Still Using Yesterday’s Competencies?

Here’s Why That’s Holding You Back

In many organisations today competency and capability frameworks are quietly becoming a liability, not because they were poorly designed, but because the world has changed and they haven’t.

You’ve likely come across them — the laminated competency wheel on the wall, the rating grids used in performance reviews, or the 360 feedback forms asking whether someone “communicates clearly” or “displays business acumen.” Many of these competency models, developed a decade or more ago, still play a central role in key people decisions, from promotions and succession to assessment and executive development.

But here’s the thing: what got us here won’t get us there.

The Cracks Are Starting to Show

One global consumer goods company recently assessed 250 senior leaders using a well-regarded competency model. Results looked encouraging, strong scores in stakeholder management, decision quality, and functional knowledge. Yet in market? Declining relevance. Innovation lags. Trouble adapting to AI and digital commerce. Internally, employee feedback pointed to a lack of agility, and resistance to learning.

The disconnect? Leaders were being measured against yesterday’s definition of effectiveness.

Legacy Competencies Are Not Useless, But They’re Not Enough

Let’s be clear: there’s nothing wrong with accountability, collaboration, or communication. But most existing frameworks are built on static behaviours and generalisable strengths. They focus on stability, not transformation.

A few organisations are realising this.

One HR team in a large retail organisation recently ran a “Competency Refresh Sprint” involving emerging leaders and customers. They labelled some competencies “baseline” (non-negotiables like integrity, resilience, and collaboration) and shifted focus to “future-critical” capabilities, those that would differentiate growth-ready leaders. The exercise gave them permission to reprioritise, not just relabel.

So, What Are the Future-Critical Capabilities?

From ongoing work in sectors like consumer goods, banking, tech, and infrastructure, we are seeing eight capability domains emerging as essential. They’re not just useful, they’re business-critical for leaders navigating cost pressure, digital disruption, sustainability, and stakeholder complexity.

Let’s break them down:

1. Strategic Systems Thinking: Connecting decisions across the enterprise, not just within silos.
2. Data-Led Decision Intelligence: Using AI, analytics, and evidence, not just experience.
3. Innovation Agility: Learning through iteration, not betting the farm on certainty.
4. Adaptive Influence: Leading through ambiguity and across boundaries.
5. Human-Centered Leadership: Trust-based cultures, psychological safety, empathy at scale.
6. Purpose-Driven Commerciality: Balancing margins, ethics, and ESG credibility.
7. Ecosystem Collaboration: Co-creating value with partners, not just negotiating contracts.
8. Digital Fluency & Tech Enablement: Understanding how digital reshapes value chains, even if you don’t code.

None of these are “nice-to-haves.” They’re the price of staying in the game.

From Reflection to Relevance

This isn’t about starting from scratch or discarding the good. It’s about honest reflection. What part of your current capability model is still fit for purpose? What needs to become baseline, and what will truly set your organisation apart?

One CEO recently asked their team, “If these are the behaviours our systems reward, will our business survive the next five years?” That single question kicked off a redesign of their leadership DNA, linking future-fit capabilities to hiring, development, and promotion.

What You Can Do Next

• Audit your framework: Which competencies were written before remote work, Gen Z, or ChatGPT?
• Co-create the future: Involve emerging leaders, customers, and partners, not just HR, in reframing what good looks like.
• Embed, don’t just publish: Align interview guides, assessment centres, learning pathways, and performance reviews to the new model.
• Build now, not later: Don’t wait for the future to arrive. You’re already behind if you think you have time.

Assessing people against outdated skill sets can lead to missed opportunities and disengagement. To thrive, organisations need to align leadership development with the demands of the future — not the expectations of the past.

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Justin Miles

Manager Partner, Melbourne at Generator Talent

Justin is the Managing Partner of our Melbourne office, an outcome focused leader with a track record of driving business performance through proven talent and organisation development practices. Justin’s methods and skills have been shaped by working with performance oriented leaders in great companies including PepsiCo, The Campbell Soup Company, Diageo, Rip Curl, Fonterra and Wesfarmers, in Australia, the USA and Latin America.