User Guide

How to understand and use a competency framework when one has been assigned to you in WeMatter.

Who this is for

This guide is for people who have been assigned a competency framework as a framework user.

It is not about creating or editing frameworks. It is about understanding the framework that applies to you and knowing why it matters in your wider WeMatter experience.

If a framework has been assigned to you, it is WeMatter's way of describing what good performance looks like in your role or context. It gives shape to the capabilities, behaviours, and standards that your organisation wants to make visible.

That does not mean the framework is there to reduce your work to a checklist.

A good framework is more useful than that. It helps you understand the capability areas that matter most, gives later scorecard conversations a clearer reference point, and can still influence development goals after the review itself is complete.

Where to find your framework

Most users encounter their framework from their profile. If a framework has been assigned to you, you will usually see it in the Framework card.

If your organisation's visibility settings allow you to open it, select the framework name from that card. If you can see the framework name but cannot open it, that usually means the framework applies to you but the current visibility setting does not grant direct access to the full framework page.

If you cannot open the framework

If you believe you should be able to access your assigned framework, speak to a WeMatter lead, framework editor, admin, or RPO user in your organisation.

What you will see when you open it

When you open a framework, you are looking at a structured view of the expectations attached to that role or context. The page is designed to help you read the framework, not necessarily manage it.

You will typically see the framework name, supporting description, visibility and status information, and the competency content grouped under Human Performance Indicators. Those Human Performance Indicators, or performance indicators for short, are the organisation-wide categories that frameworks are built around.

Think of this page as a reference point.

It is there to help you understand the capability model that sits behind later review and development conversations.

How to read the framework well

Try reading the framework as a map rather than as a test to pass. Start with the Human Performance Indicators so you can see the broad capability areas your organisation is emphasising. Then read the competencies within each area and ask what they suggest about expected behaviour, judgement, collaboration, delivery, or growth.

Some competencies may feel immediately familiar. Others may highlight an area of stretch or a pattern your organisation wants to strengthen over time.

Both are useful. The framework is there to give a clearer language for those conversations.

How your framework connects to scorecards

Your assigned framework matters most visibly when scorecards are launched. WeMatter uses that framework to shape the competency structure that appears in the scorecard, which means the competencies you are later asked to reflect on or discuss do not appear by accident. They come from the framework assigned to you.

That is one reason it is worth understanding the framework before or during a scorecard cycle. It helps you see how the review is being structured and what capability model sits behind it.

How your framework connects to development goals

Frameworks also continue to matter after the scorecard. They can contribute to the context WeMatter uses when shaping development goals, alongside Foundation and scorecard evidence.

Seen this way, the framework becomes part of what shapes the next development step, not only the review that has just happened. In that sense, frameworks are living documents. They continue to influence how capability is interpreted over time.

What framework status and visibility mean for you

As a framework user, you do not usually need to manage status or visibility, but it helps to understand why they exist.

A framework's visibility controls who can open it. A framework's status signals whether it is still a draft or ready for live use. Those settings are mainly governance tools for editors and admins, but they can affect what you can see and when the framework can be used in live scorecards.

If your framework changes

Frameworks can be updated over time. That does not necessarily mean your role has changed dramatically. Sometimes it simply reflects a clearer articulation of expectations, a refinement to competency wording, or a wider organisational update to the Human Performance Indicator structure.

If your framework has changed and you are unsure what that means for you, the best next step is usually a conversation with your manager, WeMatter lead, or framework owner. The value of the framework is not only in the text itself, but in the shared understanding it helps create.

A good mindset to take

The most helpful way to use your framework is with curiosity rather than defensiveness.

It is there to clarify expectations, give language to strengths, and make development discussions more specific. At its best, it helps you understand not only how performance is being reviewed, but also how growth is being supported.