Framework of competencies, roles and activities

In most large sales organizations, commercial performance is not limited by a lack of effort or ambition. Instead, value is often lost much earlier in the system through misalignment between competencies, activities, and roles.

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Through our work analyzing commercial excellence in complex organizations, we have developed a structured way to understand how sales execution actually works in practice. At the core are three fundamental layers:

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• Sales competencies, which define the skills, behaviors, and capabilities organizations invest in

• Sales activities, which reflect how selling is actually carried out day to day

• Sales roles, which define expectations, responsibilities, and mandates

 

Each of these layers is typically well defined on its own. The problem arises when they are not aligned with one another. When misalignment occurs, organizations incur multiple forms of hidden waste.

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First, training effort is wasted. Companies often invest heavily in developing competencies without clear evidence that those capabilities are required to perform the activities the role actually demands. When trained competencies are not consistently used in practice, development efforts do not translate into performance.

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Second, work effort is wasted. Salespeople frequently execute activities that are weakly connected to outcomes or fall outside the core purpose of their role. This creates high levels of activity but limited impact, where effort accumulates without corresponding value creation.

 

Third, direction is unclear. When roles lack clear priorities, salespeople are forced to interpret what matters. This leads to inconsistent execution, defensive behavior, and reliance on escalation. Even capable individuals performing the right activities can struggle to produce results in such environments.

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These forms of waste persist because most organizations diagnose performance in isolation. Competencies are reviewed by HR or enablement functions. Activities are managed through processes and reporting. Roles are defined through job descriptions and governance. Each layer is optimized separately, but rarely examined together.

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As a result, organizations lack visibility into how capability, execution, coordination, systems, and direction interact as a single commercial system. Misalignment remains implicit, and decisions are based on assumptions rather than evidence.

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This is where an integrated diagnostic approach becomes critical.

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Understanding whether effort is lost due to misaligned competencies, low impact activities, coordination breakdowns, system friction, or unclear direction requires a model that examines these elements together.

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The five element diagnostic model we are developing is designed to make these interactions visible. By examining competencies, activities, collaboration, enablement, and direction as interdependent elements, it enables organizations to distinguish between effort that creates value and effort that is absorbed by the system.

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Rather than prescribing generic best practices, the model supports disciplined diagnosis. It helps leaders identify where misalignment occurs, how it manifests, and which mechanisms drive it. This makes it possible to reduce wasted training, eliminate low value work, clarify roles, and restore focus on customer facing execution.

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When competencies, activities, roles, and system conditions reinforce each other, commercial systems become simpler, more focused, and more effective. When they do not, even well intended investments struggle to produce results.

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Understanding that difference requires a system level perspective.

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Key takeaways

• Commercial performance is often constrained by misalignment, not lack of effort

• Competencies, activities, and roles must reinforce each other to create value

• Misalignment leads to wasted training, low impact work, and unclear direction

• Most organizations optimize elements in isolation rather than as a system

• An integrated diagnostic approach makes hidden inefficiencies visible

• Improving performance requires fixing the system, not adding more activity