Employee training is usually the first response to a performance problem. Sometimes, training is the right answer. Sometimes it isn’t. There is often a deeper issue underneath, and it may have to do with how much people value the task. Let’s look at how knowledge, skills, and attitudes each play a part.
We understand competency as the combination of knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to perform a task or role. Learning and performance programs often focus heavily on knowledge and skills while giving less attention to attitudes. But all three influence whether someone can actually perform.
Knowledge is the foundation
People need to understand the parts of the task, how it functions, and how the parts relate to one another.
Let's use changing a tire as an example.
A person should understand more than the steps involved in removing one tire and putting on another. They should understand the tire's role in vehicle movement and safety, what tire pressure is, and what could happen if something goes wrong.
Understanding the context becomes crucial when a rare or uncommon situation presents itself.
Skill is how to do the thing
Someone can understand how a tire works but still need the ability to check the pressure, inflate it, identify damage, use a jack safely, remove and replace the tire, or determine when a repair is appropriate.
Knowing and doing are different.
Attitude drives whether knowledge and skills get used effectively
Attitude influences how someone approaches the responsibility. Attitude shows up by how much a person cares about doing a task well. A person may understand tires and know how to maintain them, but if they value tire maintenance as important, they may ignore warning signs, take shortcuts, or decide that their work quality is “good enough.”
A person can know how to change a tire, do it well, and still have a performance problem.
The same thing can happen in other roles and situations.
An employee may know a policy inside out and follow step-by-step instructions. But do they understand why the policy exists? Do they value the accuracy, safety, quality, or accountability behind it?
Attitude becomes even more important as AI changes work.
Someone can know that AI produces inaccurate information. They can also know how to verify the output. But if they believe verification takes too much time or that the AI is probably right, the organization still has a performance problem.
That is why competency development is important.
When workflows and roles change, organizations should ask more than what people need to know.
They also need to determine what people need to be able to do, how they need to think about their responsibilities, and why the role or task is important.
Knowledge, skills, and attitudes work together. Leaving out one component may produce a result, but it may not be the one you want.
