Audit also involves training of people. Under the umbrella of COA-HR, the mutually reinforcing mechanisms for Recruitment and Placement, Performance Management, Rewards and Recognition and Learning and Development, define and drive the achievement of the desired outcomes for both human resource and the organization.
While the multidimensional perspectives of these outcomes remain important in a contemporary setting, the comprehensive uptake of HR policies into an organizational perspective necessitates a synergistic look at the human capital, its management and the value that is derived from it. Against this backdrop and with the nascent demand for change and better anchorage, COA had refocused its strategic direction on how its human resources are to be managed and staff performance appropriately measured to make them prepared for the future. This birthed the strategic goals and initiatives that were seen in the 2015-2022 COA Strategic Plan, aimed to develop and implement a Competency-Based Human Resource System (CBHRS) as COA envisages a skilled workforce prepared for the future of audit works.
In 2018, the Commission on Audit embarked on its journey towards a competency-based HR management system. In alignment with Rule VIII of the 2017 Omnibus Rules on Appointments and Other Human Resource Actions that encourages government agencies to set specific or higher standards for their position, including the required competencies, an initiative to establish the building blocks for a solid competency-based mechanism for human resource management, including learning and development, was undertaken. In tandem with the CSC, a series of training and coaching sessions involving the members of the Technical Working Group on Competency Modeling and Profiling and the Integration of Competencies into the HR System, among others, was undertaken. One concrete output from this exercise is the proposed COA Audit Competency-Based Reference Manual that outlines its Competency Framework and Model, the desired Behavioral Indicators for each proficiency level and the defined Mission Critical Competencies.
Nevertheless, to achieve synergy in HR management, the assertion that the human capital level of competency as one important driver for success in any organization must be recognized. Thus, embedding knowledge, skills and personality attributes to drive performance and achieve intended results always revert to the need to invest in an organization's human resource. In an aggregate view, COA recognizes that investment in the human capital does not merely encompass the establishment of bands of formal interventions. It is also not considered as esoteric to be practiced and understood only by a few. But while learning and development are both scalable and transformational, strategies and actual interventions to achieve its desired outcomes have to be in place and rendered effective. As a knowledge institution itself, COA needs to be agile and prepared to take on risks that impinge upon the management of its workforce performance. It thus became vital that learning and development strategies, structures and processes are attuned to the level of dynamism of the environment within which COA operates.
By and large, investing for competency and skills is influenced by both the internal and external factors that define and shape the organizational policies to be employed. The prevailing operating reality principally suggests that the COA staff competency needs must take the center stage in human capital investments as they relate to professional growth and innovation, all encapsulated in one learning and development ecosystem.
COA’s CBHRS, in its complete form, offers a more straightforward solution to COA in harnessing the potential of its biggest asset to achieve the greatest value, it provides the basic competency frame for learning and development. In developing the learning and development pathway, competency mapping and needs assessment still have to be undertaken, the information derived therefrom will then feed into the development of learning interventions, both formal and informal. The recently-ratified Guidance 1951 of ISSAI 150 – Professional Competence suggests a ten-step process in the development of pathway for professional development of auditors. These involve the framing of the overall strategy for professional development and the competency requirements, understanding of the organization’s operating reality in terms of staff competency and the approach to be adopted to address the competency gaps, designing, and implementing the professional development pathway and monitoring the results of interventions for better learning.
Furthermore, the positioning of learning and development in the Commission needs to be founded on clearer linkages and accountabilities with other human resource sub-systems within the professional competency requirements. COA aspires to create a culture of learning built around formal solutions, experience and working with others, to improve staff performance, motivation and retention in a values-based environment to help achieve and sustain the overall organizational goals, hence, learning and development cannot be made optional for it is a sine qua non condition for adaptation and adoption to achieve its operating purpose, given the dynamic and complex environment within which it operates.
(Roland Café Pondoc is a Commissioner of COA)