The Co-Innovation Lab is developing an innovative competency model for measuring and expanding employees’ digital competencies for Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn gGmbH.
The change processes triggered by digital technologies offer companies in all sectors a wide range of optimization opportunities. The expansion of digital solution approaches represents great potential for more effective use of the limited time resources of personnel, especially in the social sector. The digital skills of employees play a decisive role in the successful implementation of digital solution concepts. The social enterprise Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn gGmbH would like to expand precisely these competencies within its organization with a digital competence model and an associated innovative training concept and has commissioned the consulting team of the Co-Innovation Lab to develop the concept.
Digitization of administrative processes as a strategy for the future
Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn is a non-profit institution for living, learning and working for people with intellectual disabilities. Since its founding in 1861 by Viktoria von Butler, the mission of the sisters, caregivers and employees working there has been to provide an inclusive and barrier-free social space for people with disabilities. The organization’s strategic goals for the future include the digitization of administrative processes through the use of digital applications, such as an electronic documentation system in care and administration. This is intended to relieve employees in their day-to-day work and increase time capacities for the facility’s residents. From the client’s point of view, this initially requires the acquisition and expansion of digital competencies of the employees through a creative training concept that is based on the blended learning concept.
Using an agile creative process to create a customized competency model to promote digital skills among employees
The team of consultants consisting of Julian Speidel (project manager), Sandra Pavleka (consultant) and Miriam von Meyeren (consultant) received approval for the project assignment from the clients of Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn Thomas Raudzus (head of organizational development and ICT services) and Johannes Bahl (head of education and consulting). Based on the initial situation, the Co-Innovation Lab consultants presented a concept idea to the client. “Due to the pandemic, our collaboration was appropriate to the topic, purely digital (web conferences, digital project room), highly effective and yet always personally approached” explains Mr. Thomas Raudzus from Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn.
The three-month project resulted in a digital competence model tailored to Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn, which consists of seven dimensions and four degrees of competence. Based on the competency model, the consulting team developed a questionnaire that the client can use to determine the competency levels of employees in the sense of a location assessment. In order to expand the digital competencies, additional requirement profiles were created to define target values. In the future, the client will be able to use a developed tool to independently perform variance analyses of employee digital competencies in order to use these as a starting point for determining employee learning paths. With the training concept developed and the forms of training it contains, which are differentiated according to competence levels and stages, Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn can promote the development of digital competencies among its employees on an individual basis.
Satisfaction with the project results delivered can be described in the words of Mr. Thomas Raudzus as follows: “Our co-innovation team delivered custom-fit concepts, tools, and valuable impetus for planning and implementing a “digital competencies” PE concept for our company in the field of integration assistance. We will benefit greatly from this.” As a thank you to the consulting team, Wichtel clay figures handmade by residents in the Schönbrunn workshop were handed over.