Competencies: turning your values into expectations you can hire and review against.
If you have read Part 1 and Part 2, you have a mission, a vision, and a short list of core values. If you skipped them, go back first. This part builds directly on them and will not make much sense without them.
Parts 1 and 2 can feel abstract: words on paper that do not change a Monday morning. This is where the system reaches the ground. Your values become sentences that describe exactly what is expected of every person in the company. Written down. Measurable. And the same sentences are used to hire, evaluate, promote, and let people go.
What a competency actually is
When a moving company owner hears “competencies”, they usually picture corporate HR: binders nobody reads, annual reviews where everyone gets a 3 out of 5 and nothing changes. That is not what this is.
A competency is a sentence that describes a situation and an expectation. That is all. No jargon, no mystery. “When this happens, this is what we expect you to do.”
There are only two types, and the difference matters.
Same for everyone, pass or fail
The mover, the salesperson, the dispatcher, the manager, the owner. No exceptions and no levels. You either demonstrate them or you do not belong in the company.
Specific to the job, and the bar moves up
What you expect from a junior mover is not what you expect from a senior one. Each role competency is written at four levels, so every person can see what the next step looks like.
From values to core competencies
Take the values you wrote in Part 2 and turn each one into a sentence a new hire could understand on day one. Here are three common values and what they become.
Value: Ownership
When something goes wrong in your area, you fix it. You do not wait. You do not explain before you act.
Value: Customer first
Every decision considers the customer. Not just when it is easy. Every time.
Value: Integrity
If you said it, you do it. No excuses, no half-done work. If something changes, you say so before the deadline, not after.
Notice that none of these mention a job title. They apply to the owner, the dispatcher, the mover, and the sales rep in exactly the same words. That is the point of a core competency: there is no version of it for senior people and another for new people.
The chain so far
Your mission forced your values. Your values force your core competencies. And those core competencies are now the sentences you use in every interview, every review, every promotion decision, and every termination.
One document at the top. Everything below it connected.
Role competencies: the bar moves up
Core competencies are the same for everyone. Role competencies are specific to the position, and they change with seniority. What you expect from a junior salesperson is not what you expect from a senior one. What you expect from a mover is not what you expect from a foreman.
Written this way, every person in the company can see exactly what they need to demonstrate to move up. No guessing, no politics, no “I have been here longer so I deserve it.” You either meet the next level or you do not yet.
Below are worked examples for two departments. Use them as a starting point and rewrite them in your own words.
Example: the sales department
Handles objections. When the customer pushes back, turns a no into a conversation.
| Level | What we expect |
|---|---|
| Junior | Handles basic objections using the script. Knows the standard responses. Not confident yet on price pressure or unusual pushback. |
| Mid level | Handles common objections confidently without the script in front of them. Still struggles with unusual or aggressive pushback. |
| Senior | Handles any objection without losing the customer. Keeps the conversation going. Rarely needs to escalate. |
| Manager | Trains the team on objection handling. Listens to calls and coaches reps on exactly what to say and when. |
Follows up. Keeps every lead warm. Never lets a serious prospect go cold.
| Level | What we expect |
|---|---|
| Junior | Follows up when reminded. Still building the habit and the system. |
| Mid level | Follows up consistently without being reminded. Has a personal system. Rarely loses a warm lead. |
| Senior | Follows up on every lead with the right message at the right time. Conversion from follow-up is visibly higher than the team average. |
| Manager | Builds and enforces the follow-up system for the whole team. Tracks who is following up and who is not. Makes it non-negotiable. |
Example: the mover department
Handles items with care. Every item is treated as if it belongs to someone they respect.
| Level | What we expect |
|---|---|
| Junior | Handles standard items carefully with guidance. Needs oversight on fragile or high-value items. |
| Mid level | Handles all items independently. Knows how to wrap, protect, and load without being told. |
| Senior | Sets the standard for how items are handled on the truck. Corrects the crew when they see careless handling. |
| Manager | Makes sure handling standards are trained and enforced before every job. Damage rates in their department are low and tracked. |
Works at the right pace. Fast enough to respect the customer’s time and budget. Careful enough to protect their belongings.
| Level | What we expect |
|---|---|
| Junior | Works at a reasonable pace. Sometimes slows down too much on simple items or rushes on fragile ones. |
| Mid level | Consistent pace on all job types. Reads the job and adjusts without being told. |
| Senior | Sets the pace for the crew. Keeps everyone moving efficiently without cutting corners. |
| Manager | Tracks job times across the team. Identifies where crews are slow and why. Coaches for efficiency without sacrificing quality. |
Communicates on the job. Keeps the customer and the team informed. No surprises.
| Level | What we expect |
|---|---|
| Junior | Gives basic updates when asked. Still building confidence talking to customers directly. |
| Mid level | Updates the customer proactively during the move. Flags problems before they become bigger. |
| Senior | Runs the communication on the job. The customer always knows what is happening. The team always knows what comes next. |
| Manager | Sets the communication standard for all jobs. Customers should never have to call the office to find out what is happening on their move. |
Solves on-site problems. When something unexpected happens on the job, they handle it.
| Level | What we expect |
|---|---|
| Junior | Handles small surprises. Knows when to call for help. Does not panic. |
| Mid level | Handles most on-site problems independently. Calls for help only when it is genuinely beyond them. |
| Senior | Handles complex problems on site: access issues, difficult furniture, upset customers. Makes the call and owns it. |
| Manager | Rarely needs to go on site for problems. When they do, they resolve it fast and then fix the process so it does not repeat. |
The chain, complete
Mission and vision: why you exist and where you are going. Core values: the behaviour your mission demands. Core competencies: the same expectations for every person, no exceptions. Role competencies: specific to the job, rising with seniority.
Every person knows what is expected of them. Every person knows what they need to demonstrate to move up.
How you run the system
Competencies are not a document you write and put in a drawer. They are the operating system of the company. Here are the two places they get used every week.
Performance reviews. Every review uses the same competencies. The employee knows exactly what they are being measured on because they saw it on day one. The review is not your opinion of them. It is a simple question: did they demonstrate this competency, or not?
Pass or fail
You either demonstrate ownership, customer first, and integrity, or you do not. There is no “sometimes”.
Which level are they at?
Junior, mid level, senior, or manager. If someone is at mid level and wants to move to senior, the gap is written right there on the page. No “you need to step it up”. The exact behaviour is on paper.
You run this every three months. For new hires, you also run it after 30 days. Part 4 covers exactly how to run the review, how to score it, and what to do with the result.
Hiring. The entire interview is about one thing: finding evidence of your core competencies and the role competencies for the position. You go through all of them, one by one. You are not asking trick questions. You are looking for a pattern of behaviour that is likely to repeat, because the behaviour you see in the interview is the behaviour you will see on the job. (For the whole hiring process, from the job ad to the final round, see the sales rep hiring playbook.)
Say you ask: “Tell me about a time something went wrong on a job. What did you do?” You are testing for ownership. Here is the difference between the two answers you will get.
Details, steps, decisions
“The dresser wouldn’t fit through the hallway. I measured the door frame, took the legs off, removed the mirror, wrapped each piece separately, and got it through without a scratch. Took about 15 minutes, but the client was watching and I didn’t want to force it.” This person was there. They remember because they did it.
Vague, no steps, no decisions
“Yeah, my team handled it. We figured it out and got it done. The client was happy.” “My team” instead of “I”. No details. This person was either not there or not the one doing the work.
When you hear “my team did this”, probe: “What did you do there, exactly?” Someone who actually did the work can walk you through it down to the small decisions. Someone who is borrowing credit gets vague fast.
You are also listening for the opposite: evidence against a competency. Ask about a time they disagreed with a manager, and if they describe going behind the manager’s back, that is evidence against integrity. If they describe blaming the client for a problem, that is evidence against customer first.
You are not looking for perfect answers. You are looking for a pattern. And patterns repeat.
The short version
- A competency is a sentence that describes a situation and an expectation. Nothing more.
- Core competencies are the same for everyone, pass or fail. Demonstrate them or you do not belong in the company.
- Role competencies are specific to the position and written at four levels: junior, mid level, senior, manager. The bar moves up.
- Each core competency traces back to a value. If a sentence does not trace back, it does not belong.
- Every interview question maps to a competency. Probe “my team did it” until you hear what the candidate actually did.
- Every review scores against the same competencies the person saw on day one. No surprises.
- Before moving on: write your core competencies from your values, then role competencies for one department. Check that every sentence traces back.
Next in the series
The system is built. Part 4 is about running it: performance reviews, who moves up, who moves out, salary structure, and how to do all of it without damaging the culture you just defined. Read Part 4: performance reviews, promotions, and firing.