Leadership competencies: an introduction.

O ur goal with this column is to provide a useful, practical introduction to competency modeling, a practice that is already a mainstay in many health professions and that is likely to find expanded use within health administration in the coming years. The competency model recently made available by the Healthcare Leadership Alliance (HLA) will serve to frame subsequent installments of this column. The Alliance was formed as a partnership between six of the major healthcare leadership professional associations in administration, nursing, and medicine, including the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS), American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), American College of Physician Executives (ACPE), and Medical Group Management Association and American College of Medical Practice Executives (ACMPE). In this column, we will illustrate several of the ways competency models can be used efficiently and effectively by individual leaders, leadership teams, and organizations to support their organizational strategy. In this first installment, our focus is on clarifying what competencies are, what they can be used for, and what is currently happening within the profession related to competencies. We offer a practical definition of competencies, a task that calls for providing some historical context as well.