“It’s better to have more roles than more skills and try to find your own level of expertise. Seek the balance that is neither overly detailed nor over-comprehensive!”
“Now we are well equipped for the future”
– Carina Wrangskog, Competence Specialist, Mälarenergi
It started with a number of gentlemen with ladders who went around and turned on and off 40 gas lanterns in Västerås. To ensure the light of the streets, they were organized in 1861 into the “Gas Lighting Company”. This is how the city began its supply of expertise in the field of energy.
Today, the concept of “competence” is a bit more complicated. This gas lighting company eventually became Mälarenergi AB, a group with more than 700 employees. The SEK 3 billion that is turned over consists of sustainable social development and specific
deliveries of electricity, district heating, water, etc. to private and business customers throughout the country. That is, you are a central pillar of society, but at the same time extremely competitive.
But if we are really good at analysing and planning our skills, we are well equipped for the future,” says Carina Wrangskog. She has the title of Competence Specialist and was the driving force when Mälarenergi started using Comaea’s system in 2009. The company had already tried to map its own resources with the help of Word and Excel, but it was not nearly enough for the complexity of the business.
Comaea offered a ready-made competency framework for the electrical industry. It was also crucial that the system can handle and control thousands of certificates, which is critical for us. The certificates are about qualifications, who is allowed to do what, especially important for people who work with electricity. The system detects when formal authorisations are to be renewed and approved, when an employee needs to go on training or undergo a test.
Carina Wrangskog describes an everyday life where the knowledge stored in Comaea’s systems is constantly used, at all levels. In recruitment, performance appraisals, long-term plans. If, for example, an employee changes departments or a new manager takes office, there is a foundation to stand on. The company’s overall strategy is broken down to each individual employee in a personal development plan with goals and activities, which are followed up. However, she emphasizes how important it is that each employee perceives the process as “my” development: The challenge is to get everyone to see the value of this competency mapping. The benefits for all groups must be justified.
Carina Wrangskog also emphasizes the importance of finding a method with all this data and reports and analyses that does not complicate the work. The key was to reduce the number of different competencies that had been formulated:
It may seem good to have many skills to keep track of, but in reality it is the opposite. So when we reduced the number a few years ago, it all became much more manageable. It’s better to have more roles than more skills and try to find your own level of expertise. Seek the balance that is neither overly detailed nor comprehensive!
Anyone who finds this balance gets a good tool and work process to develop employees and the organization. It has also been important that Comaea is an incomparably good supplier when it comes to support and support.