiating competencies. Threshold competencies are those that most candidates for a role are likely to have — they are necessary but not sufficient. Differentiating competencies are the ones that separate high performers from adequate ones.
This distinction matters for selection and assessment design. Building a selection process around threshold competencies means you are not actually discriminating between strong and weaker candidates. DDI's framework pushes organisations to identify what genuinely differentiates performance in a specific context rather than defaulting to generic lists.
NHS Leadership Framework
The NHS Leadership Framework in England covers seven domains: Demonstrating Personal Qualities, Working with Others, Managing Services, Improving Services, Setting Direction, Creating the Vision, and Delivering the Strategy. The final two domains are specific to senior leadership roles.
The framework uses a self-assessment structure, which distinguishes it from models primarily designed for external assessment. It is built for development rather than selection, reflecting the NHS's workforce development priorities.
The Theoretical Foundation: McClelland's Iceberg Model
Most modern competency models have their roots in David McClelland's work on competence in the 1970s and 1980s. His iceberg model of competence distinguishes between visible competencies — the skills and knowledge above the waterline that are easy to observe and develop — and deeper competencies below the waterline: motives, traits, and self-concept that are harder to assess and slower to change (ResearchGate).
This distinction has practical implications. Models that focus only on visible, behavioural competencies are assessing the top of the iceberg. Models that attempt to capture underlying motives or personality traits are reaching below it — and typically require more sophisticated assessment methods to do so reliably.
Understanding where a model sits on this continuum helps you make better design and assessment choices.
What a Competency Model Is Not
A competency model is not a job description. Job descriptions list tasks and responsibilities. Competency models describe the underlying capabilities that enable someone to perform effectively across a range of tasks.
A competency model is not a skills framework. Skills frameworks describe what someone can do — the technical proficiencies and task-based capabilities relevant to a specific function. Competency models describe how someone works — the behaviours, approaches, and characteristics that drive effective performance. Understanding what behaviours are and how they differ from skills is fundamental to designing a model that is fit for purpose. The two are complementary but not interchangeable.
A competency model is also not a leadership competency model by default. Leadership competency models are a subset — focused specifically on what effective leadership looks like, often differentiated by leadership level. General competency models cover a broader population and a wider range of performance expectations.
If you are working on capability framework design, note that capability frameworks and competency models are related but structurally distinct. Capability frameworks typically describe organisational-level capacity, while competency models describe individual performance.
Common Failure Modes in Competency Models
The most common failure is model bloat. Organisations add competencies to avoid excluding anything, ending up with lists of twenty, thirty, or more. A model with thirty competencies is effectively unusable for selection; assessors cannot reliably differentiate between candidates across that many dimensions.
The second failure is generic language. When competency definitions are written at a level of abstraction that applies to everyone, they stop being useful for anyone. "Works effectively with others" is not a competency definition. It is a wish.
The third failure is misalignment between the model's purpose and its design. A model built for executive leadership assessment will not work as a career development framework for frontline employees. The structure, language, proficiency levels, and assessment methods need to match the intended use case.
Trade-offs and Constraints
Commercial models like Korn Ferry and DDI offer research backing and integrated tooling, but they are expensive, and they may not reflect the specific context of your organisation or sector. Sector-specific models like the APS or NHS frameworks reflect operational realities more closely, but require maintenance as those contexts evolve.
Internally developed models offer the best fit, but require significant expertise to build well and ongoing investment to maintain. Most organisations underestimate the design and governance effort involved.
The right model is not always the most comprehensive one. A tightly defined model with eight competencies that your organisation can consistently assess and develop is more valuable than a thirty-competency model that sits in a document and gets reviewed every three years.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the most commonly used competency model examples?
Korn Ferry Leadership Architect, SHRM BASK, and CIPD Profession Map are among the most widely referenced. In the public sector, frameworks like the APS Leadership Capability Framework and NHS Leadership Framework are standard references. DDI Success Profiles are widely used for leadership selection specifically.
What is the difference between a competency model and a skills framework?
Competency models describe behaviours, approaches, and attributes that drive effective performance. Skills frameworks describe technical proficiencies and task-based capabilities. SFIA is a skills framework; Korn Ferry Leadership Architect is a competency model. The distinction matters for how you assess, develop, and report on workforce capability.
How many competencies should a competency model have?
For selection purposes, six to twelve competencies is the practical ceiling for reliable assessment. Development frameworks can carry more, but models with more than twenty competencies are rarely used consistently. Focus on what genuinely differentiates performance rather than comprehensiveness.
Can one competency model apply across all roles in an organisation?
A whole-of-organisation competency model is feasible, but it needs to be structured to allow role-level customisation. Core competencies that apply to everyone can be supplemented with functional or level-specific competencies. Models that apply identically to every role rarely reflect the actual differences in what effective performance looks like across functions.
What is McClelland's contribution to competency modelling?
David McClelland's research in the 1970s established that traditional intelligence and academic aptitude tests were poor predictors of job performance. He argued for assessing competencies instead; the underlying characteristics that actually differentiated effective performers. His iceberg model, which distinguishes between visible and hidden competencies, remains the conceptual foundation for most modern competency frameworks.