Deep technical competence is key for all professionals. Increasingly, however, it is merely a ‘right to play’ and no longer a differentiator from a client’s perspective. In order to differentiate, professionals are having to demonstrate a breadth of experience and skills in terms of their personal effectiveness and domain / business experience.
Professional bodies and professional services firms have spent many decades developing L&D frameworks focused on technical competence. However, the soft skills frameworks are less mature.
Our research shows that clients highlight ‘commerciality’ as an area where further development is required. But what does it mean? ‘Commerciality’ as a term is like ‘innovation’ and ‘creativity’, in that it signifies different things to different people.
Our framework helps to unpack the term and provide a more detailed understanding of what makes up ‘commerciality’ and allows for the assessment and measurement of the underpinning competencies. In doing this it allows for a more detailed client insight to be used to tailor and focus L&D interactions in this area, and therefore if you’re asking yourself the following questions then our framework can help you:
- How do we link L&D to client feedback in the area of ‘commerciality’?
- How do we explain how L&D interventions fit together to create an uplift in ‘commerciality’?
- How do we leverage the investment we’re making in L&D in the area of ‘commerciality’?
- How do we evidence our uplift in ‘commerciality’?