HCM GROUP

HCM Group 

HCM Group 

A Strategic Guide for HR Leaders Building the Roles of Tomorrow

Introduction: Why Role Profiles Must Evolve

Traditional job descriptions have long focused on tasks, reporting lines, and qualifications. While administratively useful, they are poor tools for enabling mobility, guiding development, or anticipating future needs.

In today’s dynamic environment, organizations must shift from static job specs to future-ready role profiles—documents that reflect not just current responsibilities, but also the skills, competencies, and growth pathways embedded in each role.

These profiles act as foundational elements for:

• Transparent career pathing
• Skills-based internal mobility
• Succession and workforce planning
• Agile org design and redeployment

This guide walks you through how to structure and build these modern role profiles using your skills taxonomy and competency frameworks—ensuring alignment with the organization’s future direction.

Step 1: Define the Purpose and Structure of Role Profiles

Start by defining why you’re creating role profiles and how they’ll be used across the talent ecosystem. This clarity will drive the content and format decisions.

Use Cases May Include:

• Talent acquisition (to set role expectations and assess fit)
• Performance management (as a reference for goals and feedback)
• Development planning (to identify learning needs)
• Internal mobility (as a visible map of opportunities)

Recommended Structure of a Future-Ready Role Profile:

• Role Summary & Purpose
• Key Responsibilities (Grouped by Capability Area)
• Critical Skills (with Proficiency Levels)
• Behavioral Competencies
• Career Level & Reporting Relationships
• Key Success Indicators
• Mobility Potential (Feeder & Destination Roles)

This is not a legalistic job description—it's a living talent blueprint.

Step 2: Ground the Role in Business and Organizational Context

To make the role profile future-relevant, ensure it reflects where the business is going, not just what it does today.

Steps to anchor the role in context:

• Engage Business Leaders: What strategic shifts (e.g., digitalization, global expansion) will impact this function in the next 2–3 years?
• Review Functional Goals: How will success in this role contribute to broader objectives?
• Scan for Disruption: Are new technologies, regulations, or customer needs reshaping the role?

Example Insight:
A procurement role in a retail organization used to focus on cost control. After a sustainability strategy shift, supplier ethics and environmental compliance became critical. The role profile was updated to reflect sourcing transparency and ESG assessment as core expectations.

Step 3: Define Key Responsibilities Through a Capability Lens

Instead of listing dozens of tasks, group responsibilities into capability domains that describe the essence of the work.

Example (for a Marketing Manager):

• Strategy & Planning: Develops multi-channel go-to-market strategies aligned to brand priorities
• Campaign Execution: Oversees campaign rollout, content adaptation, and vendor management
• Insights & Analytics: Uses data to refine tactics, optimize ROI, and understand customer behavior
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Works cross-functionally with sales, product, and external agencies

Each domain should have 2–4 outcome-oriented statements that emphasize accountability over activity.

Step 4: Embed Critical Skills with Proficiency Expectations

Using your established skills taxonomy, select the core skills required for this role—and define what level of proficiency is expected for success at the current career level.

Skills Section Format:

Tip:
Limit to 5–7 essential skills to ensure clarity and focus. Avoid bloated profiles.

Step 5: Incorporate Behavioral Competencies That Reflect Cultural & Leadership Expectations

In addition to functional skills, define the competencies that reflect how the work should be done. These tie to values, leadership models, and cultural aspirations.

Sources of Competency Models:

• Your internal leadership competency framework
• Behavioral models for inclusion, change agility, collaboration, etc.
• External standards such as Korn Ferry, SHL, or Hay Group models (if adopted)

Example (for a Mid-Level Engineering Role):

This section should differentiate expectations across levels (e.g., team member vs. leader of leaders).

Step 6: Align Role Profiles to Career Levels and Progression

Each role must be clearly positioned within the broader career architecture, indicating its level of scope, impact, and mobility potential.

Define:

• The role’s career band (e.g., IC2, Manager1, Director2)
• Its typical span of control (if any)
• Key transitions to/from other roles

Include a "Mobility Snapshot":

• Feeder Roles: Where employees commonly come from
• Next Roles: Where they may grow into laterally or vertically
• Bridging Skills: What capabilities support that transition

Example (for a Senior Data Scientist):

• Feeder Roles: Data Analyst, Product Analyst
• Next Steps: Lead Data Scientist, Data Science Manager
• Bridge Skills: Mentorship, stakeholder communication, solution architecture

This format supports internal talent mobility and development conversations.

Step 7: Validate and Operationalize the Role Profile

Once drafted, a role profile should go through validation—not just approval. This step ensures that it resonates with reality and is adopted across use cases.

Key Validation Activities:

• Leader Review: Confirm with the role’s manager and functional head
• Incumbent Feedback: Test accuracy and clarity with 1–2 high performers in the role
• HRBP Review: Ensure consistency with similar roles and structures
• Talent Process Alignment: Test how the profile fits with recruiting, L&D, and performance practices

Once finalized, store profiles in a central, searchable location (e.g., internal mobility platform, HRIS, or SharePoint career hub).

Step 8: Keep the Profile Dynamic and Future-Focused

Roles evolve—sometimes gradually, sometimes overnight. Your profiles must remain living documents, not once-and-done PDFs.

Maintenance Best Practices:

• Review annually during workforce planning or performance calibration
• Flag profiles for update when strategy shifts or skill needs change
• Assign stewardship to Talent COEs or Org Design leads
• Establish a simple update protocol to prevent version chaos

Example:
A B2B SaaS company added AI prompt engineering as a skill in all product roles after strategic investment in generative tools. Profiles were quickly updated to reflect this pivot.

Conclusion: From Job Descriptions to Strategic Talent Assets

Well-designed role profiles are more than HR collateral. They are strategic assets that power talent mobility, growth, and agility.

By embedding skills and competencies into your profiles:

• You signal what matters today—and tomorrow
• You guide development and upskilling efforts
• You make mobility equitable and transparent
• You enable succession, planning, and redeployment

As you continue building your internal mobility infrastructure, future-ready role profiles become the linking mechanism between opportunity and capability.

Terms of Use

Privacy Policyp

kontakt@hcm-group.pl

883-373-766

Website created in white label responsive website builder WebWave.