A company can purchase a competency dictionary and re-write it based on their particular company requirements. It works best if you can develop ranges of performance with participation of those who are responsible for the results. A competency is essentially the identification of behaviors that lead to desired outcome. Need to make sure that you start with front-line management and staff and obtain successes that facilitate selling the concept at the next level. When executives fail it's because they can't achieve key objectives.
Credibility is part of the issue.
HR professionals historically don't seem to speak business language or understand the pressures the business folks are under. Actually that is a description of a competency when you lump like-behaviors that work together to obtain results. When you know an individual's competencies, you can match him or her with the correct job and tailor training to those areas of need. We need to capture critical competencies for a position prior to selection to ensure that managers know what they are looking for. We have to be able to see it demonstrated, but the value is in describing the cluster of actions that look like creativity, customer service, leadership is in the ability to obtain a higher result.