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Leadership Competency Model

Leadership Competencies

Le​ad your team with increased competency proficiency.

In an effort to better align with the State's leadership initiatives, the CalHR Leadership Competencies have been updated as of 10/05/2023 and will be effective 01/01/2024.

For Leadership Competencies prior to 01/01/2024, please see the old Leadership Competencies webpage​.

​Business Acumen​​

Understands and demonstrates sound judgment, fiscal competence, and organizational business knowledge to optimize the quality of operations and services.​

Key Skills

Financial Management | Organizational & Business Knowledge | Sound Judgement | Governance

​​​Proficiency Level Behavior Indicators:

​​​​​​​​Financial Management​​

​Level 1: Novice

Adheres to all financial and budgetary rules and procedures.​

​Level 2: Basic

​Demonstrates the ability to read, interpret, and use budgets and projections to execute financially related activities.

​Level 3: Intermediate

​Works with others to generate and manage financial allocations in support of strategic priorities after having analyzed their impact on the organization and with a demonstrable awareness of opportunity costs.

Level 4: Advanced

​Guides others in financial decision making and management regarding the expenditure of resources consistent with strategic initiatives and with a full understanding of opportunity costs and risk awareness.

​Level 5: Expert

​Establishes systems to monitor expenditures, financial processes, and risk management within the organization to ensure that financial resources are effectively allocated to achieve goals and objectives.​

Organizational & Business Knowledge

​Level 1: Novice

​Identifies the organization's core business and customers.

​Level 2: Basic

Clearly describes the division's and organization's core business and customers.

Level 3: Intermediate

​Demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the division's and organization's business, customers, and processes.

​Level 4: Advanced

​Utilizes data and key metrics to further enhance the organization's ability to reach its goals. Promotes and encourages an understanding of businesses processes and customer impact.

​Level 5: Expert

​Sets an expectation for enterprise-wide understanding of the organization by ensuring a shared knowledge of the business, its objectives, processes, and stakeholder impact.

Sound Judgement

​Level 1: Novice

Demonstrates an awareness that decisions must be made based on evidence rather than on gut-checks or intuition alone.

Level 2: Basic

Makes timely, informed decisions that take into account available data-driven facts, objectives, and risks associated with the issue at hand.

​Level 3: Intermediate

Can interpret data, and makes timely, informed decisions that account for data-driven facts, objectives, and risks, even with difficult issues, and can explain the decision-making rationale.

​Level 4: Advanced

Makes timely independent or team-led decisions based on available sound data, seasoned analysis, and knowledge of the role of unconscious bias in the decision-making process.

Level 5: Expert

​Promotes a workforce environment that values independent or team-led decision making, based on empirical evidence and seasoned analysis, with clear efforts to eliminate the effects of unconscious bias and other impediments of good judgment.

Governance

​Level 1: Novice

Shows a curiosity and willingness to learn the business fundamentals of California state government.

Level 2: Basic

​Understands business fundamentals of California state government.

​Level 3: Intermediate

Identifies the role of labor relations in California state government.

​Level 4: Advanced

​Distinguishes between the different types of labor relations components in California state government.

​Level 5: Expert

Creates an organizational culture that ensures consistent application of labor relations processes and maintains positive labor relations.


​Inspirational Leadership

Energizes and creates a sense of direction, purpose, excitement, and momentum for the organization’s mission. Creates a positive work environment offering clarity around goals and objectives and ensuring that those who are led work collaboratively to achieve results.

Key Skills:

Mission Centric | Active Engagement | Outcome Focused | Develops & Empowers

​​​Proficiency Level Behavior Indicators:

​Mission Centric​

Level 1: Novice

​Understands the importance of job duties and expectations related to the mission.

​Level 2: Basic

​Gains clarity of job duties and expectations and provides input to ensure alignment with mission​.

Level 3: Intermediate

​Provides clarity of job duties and expectations, provides timely and constructive feedback to team members and ensures alignment with mission.

​​Level 4: Advanced

​Sets clear expectations, provides timely and constructive feedback, and collaborates to determine mission driven outcomes.

​​Level 5: Expert

​Creates a climate where everyone knows their purpose and their role in achieving mission-, vision-, and values-driven outcomes.

Active Engagement

​Level 1: Novice

​​Aware of the importance of their role in the organization.

​Level 2: Basic

​Seeks ways to be positively involved in the day-to-day work and organizational activities.

​Level 3: Intermediate

​Involves others in designing and executing the process by which the day-to-day work gets completed and removes barriers to increase effectiveness.

​​Level 4: Advanced

​Generates excitement, enthusiasm, and commitment in people by translating the organization’s mission, vision, and values into terms that are relevant to the work performed.

​​Level 5: Expert

​Fosters a culture that promotes employee engagement through regular communication and interaction, inclusion, and belonging.

Outcome Focused

​Level 1: Novice

​​Realizes that personal actions and quality of work impact the workplace.

​Level 2: Basic

​Promotes the use of respect, recognition, and praise.

Level 3: Intermediate

​Champions the use of respect, recognition, and praise within the team and unit and directly identifies and addresses morale problems.

​​Level 4: Advanced

​Creates an environment that promotes teamwork, respect, and collaboration to resolve issues.

​​Level 5: Expert

​Demonstrates commitment to and alignment with the organization's vision, mission, and values by promoting them regularly and encourages ongoing collaboration throughout the organization.

Develops & Empowers

​Level 1: Novice

​​Recognizes the importance of development in a professional workplace.​

​Level 2: Basic

​Takes ownership and accountability of work contributions and self-development.

​Level 3: Intermediate

​Inspires others to act and to continuously seek to learn.

​​Level 4: Advanced

​Inspires others to grow and provides resources for staff development on a continual basis.

​​Level 5: Expert

​Champions a culture of learning, continual development, and empowerment.


​​​Results-Oriented

​Focuses efforts to efficiently achieve measurable and customer-driven results consistent with the organization's mission, goals, and objectives.

Key Skills:

Decisiveness | Measures Organizational Results | Process Improvement | Negotiation

​Proficiency Level Behavior Indicators:

Decisiveness

​Level 1: Novice

​Recognizes the importance of using available information to make an informed decision.

Level 2: Basic

Uses information and resources to make timely and informed decisions that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

​Level 3: Intermediate

Empowers their team to use the information and resources available to make decisions that drive results.

​Level 4: Advanced

Assumes responsibility for decisions made. Shares outcomes with others in the organization and communicates the concept that indecisiveness can also have serious consequences.

Level 5: Expert

Creates an environment that embraces informed and timely decision making that considers innovative solutions to move the organization forward. Understands the importance of tomorrow’s goals in the context of today's priorities.​


Measures Organizational Results

​Level 1: Novice

​States assigned goals and takes personal responsibility for results.

​Level 2: Basic

Demonstrates an understanding of the goals associated with their job and can make adjustments to meet results-oriented objectives.

​Level 3: Intermediate

​Translates objectives into specific measurable metrics and can articulate the approach necessary to achieve key performance indicators (KPIs.)

​Level 4: Advanced

​Establishes priorities when there are conflicting goals or due dates. Ensures assignments are in alignment with organizational metrics and measures and monitors the outputs of teams.

​Level 5: Expert

​Supports the process of defining metrics, monitors progress and outcomes by ensuring that the objectives and key results are effective, demonstrates knowledge about the organization's metrics, and shares the knowledge of them and progress with the stakeholders.

Process Improvement

Level 1: Novice

Displays an awareness of the concept of waste and seeks ways to more efficiently perform their work.

​Level 2: Basic

Participates as an effective team member in continuous improvement efforts.

​Level 3: Intermediate

Searches for ways to identify root causes of workplace issues, eliminate waste, and improve quality of work products.​

​Level 4: Advanced

Sets improvement and efficiency goals (in conjunction with teams) that assure an ongoing process of identifying the root causes of workplace inefficiencies, eliminate waste, and improve quality.

​Level 5: Expert

​Encourages and supports enterprise-wide innovation, ideas, and approaches to uncover the root causes of workplace inefficiencies. Identify and eliminate waste and continually improve services and other deliverables.

Negotiation

​Level 1: Novice

Uses negotiation and mediation skills.

​Level 2: Basic

​Presents alternatives that address others’ most important concerns and looks for win-win solutions.

​Level 3: Intermediate

Negotiates with a team of managers or employees across agencies to address mutual issues and concerns. (exemplifies emotional intelligence)

​Level 4: Advanced

​Negotiates with key stakeholders by sharing information and resources across multiple levels to accomplish objectives.

​Level 5: Expert

Develops, publicizes, and negotiates support for programs and policies by meeting with key officials, executives, union, employees, and other interested parties.


Stewardship

​Focuses on being responsible and accountable for managing resources well, choosing to use influence to serve the long-term collective good of the public. Places public interests above self-interests and focuses on the larger purpose or mission of the organization.

Key Skills:

Social & Environmental Awareness | Resource Management | Organizational Knowledge | Public Trust

Proficiency Level Behavior Indicators:​

​Social & Environmental Awareness

Level 1: Novice

​Recognizes they work in a complex environment.

​Level 2: Basic

​Discerns broader implications that affect their unit and how their contributions can impact the environment.

​Level 3: Intermediate

​Understands and explains the broader environment and competing influences and demands.

​​Level 4: Advanced

​Influences the broader environment and aligns organizational objectives and practices with public interest.

​​Level 5: Expert

​​Navigates external influences to set the organization’s broader environment.


Resource Management​

Level 1: Novice

​​Identifies and appropriately uses and maintains department resources.

​Level 2: Basic

​Assesses resource needs in varying situations and determines the best use of resources.

​Level 3: Intermediate

​Maximizes efficient use of resources.

​​Level 4: Advanced

​Determines resource allocation across multiple programs with varied resource needs for maximum organizational impact.

​​Level 5: Expert

​Advocates for resources and maintains fiscal responsibility.

Organizational Knowledge

​Level 1: Novice

​​Understands the mission of the organization and seeks additional knowledge to support their role.

​Level 2: Basic

​Captures and applies organizational knowledge to ensure continuity and service delivery that supports the mission.

​Level 3: Intermediate

​Validates that organizational knowledge is accurately documented and shares with others.

​​Level 4: Advanced

​Ensures a system is in place to track and utilize organizational knowledge to support the mission.

​​Level 5: Expert

​Creates accountability for clear standards of work and fosters an environment where knowledge transfer occurs regularly.​

​Public Trust

​Level 1: Novice

​​Understands responsibility for placing public interests above self-interests.

Level 2: Basic

​​Demonstrates commitment to placing public interests above self-interests.

​Level 3: Intermediate

​Sets team expectations to place public interests above self-interests.

​​Level 4: Advanced

​Monitors and ensures accountability to place public interests above self-interests.

​​Level 5: Expert

Fosters an environment where stewardship of the public trust is the standard.

​​Talent Management

Recruits, selects, and develops effectively to retain world-class staff.​

Key Skills:

Train, Develop, Coach | Recognition | Workforce Planning | Recruitment & Selection

​Proficiency Level Behavior Indicators:

Train, Develop, Coach

Level 1: Novice

Recognizes the importance of professional development and willingly accepts coaching from immediate supervisor.

Level 2: Basic

Demonstrates the importance of professional development by seeking out coaching and mentoring opportunities.

Level 3: Intermediate

Provides coaching and mentoring to their team and demonstrates openness to being coached and mentored.

​Level 4: Advanced

Provides and promotes coaching and mentoring across levels and creates opportunities for employee development.

Level 5: Expert

Builds an environment where coaching and mentoring are embedded in the organizational culture with a strong commitment to grow and develop people.

​Recognition

Level 1: Novice

​Knows the value of saying thank you and shows gratitude to individuals who support them.

​Level 2: Basic

Expresses authentic gratitude and understands its value.

​Level 3: Intermediate

​Acknowledges contributions and shows formal appreciation through division and department-wide recognition.

​Level 4: Advanced

​Supports informal and formal recognition programs and uses these practices to motivate employees.

​Level 5: Expert

​Champions formal and informal recognition programs and is a role model by personally attending events highlighting their employee’s success.

Workforce Planning

​Level 1: Novice

Understands delegated assignments are opportunities for self-development and team success. Recognizes the value of their role as a member of a team.

​Level 2: Basic

Embraces delegated assignments and seeks opportunities for growth. Identifies workforce profile, analyzes staffing needs, identifies gaps in workforce composition and supply, develops and recommends strategy to address gaps.

​Level 3: Intermediate

Empowers others through appropriate and challenging assignments that build employees’ knowledge of basic workforce planning principles and skills, including recruitment, retention, professional development, succession management, and knowledge transfer.

​Level 4: Advanced

Initiates regular workforce planning discussions with the management team. Ensures that there is a clear connection between the workforce plan, the organization’s strategic plan, and annual workforce analysis goals. Ensures that policies and procedures are implemented to hire and retain staff with the skills required for the organization to achieve its strategic goals and objectives.

​Level 5: Expert

​Ensures that a planning process and workforce and succession plans are actively implemented to recruit and retain valuable talent, to meet the organization’s short- and long-term strategic goals and objectives.

Recruitment & Selection

​Level 1: Novice

Understands the connection between organizational goal achievement, recruitment, and retention of staff.

Level 2: Basic

​Analyzes the connections between organizational goal achievement, recruitment, and retention of staff and makes recommendations on workload and staff levels.

​Level 3: Intermediate

Uses best hiring practices and minimizes conscious and unconscious bias in all hiring decisions.

​Level 4: Advanced

​Works with upper-level management and human resources to ensure use of best hiring and selection practices so that staffing levels are maintained.

​Level 5: Expert

Creates a culture that supports and encourages the civil service merit system for all hiring and selection decisions. Seeks to minimize conscious and unconscious bias in hiring processes.


​​Vision & Strategic Thinking​​

Supports, promotes, and ensures alignment with the organization's vision and values. Creates a compelling future state of the unit or organization using the division’s strategic plan. Understands how an organization must change in light of internal and external trends and influences.​

Key Skills:

Visionary | Alignment | Change Leadership | Strategic Mindset

Proficiency Level Behavior Indicators:

Visionary

​Level 1: Novice

​Appreciates having a clearly communicated vision in order to align efforts.

​Level 2: Basic

​Communicates a clear picture of the short- and long-term vision and can relate current effort​s to that vision.

​Level 3: Intermediate

​Communicates a clear, vivid, and relatable description of where the organization should be in 3, 5, and 10 years, as well as the challenges and opportunities.

​​Level 4: Advanced

​Encourages others to discuss and promote the shared vision throughout the organization and aligning efforts to that vision.

​​Level 5: Expert

​Establishes, monitors, adjusts, and communicates the vision and strategic plan to remain aligned with global and organizational changes and input from key stakeholders.​


Alignment

Level 1: Novice

​​Fully supports and the vision and mission of the organization.

​Level 2: Basic

​Anticipates future challenges and opportunities to achieving the vision and takes action accordingly.

​Level 3: Intermediate

​Expresses the organization’s vision in a way that resonates with others as demonstrated by their words and actions.

​​Level 4: Advanced

​Coordinates longer term vision into all aspects of the organization and encourages implementation of the vision through policies and work efforts.

​​Level 5: Expert

​Ensures that there is a clear connection between tactical business plans, the organization’s strategic plan, and the vision.

Change Leadership

Level 1: Novice

​​Recognizes the importance of change and transition to enhance performance.

​Level 2: Basic

​Embraces and supports leadership to facilitate change and transition.

​Level 3: Intermediate

​Manages and encourages the process of change and transition.

​​Level 4: Advanced

​Leads and enables the process of change and transition while helping others deal with their effects.

​​Level 5: Expert

​Champions the necessity for change and provides adequate resources to implement.

Strategic Mindset

​Level 1: Novice

​​Aware of the importance of thinking strategically and having short-term and long-term business plans.

Level 2: Basic

​​Knows departmental strengths, opportunities, and objectives for short- and long-term business plans.

​Level 3: Intermediate

​Influences others to translate vision into business plans and actions in alignment with the organization’s strategic goals.

​​Level 4: Advanced

​Communicates effectively to stakeholders the strategic value of the vision. Helps them consider the long-term impact of business decisions today and prepares them and the organization for the future.

​​Level 5: Expert

Establishes and fosters an environment where individuals are recognized for positioning the department for future success in alignment with the vision and achievement of strategic goals.

​Last Updated: 10/5/2023
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