CQI strengthens its Competency Assessment tool

On 31 October, CQI Corporate Partners were given a preview of what’s to come in the revised edition of the competency assessment guide and score tool that accompanies the institute’s unique Competency Framework.

Ian McCabe, CQP FCQI, of NXTGen Quality Solutions, gave an update on the future of the tool in advance of a beta release being shared with Corporate Partners for testing and feedback. It is scheduled to roll-out early next year.

McCabe said: “The guide and score tool are there to provide a framework for managing and developing quality professionals’ competencies”. In the latest version, he said, “we haven’t lost or tried to dilute the intent of the original guide and score tool”.

The tool enables CQI Corporate Partners — including major organisations such as Jaguar Land Rover, BAE Systems and Travis Perkins — to assess the competencies of their quality professionals and map out their career development. It builds on the CQI’s Competency Framework, introduced in 2014, which sets out the skills, experience and behaviours that quality professionals need in the key areas of governance, assurance, improvement, leadership and context.

The CQI’s executive director of commercial partnerships Vina Bongiorno said that feedback from the organisation’s members and partners showed that “it was time to take a fresh look at the assessment guide and the tool”.

The CQI conducted a survey to gather evidence on users’ experiences with the tool, and analysed the results to decide how it should be revised.

The changes are aimed at helping organisations get more out of the tool, by making it simpler and more widely applicable, without diluting its strong focus on the key areas of governance, assurance, improvement, leadership and context.

The number of requirements has been reduced from 96 to just 40, and these have been broken down into corporate and operational disciplines to ensure applicability to a wider variety of roles. The tool has been aligned more closely with the CQI’s training and membership offerings. Language has also been simplified, particularly for the benefit of non-native English speakers.

The statements describing the skills, knowledge and experience required of quality professionals at different levels now also refer to behaviours and attitudes, to reflect the CQI’s professional code of conduct.

Feedback on the changes from webinar attendees was highly positive. Stuart Ainsworth of Lloyd’s Register called it “a fantastic framework to give us legitimacy in the eyes of other professionals”, while David Lloyd of Jaguar Land Rover said it was “a great step forward”.