A new competency model for Canada’s tourism industry.

The Challenge

Tourism HR Canada (THRC) was developing a new pan-Canadian tourism competency model, which would contain all capabilities and knowledge sets needed for all occupations in the tourism sector. They needed a skilled and analytical team to identify and map competencies, skills, subskills and knowledge sets common to multiple job families and occupations.

THRC asked 4Forward to tackle this project due to our experience with National Occupational Standards, our understanding of competency models and our familiarity with the tourism industry.

“4Forward brought a level of clarity that we had not seen from other firms. They didn’t bombard us with jargon or complicated training models – just a clear plan to help us get what we needed.“

Craig MacDonald, Former Manager, Training and Curriculum Development
Tourism HR Canada

The Process

The project started with a close collaborative consultation with THRC to review existing materials and databases. Then we researched international competency models, collected data, and compared occupations, skills, subskills and knowledge sets—and mapped all of this data on tools created in-house.

The Result

By the end of the project, 4Forward had meticulously created a competency model composed of 279 skills and approximately 1,200 subskills that were organized into 30 competency categories. This provided a clear foundation for the THRC to develop the new Tourism Competency Framework. Once complete, the framework will be a useful recruiting, training and employee development tool for businesses and staff in the tourism, food services and hospitality industries.

Project Snapshot

Tourism HR Canada’s mandate is to build a world-leading tourism workforce. It facilitates and coordinates human resource development activities that foster development of a dynamic, competitive, and resilient workforce.

Industry
Non-profit Industry Association

Services
Needs Analysis, Research

Skills Demonstrated
Project Management