Competency Levels Explanation
Use these descriptions about requirements, complexity, and scope to decide the Leadership Behavioural Competency level for a leadership role.
For non-leadership roles, choose the skills and behaviours from the ‘people’ competencies of Collaboration and Communication, and the ‘task’ competencies of Balancing Customer and Cost, Delivering Results, and Efficiency and Improvement, to identify the requirements of your role. These may appear at different levels.
Challenge: This leadership level is the first line for delivering quality, making best use of resources in the face of short-term changing priorities, and making decisions in conditions where availability of resources, materials and staff may not go to plan. Typically referred to as ‘Team Leaders’, they experience pressure from various sources to continue to deliver in the face of competing priorities. They operate face to face with people in their own team and elsewhere, reacting under often unrelenting pressure. They must manage situations when the defined processes do not work properly, e.g. when materials are not available and team members do ‘work arounds’. The ‘buck stops with them’.
- Manages team to deliver work as scheduled. (This may be in a shift-based rota).
- Problem-solves so tasks are done.
- Supports the team by liaising with other functions to ensure tools, materials, and assets are in place to meet the plan.
Event horizon is 1 week; if shift-based short-term is 2 shifts i.e. current and for shift that follows.
Challenge: Leaders at this leadership level ensure that the handover of information from team to team (or shift to shift) is accurate and thorough. They need to apply fairness in the way they deal with different teams. They manage people performance problems using the team leader’s input and exercising judgements about policy, fairness, and consistency. They take responsibility for dealing with escalations that are visible to higher levels of management. They may have several direct reports, or work through several Team Leaders.
- Develops and coordinates the plan on a daily and weekly basis.
- Manages resource to deliver work as scheduled (if shift-based across various shifts).
- Acts as point of escalation for Team Leaders e.g., missing resources, performance problems.
- Responsible for KPI reporting and managing production and planning meetings.
Event horizon is up to 1 period – if shift-based short term is 1 week (shift rotation).
Challenge: Leaders at this leadership level take a broader view of the overall performance of several teams, looking for best practice improvements, consistency, and standardisation of methods and processes. They are the first leadership level who ensure that the local leadership teams from other functions are aligned collaboratively to the needs, challenges, and contractual obligations of their functional team. Effective reporting and governance are key elements of this role.
- Focuses on the day-to-day production of the functional unit, co-ordinates the plan, and liaises with other functions in the delivery of the plan.
- Deals with all matters concerning the work of the functional unit to release the Level 4 manager so that he or she can focus on broader issues in the longer-term affecting productivity and outputs.
Event horizon is 1 period up to 1 quarter.
Challenge: Leaders in this leadership level manage and respond to the needs of a wide variety of external stakeholders (not under their control) whilst trying to maintain a proactive view of the long term demands on the main functional unit. They need to manage a clash of reactive and proactive demands. They need to set expectations accurately, manage upwards effectively, and drive the functional unit on a steady course in the face of multiple demands to make lots of short-term adjustments to priorities. Despite having no overall authority over much of what takes place at the geographical location, they are accountable for all cross functional outputs e.g., safety and quality.
- Develops the local plan that supports the regional plan. Takes overall responsibility for all activities undertaken at their geographical location.
- Responsibility extends to activities undertaken by 3rd party contractors and departments and divisions within Hitachi that don't come under their control, e.g. facilities and overhaul.
Challenge: Leaders at this leadership level are expected to manage across multiple geographical locations, both functionally, and cross-functionally. They must balance the long-term priorities and objectives of the business against short-term pressures and temporary priorities. They set the culture and ensure people have the tools and resources to make continuous improvement as necessary. They set the tone for productive interactions, community, and collaboration across the region and role model a culture of psychological safety, fairness, and respect.
- Develops the regional plan in support of business strategy.
- Leads multiple teams in multiple sites.
- Sets processes and environment for each of their Level 4 and 3 managers and respective geographical locations to deliver consistently across all locations.
Event horizon is primarily 1 quarter – 1 year, with alignment to the 1 - 3-year plan.
Challenge: Leaders at this leadership level take a wide and long-term view, balancing external requirements from customers with internal pressures. They need to handle volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA).
Event horizon is quarterly, with alignment to 5 - 10-year strategic plans.
This is the entry level into the competency framework and the skills and behaviours at this level are required of all Hitachi Rail employees.