We will gradually add more graphics that show DACUM charts
and flow diagrams that describe the system models.In the meantime, we have some extra copies of a good example of a DACUM chart, and many copies of the same chart marked up to show minimum levels for certification. If you would like to have one to see what the chart really looks like, please send email giving your name and postal address, and I will mail a paper copy out to you right away.
Robert E Adams ac200@chebucto.ns.ca
The completed chart is a self-directed model for employees and learners to determine their current ability to perform, then begin to take self-directed action to improve their skills and illustrate they are ready for a more skilled position or a higher level of certification.
The analysis is conducted by a committee in a 3-day workshop. Once they have finished, the statements are typed and arranged for printing in AMOD chart form. usually just 2 or 3 days later. This 5-6 day process greatly compresses normal development time.
Always called DACUM, we have changed the name to AMOD to distinguish it from the many variations that have evolved. AMOD is the version initally created at Nova Scotia NewStart and nurtured for several years by Competency Systems.
Currently being developed is a process called IMOD. It can be used for roles where there are only one or two skilled performers to create the model, or where a number of skilled people can participate in an email committee led by a skilled coordinator. A partly completed IMOD model is shown here in 2 stages. The principles and statements are the same. The method of display differs.
We will attempt later to put a sample AMOD chart on these pages. It means finding a format that all who want will be able to view. In the meantime, we must rely on the little ascii diagrams to provide the visual concepts.
Please send email if you are unable to see them properly Back to Chart Building Menu
An AMOD committee sits facing a long wall on which the competency model chart is built. Committees can be as few as 3 or 4, or as many as 20 or more. Larger groups sit in two rows, and many members stand and stretch at times throughout the workshop.
The coordinator sits facing the committee and records ALL statements, places them on the wall, and later moves them several times as directed by the committee. Members never touch the materials on the wall. The long table serves as a barrier. It is also for writing notes and for cups and glasses.
Large cards containing General Area of Competence statements are on the right near the coordinator, to frequently bring members' attention to them during the workshop.
These are categories into which the members believe all of their skills will fall. They are NOT formal categories in the occupation. The members may modify them as the workshop progresses, when they recall other skills that must be fitted in.
We usually try to arrive at 7-10 GACs. Some committees will create 20 or more that the coordinator records and places on the wall. They will eventually be combined and reduced to the 7-10 GACs that will be used, before any skill definition is attempted.
Back to Chart Building Menu The Coordinator selects a GAC or band on which they will begin.
Members mention skills as they come to mind, and they are written and placed on the wall in that order, beginning on the right, and progressing to the left.
The coordinator will not post statements that are not competencies or skills. They may be jotted down, but will not be posted if they are not action statements, lack an action verb, or are obviously knowledge items.
The committee is not permitted to offer competency statements that belong in other GACs. They keep working on the current GAC until the Coordinator is fairly sure they have identified all the skills.
It is very important to begin posting the skills at the right and work to the left. This is critical. When skills are posted left-to-right the committee will begin sequencing the skills, and will not offer important skills they think may at the moment be out of sequence. Dominating members will reject contributions of others because "they are out of sequence".
Each GAC is completed before moving to the next. Members are not allowed to skip ahead to record statements for new GACs, although they will be allowed to add skills that were overlooked to previous GACs
Here the coordinator has chosen the 3rd GAC from the bottom. While the statements are being sequenced, the Coordinator spreads the cards evenly along the length of the wall.
The coordinator spreads the skill cards out evenly along the wall, spaced out to the same length as the first one, the third band from the bottom.
Once they begin sequencing a new GAC, the committee is not permitted to make further sequencing changes on GACs they have previously completed.
They shift left a cluster of skills that must be performed early in the career. They shift right the skills a senior person will keep performing while the trainee grows in the job. Other clusters are moved near the middle
Then they are asked to scan the chart vertically, glancing up and down as they progress across the chart, looking for any skills that are obviously out of place. A few skills may be moved left or right to bring them nearer to related skills in other bands. A skill at the far left or right may be moved to the center. They now realize it was wrongly placed there in an earlier step. They may find two statements in different bands that really describe the same skill, so they combine them into one.
In the last stage of structuring the members are asked to quietly contemplate the chart, glance left and right and up and down to see if they can visualize a new employee coming on the job and gradually growing in the occupation over a time. A few more cards may be found out of place, and moved.
The best way is to quickly print and give draft copies to several practitioners, provide them with rating instructions, then have them self-rate their own skill levels.
Have the more senior performers go through rating interviews with each other to confirm their skills profile, or modify it. Then have the senior ones conduct rating interviews with the others. In effect this is like a small scale installation of the AMOD chart for certification, or to establish advancement in a job.
If these parties have no difficulty in using the AMOD chart as a working tool, it is deemed valid. Only rarely has it been necessary to redefine a skill or two before printing.