While using Maturity Models created by others can be very helpful, I like to help my clients learn how to create custom maturity models of their own. In this post I'll walk you through the third and last step of creating your own custom maturity model in three easy steps. If you missed reading the first step, please take a few minutes and check out Part 1 in this series. If you missed reading the second step, please take a few minutes and check out Part 2 in this series.

Understanding the main principles and uses of maturity models is a good first step. If you haven't had the opportunity to read my brief post on this topic, Maturity Modeling 101: What All Maturity Models Have In Common, please do so now and you'll find this post easier to implement if you do.

Step 3 – Developing Key Characteristics

The third step in creating your own custom maturity model is to develop the key characteristics in each focus area within each stage. This is an extremely important step as its output is what helps to differentiate each level in a way that allows those using the model to:

• gain a greater understanding of each stage
• form the basis for assessing their own place on the model
• create a meaningful checklist of what needs to happen to complete a stage and beyond

You'll remember from Maturity Model 101 I identified the key characteristics as one of the main architectural elements of a maturity model. You might also remember that one of the purposes of a maturity model is to show an increasing level of sophistication or maturity on a continuum.

In Part 1 we defined the levels and divided this continuum up into stages or levels. In Part 2 we created the key focus areas. Now we are going to write descriptions or characterize the attributes we would expect to find within those focus areas at each stage of the model.

In our example model we choose to focus on a job ladder. You'll remember that this model has three levels or stages:

1. associate analyst
2. analyst
3. senior analyst

You might also recall that we defined three focus areas within each of those stages:

1. Experience (number of years in the industry)
2. Autonomy (degree of independence in performing job)
3. Responsibility (scope of accountability and stewardship)

We'll now write descriptions for each of the focus areas within each stage or level.

Level 1 – Associate Analyst

Experience: 0-2 years of successful relevant professional experience

Autonomy: Works under detailed direction and deadlines

Responsibility: Receives detailed direction from immediate work group, supervisor and project leader for guidance and work assignments

Level 2 – Analyst

Experience: 4-6 years of successful relevant professional experience

Autonomy: Receives only general direction and policy guidance

Responsibility: Works independently under general direction, receives guidance and assistance on overall assignments and with selection of specific techniques

Level 3 – Senior Analyst

Experience: 6-8 years of successful relevant professional experience

Autonomy: Receives only general direction and policy guidance

Responsibility: Works independently under limited supervision, measured against overall performance objectives

We've now completed our custom maturity model using the job ladder as an example. You can see from this examples how having consistent focus areas across the levels with each having clear characteristics make easy for a employee or a manager to:

• see a path of increasing skill and responsibility
• assess current performance against agreed upon criteria
• create develop plans to move the employee from level to the next

Once again it is your turn to complete your model by developing the characteristics for each focus area. As you complete your model please let us know what you chose to do and how it came out using the comment form below. Please feel free to share any insights you have gained that you feel might be helpful to someone else going through this exercise. You can also posts questions you'd like answered.

In this series we've briefly described maturity models and some of their purposes and applications, the key elements of the maturity model architecture, and how to construct one of your own. I chose the job ladder as an our example to emphasize the non-technical and universal application of maturity models. I hope this has helped you to discover the principles of this tool so you can begin to use them in your every day work and realize the benefits I see my clients gain from using them.

Related Posts:

Adding Maturity Modeling To Your Visual Communications Toolkit

Maturity Modeling 101: What All Maturity Models Have In Common

3 Steps To Creating Your Own Maturity Model – Part 1

3 Steps To Creating Your Own Maturity Model – Part 2

While using Maturity Models created by others can be very helpful, I like to help my clients learn how to create custom maturity models of their own. In this post I’ll walk you through the second step of creating your own custom maturity model in three easy steps.If you missed reading the first step, please take a few minutes and check out Part 1 in this series.

Understanding the main principles and uses of maturity models is a good first step. If you haven’t had the opportunity to read my brief post on this topic, Maturity Modeling 101: What All Maturity Models Have In Common, please do so now and you’ll find this post easier to implement if you do.

Step 2 – Identify the Focus Areas

The second step in creating your own custom maturity model is to identify the focus areas. You’ll remember from Maturity Model 101 I identified the focus areas as one of the main architectural elements of a maturity model. You might also remember that one of the purposes of a maturity model is to show an increasing level of sophistication or maturity on a continuum. In Part 1 we defined the levels and divided this continuum up into stages or levels. Now we are going to identify a few focus areas we can then describe or characterize in step three to help us make the model useful for our purposes.

In our example we constructed a simple job ladder with three levels of maturity. Thinking about how we differentiate each level I propose we use three focus areas. In a real job ladder we will have many more but 3 will suffice for our purposes here.

Focus areas:

1. Experience (number of years in the industry)
2. Autonomy (degree of independence in performing job)
3. Responsibility (scope of accountability and stewardship)

We’ve updated our example in the diagram below.

Now it’s your turn again. Please identify at least three focus areas for your model.

Related Posts:

Adding Maturity Modeling To Your Visual Communications Toolkit

Maturity Modeling 101: What All Maturity Models Have In Common

3 Steps To Creating Your Own Maturity Model – Part 1

3 Steps To Creating Your Own Maturity Model – Part 3