How you can use the Competency Framework

The CIEP Competency Framework is a resource for editorial professionals to assess their skills and knowledge at various stages of their career. It can be used to identify gaps and evaluate progress as you gain experience and undertake training. 

As a member of the Learning and Professional Development Committee (LPDC) since 2023, I helped develop the Competency Framework as a volunteer. Initially as an Entry-Level Member of the CIEP, and then as an Intermediate Member, I represented people new to the editorial profession. 

Working on the development of the Competency Framework helped me to learn so much more about my own work, as well as others’ work. Sometimes, as a member with less experience than most of the committee, I would have to ask for something to be defined or clarified. Early drafts had several instances of using phrases that were assumed to be understood, making it difficult for people like me to understand what was being said. 

It was really important to have committee members from different backgrounds, experiences and membership levels, and focus groups provided feedback from even more perspectives. At every stage of development, we made sure to pause and reflect on what was being said in the framework, as well as whether it was a skill or piece of knowledge actually being used. 

Ultimately, that contributed to the size of the Competency Framework. I know that approaching something like this can be daunting and overwhelming for the best of us, but especially for people just joining the profession or only working part-time. With that in mind, I want to introduce you to my approach to assessing your skills and knowledge against the framework. 

Identifying gaps in your skills and knowledge 

My preferred method for assessing my skills and knowledge and identifying any gaps is to use a traffic light system of colours and some way of highlighting each box within the Competency Framework. You can do this in multiple ways: highlighting text on a PDF, using font colour/cell background colour in a spreadsheet or printing out a hard copy to use your favourite pens. 

For people who have colour vision deficiency or are otherwise visually impaired, you may want to use symbols, stamps or different formatting instead. 

Each colour, symbol or stamp can have its own meaning, and you can also create your own system of highlighting. I used four colours, with the following meanings for each skill/item of knowledge: 

• Green for feeling confident 

• Yellow for needing more professional development 

• Red for not feeling confident 

• Purple for something that isn’t relevant right now but might be in the future. 

If you’re using a spreadsheet, you can also remove sections you know aren’t relevant to you. 

I recommend starting by looking at the framework level – from ‘Exploring’ to ‘Expert’ – that most resonates with you. Reading down one of the level columns can save you time rather than going line by line, but of course you can do it any way you’d like. 

As an Intermediate Member, I began with the Exploring level column first, and moved onto the Emerging level column next. This meant I could skip lines in the second stage that weren’t relevant to my own editorial work and mark others that might be relevant to my work in the future. 

As I read down the Exploring level column, I highlighted each competence with the colours above. Everything I marked in red was something I urgently wanted to improve. This helped me to form a shorter list of skills and knowledge to focus on over the next year. 

When I moved onto the Emerging level column, I focused on the lines which had a green or yellow highlight. If I found that a competence in the Emerging level column was something I also felt confident in, I’d look at the next column (Experienced) to check what the next step of developing that competence was. Using highlights helped to draw these to my attention and also gave me a visual understanding of my progress so far. 

After finishing the Emerging level column, I could begin identifying what my gaps were. These would become the foundation of my professional development plans. 

When you’ve gone through the Competency Framework once, you can review your progress at regular intervals – my plan is to revisit it every 3 months – and identify your next priority for continuing professional development (CPD). I expect each review to take between 30 and 60 minutes, but you’ll likely find it takes longer the first time. 

If you have any questions about anything you read in the Competency Framework, you can always start a topic in the CIEP forums. People can share recommendations or help you understand what a competence is in the replies. 

Feeling overwhelmed with the Competency Framework? 

If you feel overwhelmed by how long the Competency Framework is, take a moment. Nobody is ever going to be in a position where every box in the Exploring level column is red. We all draw from our different experiences: 

• Someone entering the editorial profession after university is going to have at least some knowledge of references, bibliographies, citations, notes and quotations. 

• Someone entering the editorial profession who writes fiction is going to have at least some knowledge of grammar and the use of English. 

• Someone entering the editorial profession from working in graphic design is going to have at least some knowledge of design, typography, typesetting and printing. 

• Someone entering the editorial profession who knows more than one language is going to have at least some knowledge of the use of non-English languages. 

You can also make things less overwhelming by cutting out some noise and focusing only on the sections you need to. The Competency Framework is already broken down into separate sections, marked by a header, so you can work through one section at a time. 

If you want to break it up further, look down the left-hand column at the bold text and pick out some competences that feel relevant to you. Or pick out some competences that you feel you already have confidence in. By picking sections or competences where you feel like you have some foundational knowledge, you’ll feel less out of your depth and more prepared to tackle other areas. 

Another way to approach the framework is by picking a section you know you need to work on. You might surprise yourself by seeing how confident you feel with the Exploring and Emerging level columns.  

Some rows might feel like ‘easy wins’ for you – skills and knowledge that feel simple because of your background or experiences. If something feels too simple for you, remember: that’s a sign of how confident you are in your abilities. Someone else might look at the same competences and feel out of their depth. 

How to use the Competency Framework for CPD 

Once you’ve gone through the Competency Framework to identify gaps, create a list of everything you’ve flagged as something to improve (in my case, yellow) or something you have no confidence in (red). Then pick a small number of them as prioritised areas of CPD. 

For example, I marked 9 competences in the Exploring level column and 28 in the Emerging level column as being either gaps in my knowledge or areas to develop. Following the clusters of red highlights, I narrowed these down into three main focuses: 

• Basic legal framework in publishing 

• Pricing, quoting and budgeting 

• File management and file security. 

Technically, that’s four, but I think the last two work well together. With these focuses identified, I turned them into professional development goals, rephrasing them as: 

• To strengthen my understanding of legal frameworks in publishing 

• To strengthen my ability to price, quote and budget for projects 

• To create a backup and purging system for files. 

This wording makes it clear to me what I need to do and how to begin working on them. 

For strengthening my understanding of legal frameworks in publishing, I need to identify content that explains these, so I began by collecting several resources (the CIEP’s factsheet ‘Copyright’ and the Publishing Training Centre’s e-Learning module ‘Essential Copyright for Publishers’). I’ll use these resources to begin developing my knowledge and spread out from there, as needed. 

For strengthening my ability to price, quote and budget for projects, I began collecting resources for reference and made a note to audit my own workflows around this in my business. To do this, I can look deeper at what I’ve marked as red in the Competency Framework and consider what I currently do. Already I can see that I need to learn more about scope of work and how to balance cost and quality in my work, so I’ll start there. 

For creating a backup and purging system for files, I’ve broken down my goal into these steps: auditing my current file management system; researching practices for backing up and deleting files; and checking my agreements with clients to see if I’ve forgotten anything I need to do and whether they have set conditions on a retention period. 

Every three months, or as often as needed, I can review my progress on these goals and create new professional development goals using the same process. One important part of CPD is setting aside time to do the work, which could be an hour a week, two hours a month, or any other way that works for you. 

When it’s time to review my progress against the Competency Framework, I can also create new versions of the PDF and date it to compare. 

You can use the CPD tool (My CPD) through the CIEP’s website to log and reflect on the activities you complete as you go. The tool also helps you see how much CPD you’ve done, how often you log professional development activities, and which areas you’ve focused on developing. 

By using My CPD’s supporting documents and reflective commentary fields, you can also back up your learning, for example by uploading documents containing your notes. 

Quick tips for making the most out of the framework 

Here are some more tips for making the most out of the Competency Framework: 

• Set a reminder or add a note on your calendar to review the Competency Framework at least once a year. Set aside an hour or two per year to go through the framework and track your progress. 

• For competences which involve staying up to date or keeping an eye on developments, set yourself a weekly, monthly or quarterly reminder to browse through the news and/or CIEP forums. Be clear about what you’re keeping track of: for example, ‘look for an up-to-date guide on backing up files’, ‘check upcoming webinars from AbilityNet on accessibility’ or ‘read the latest issues on computer software for developments in MS Office programs’. 

• Experiment with the best format or system for tracking CPD. You could use the CIEP’s CPD tool, a spreadsheet, a Word document or something else. Add a section for resources you want to visit in the future as well, so you can refer back to that section when you have time for CPD. 

• Buddy up with other editorial professionals to review the Competency Framework. Find some people in your local area or in the same specialism/industry as you, then work through the framework together in person or on a virtual call. You can ask each other for recommended resources and courses as well! 

• If you can’t find any resources or feel stuck on one of the levels for a competence, ask for recommendations on the CIEP forums. Many other editorial professionals will have insights for you, resources that they’ve used in the past or even blog posts they’ve written they can share.