Building Confidence with Competence

Chris Stamp, Corporate Health, Safety and Environment Manager, MasTec Canada

Chris is a Corporate Health, Safety and Environment Manager specializing in the development and implementation of safety management systems. His 25+ years of work experience spans the construction, oil and gas, utilities, and mining industries, which includes roles on both the client and contractor sides of the business. He is an Occupational Health and Safety graduate from the University of New Brunswick and holds designations as a Certified Health and Safety Consultant (CHSC) and National Construction Safety Officer (NCSO). Chris’ professional objective is simple – to protect people and the environment – comes with a mentality to challenge the status quo and retains a commitment to continuous improvement.

Through this article, Stamp highlights the lack of confidence in the concept of competency in the construction industry despite its frequent use.

A common word in the construction industry is ‘competent.’ We throw it around like a hot potato. We’ve read it in legislation, concluded it in incident investigations, and even said it ourselves during leadership meetings. The question is, ‘Do we have confidence in competence’?

The most likely answer is ‘no’. Talk is cheap.

As leaders, we truly believe that when our workers are competent, it reduces the risk of injury and incidents. We also know that internal leaders and external clients love hearing the word ‘competent,’ so we often use it. However, if we dared to tell the truth, most of us would feel the angst in our confidence to stand behind workers being competent. Why would we feel this way?

Chances are, we don’t know what being competent is or how to achieve a proper state of ‘competence.’

Defining Competent

There are many variations to defining competent, but they all sound similar. Most definitions would include such words as knowledgeable, experienced, and adequately trained.

We have to find out what workers know and don’t know. If someone asks you, ‘Tell me what you don’t know,’ you’d probably silently respond with, ‘How am I supposed to know what I don’t know.’ Therefore, set competency criteria must be established to evaluate workers.

We need to have a Competency Program, a well-written, strategically structured, and consistently applied Program. This will build confidence.

The design of this Program will not, and cannot, be a ‘dust collector.’ You can have the best words on paper, but if it’s not being used, it’s not worth much. We need this Program to add measurable value to stakeholders.

Know the Stakeholders

Just like any program, we must determine a List of Stakeholders early in the development stages. Well, we know to include subject matter experts, workers, supervision, and different levels of management. You have to get buy-in upfront, or you’ll struggle to sell later.

Set the Priorities

Building a respected Program is not a 30-minute exercise or a 1-pager. In fact, for most companies, it’s a rather large consumption of time and resources. A prerequisite is to complete a Competency Needs Analysis. For example, you may need to deem workers competent for operating heavy equipment and using higher-risk tools. Once that’s analyzed and organized in a Competency Inventory List, you’ll need to prioritize completion. Items on the list require immediate development, while others can wait until next quarter.

Thoroughly Evaluate Competency

This is where you establish set criteria to evaluate a worker’s competence. Years ago, the common practice was to have a one-page, general, catch-all checklist form for anything and everything competency. It was nearly senseless and a waste of paper.