From Competencies to Skills and Strengths: Why It’s Time for a Strengths-Based, Future-Ready Talent Model
For decades, competency frameworks have served as the foundation for how organisations recruit, assess, and develop their people. Born from McClelland’s pioneering work in the 1970s, the competency movement gave HR teams a much-needed structure to define “what good looks like.” But today, in a fast-changing world of hybrid work, AI, and dynamic team collaboration, these traditional models are showing their age.
In short, what got us here won’t get us there.
The Competency Problem
While widely adopted, competency models often fall short for three key reasons:
- They’re static – Based on outdated assumptions about fixed roles and predictable career paths.
- They’re deficit-focused – Designed to close gaps and fix weaknesses, rather than amplify what makes people exceptional.
- They ignore team dynamics – Built around individual performance, they fail to harness the collective strength and interaction effects that drive real team success.
Add to that the fact that they’re often bloated, abstract, and overwhelming. It’s therefore no surprise that many HR and talent leaders are looking for a better way.
The Shift: From Gaps to Growth, From Uniformity to Uniqueness
Today’s talent wants more than a competency checklist. They want work that energises them, leaders who coach them, and development that reflects their individual strengths, motivations, and values.
And organisations? They need adaptive, creative, purpose-aligned people who can learn fast, collaborate well, and thrive in ambiguity.
This requires a shift from rigid competency models to dynamic strengths + skills + values frameworks – ones that evolve with the individual and the organisation.
Why Strengths-Based Models Are Future-Fit
A strengths-powered approach offers a powerful alternative by:
✅ Focusing on what people do best – helping them build on their unique talents instead of obsessing over weaknesses.
✅ Creating energising performance conversations – where employees feel seen, valued, and supported.
✅ Aligning work to personal values and purpose – increasing engagement and long-term motivation.
✅ Encouraging creative ways to manage around limitations – through team design, smart delegation, tech, or collaboration.
This isn’t just “soft” stuff, it’s strategic. Research shows that strengths-based cultures lead to a multitude of positive outcomes, including higher productivity, better retention, improved creativity and stronger business outcomes.
From Competence to Skills + Strengths
The future of work demands more than ticking boxes on a behavioural checklist. It calls for agile, real-time application of diverse skills and strengths – the ability to adapt fast, co-create across boundaries, and lead with clarity and confidence in an ever-evolving world.
That means talent strategies must:
- Shift from assessment of gaps to activation of strengths and potential
- Prioritise agility and growth mindset over rigid competency development
- Create personalised development journeys, not one-size-fits-all tracks
- Recognise the power of team chemistry and collaborative strengths
Tools like TalentPredix™ are helping forward-thinking organisations do just that – providing deep insight into people’s strengths, values, and career drivers, and turning this insight into actionable development strategies.
A Call for Courageous Leadership
To make this shift, HR and talent leaders must partner with executives willing to rethink outdated people systems. Leadership must move beyond order, compliance, and control toward authenticity, curiosity, and empowerment.
That means asking bold questions:
- What if we built teams around complementary strengths, not job titles?
- What if we measured potential based on strengths, motivators, agility, and learning capacity?
- What if we designed development and career advancement around what makes people thrive?
A More Human, Dynamic Approach
Competency models aren’t inherently bad, but they’re no longer sufficient for the modern workplace. To attract, grow, and retain exceptional people in a fast-moving, AI-enabled world, we need a more human, more dynamic, and more future-fit approach. Strengths, skills, and values – rather than competencies – are the building blocks of tomorrow’s workforce.
Still relying on rigid competency frameworks that box people in?
It’s time to move from outdated models to strengths-based, future-ready talent strategies. With TalentPredix™, HR leaders and coaches can unlock people’s unique strengths, values, and career drivers to build thriving, agile organisations.
Ready to transform how you attract, develop, and retain talent? Get in touch or request a free trial of TalentPredix™ today.
Author: James Brook
James Brook is the Founder of TalentPredix™ and a leadership, transformation, and strengths-based development expert with over 30 years of global experience. A business psychologist and executive coach, he has helped thousands of leaders and organisations worldwide unlock potential, spark innovation, and build thriving, high-performing workplaces. Previously, James founded Strengthscope®, scaling it into a global strengths assessment brand before exiting in 2018. His earlier career includes senior HR and talent roles at Yahoo!, NatWest, and Novo Nordisk. He holds an MSc in Organisational Psychology, an MBA, and an Advanced Diploma in Executive Coaching.
