Jeff Griffiths, CMC
31 January 2010
Personnel certification programs are a popular activity for the various Canadian HR Sector Councils. Inevitably, the desire to create a national certification program follows closely on the heels of the development of occupational standards for an industry. While the stated reasons for developing certification are usually quite laudable and appropriate (worker mobility, higher quality/productivity, worker morale, easier screening of job applicants, etc), it is important that people really understand what they are getting into when they embark on a certification program.
During the research phase of a recent project to develop an industry certification program, we uncovered a Canadian certification program that had been developed and implemented by one of the sector councils, but which had failed to “catch on” with the industry. For whatever reason, individual workers and/or their employers aren’t seeing sufficient value in this certification to warrant investing their time and money in becoming certified.
In our experience, this happens when the organization offering the certification has not asked themselves enough tough questions up front – essentially, asking themselves why they should NOT go ahead with certification. The genesis of the aforementioned unsuccessful program offers some worthwhile clues, as seen below.
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The stakeholders of the industry asked for national standards. The sector council responded by producing standards that described a wide range of functions and proficiency levels for workers in the industry.
Once the standards were published, industry stakeholders asked for a national certification program. This was developed and implemented over a couple of years, and was launched officially in the Spring of 2007.
Initially, the target market for the certification program was a pool of approximately 25,000 workers from across Canada employed in front-line positions. In order to be certified, an individual had to invest a couple of hours of time to complete the required documentation, and pay $50 cash. The cash component amounted to less that a half-days pay for most people within the target population.
A year and a half after the program launched, a total of seventeen people had applied for certification. Eleven of these had been certified, the remaining 6 were still in process. Seventeen people. From a target population of 25,000. Seventeen people. Think about that for a moment. Despite an advertising blitz in industry journals, a robust web presence, presentations at industry events and other promotional vehicles, ONLY 0.068% OF THE TARGET POPULATION COULD BE CONVINCED THAT THE CERTIFICATION ON OFFER WAS WORTH THE PRICE OF A HALF A TANK OF GAS AND A FEW HOURS OF THEIR SPARE TIME.
Industry surveys after the launch revealed that employers didn’t want their people to be certified because a) “they’ll want more money”, or b) “they’ll get “poached” by a competitor”. The question that needs to be asked is, where were these dissenting opinions when the program was in the planning stages? Did anyone involved bother to look for dissenting voices? If not, why not?
Note: The above certification program is still in existence: as of today (January 2010) only about 40 people have achieved their certification.
On the other hand, maybe the standard for certification was high enough that only this limited percentage of individuals were eligible for certification. This also points to fundamental flaws in the way the program was set up. Clearly, something went wrong. A considerable amount of the taxpayer’s money was spent creating a product that in the end nobody wanted.
Sadly, examples like the one above are not all that uncommon. The seeds of failure are sown early, in the initial planning stages. There is often an “if we build it, they will come” attitude among the groups that embark on creating a certification program – an unwillingness (or perhaps inability) to ask some blunt questions about the strategic drivers for certification, and the marketplace where the program will have to survive. This leads to poor decision-making and ultimately to costly and often embarrassing errors. So what should your organization be asking itself before you head down this pathway? Here are a few to get you started…
- Why are we doing this? What SPECIFIC industry problem do we hope to address through certification?
- How will certifying people address this problem?
- What is the cost of doing nothing? What will happen if we maintain the status quo?
- Who will benefit from certification? How?
- What evidence do we have that the program is wanted/needed?
- Who are we targeting for certification? What is the potential pool of candidates? How will that pool change over time?
- What are the legal/liability issues that may arise from certifying an individual’s skills?
- Who is our competition? Who else is doing similar certifications aimed at our target market?
- Do we have the resources (time, money, personnel, infrastructure) to launch a certification program? If not, can we put them in place, and at what cost?
And, finally…
- Do we really want to launch a certification program?
Before heading down the path to certification, it is vital that organizations really understand what they are getting themselves into. As the above case study illustrates, a mistake can be extremely damaging, not only financially but also to the reputation of the organization.
In the end, a certification program is a product. It has to survive in the marketplace by offering a compelling value to the people that will seek certification – particularly if there are other similar certifications already out there. If someone else hasn’t created a certification program for your target market… maybe you should be asking yourself why?
