In 15Five Career Hub, competencies, skills, and key behaviors are three distinct objects that describe what a role requires. They nest within each other to form a role's full performance profile.
Key Rules
- Competency — a measurable cluster of knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes required to perform job functions. Example: "Giving and Receiving Feedback."
- Skill — a specific proficiency acquired through training or experience. Skills sit within a competency. Example: skills under "Problem-solving and creative thinking" might include "Problem definition and issue identification."
- Key behavior — a role-level expectation describing how work is performed or developed. Example: "You are learning how to research and analyze data to inform product strategy."
- One competency can contain multiple skills and multiple key behaviors.
- Skills are measured more objectively; competencies require a more holistic evaluation approach.
- Not every role requires all three levels. Valid structures include:
- Job title → competency → skill → key behaviors - Job title → competency → key behaviors - Job title → skill → key behaviors - Job title → key behaviors
Common Misunderstanding
Competencies and skills are not interchangeable. A competency is the umbrella that groups related skills, knowledge, and behaviors. A skill applies to a specific task; a competency develops over time and is evaluated more holistically.