UC Systemwide Core Competency ABCs

What are competencies?

Competencies are identified knowledge, skills, and abilities that describe employee traits which directly and positively impact the success of the employee and the organization. Competencies can be objectively measured, enhanced, and improved through coaching and learning opportunities.

Across the UC system, competencies have been identified for all staff, including managers and supervisors, professional staff, and operational/technical staff.

Why are they important?

Competencies can help you identify the behaviors, knowledge, skills, and abilities that make high performing employees successful in their jobs. You can use them to help guide your professional development by fixing your attention on the goals and values that are needed at UC Berkeley and across the entire UC system.

How can you use this competency model?

Career success in an organization is both about what you do (applying your technical knowledge, skills, and ability) and how you do it (the consistent behaviors you demonstrate and choose to use) while interacting and communicating with others at work. By studying the UC Systemwide Core Competency ABCs and working to refine your skill level in each competency, you can take charge of your career and the work you do. You can empower yourself to make positive contributions at work and find the work you do rewarding and meaningful.


It can be very helpful for your career development to meet with your manager/supervisor to gain their feedback and to brainstorm ways that you can create learning and development opportunities to develop your skill level in these competencies, and other competencies that may be needed in your department for your career development.

How do I create a development plan with the competency model?

You can use the UC Systemwide ABCs Development Planning Guide linked here. To guide you along the four stages of the planning guide, use the companion video playlist linked here, or review each video separately below:

Additional Resources

Download UC Core Competency ABCs

UC Core Competency ABCs Intro

UC Core Competency ABCs in Practice

UC Core Competency ABCs Interview Questions Database

UC Core Competency ABCs

Core Competencies Diagram

The core competencies below apply to all UC employees, regardless of location, level or role within the University. They are aligned with the mission, vision and values of the University and its locations.  Core behavioral anchors (left column) also apply to all UC employees, regardless of location, level or role within the University. In addition to the core behavioral anchors, UC leaders and managers are expected to demonstrate the management behavioral anchors (right column).

Achieving Results

Continuous Improvement

Strives for high-quality performance in self and the organization. Takes initiative in an ongoing effort to improve products, services or processes to deliver optimum results. Is resourceful, seeks alternatives and broad input; measures outcomes.

Core Behavioral Anchors

  • Adopts ideas, technology, and practices that increase efficiency, eliminate waste, and improve performance

  • Is reflective; takes initiative to make improvements to current work

  • Uses data, feedback, and input from others to improve the quality of products and services

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Management Behavioral Anchors

  • Drives improvement, continually searching for new ways to position the organization for success                                                    

  • Supports others who take calculated risks                                            

  • Recognizes and rewards initiative and innovation                                                                                              

LinkedIn Learning Courses for Managers, Supervisor and/or Leads

Building Resilience as a Leader
Business Innovation Foundations
Business Process Improvement
Communicating Employee Rewards
Disrupting Yourself
Enhancing Team Innovation
How to Be a Positive Leader (Blinkist Summary)
How to Be Promotable
Innovative Customer Service Techniques
Jeff Dyer on Innovation
Lean Six Sigma: Analyze, Improve, and Control Tools
Lean Six Sigma: Define and Measure Tools
Learning to Be Promotable
Operational Excellence Foundations
Project Management Foundations: Risk
Recognizing and Rewarding Your Workers
Reputation Risk Management
Rewarding Employee Performance
Service Innovation
Success Habits
Successful Goal Setting
Succession Planning

Continuous Learning

Demonstrates responsibility and ownership for one’s job and career path by identifying and expanding skillsets needed to perform successfully on the job. Consistently works to learn and increase knowledge. Asks for help when needed, admits mistakes and is open to feedback.

Core Behavioral Anchors

  • Takes responsibility for one's own development; maintains fluency in appropriate work applications, software, or tools

  • Keeps up-to-date on current research, trends, and technology in one's field; identifies and pursues areas for development and training that will enhance job performance

  • Seeks coaching and feedback to increase self-awareness and personal growth                                        

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Be More Productive: Take Small Steps, Have Big Goals
Being a Good Mentee
Being an Effective Team Member
Being Your Own Fierce Self-Advocate
Building Self-Confidence
Coaching and Developing Employees
Delivering Employee Feedback
Developing a Learning Mindset
Developing Self-Awareness
Developing Your Emotional Intelligence
Giving and Receiving Feedback
Holding Yourself Accountable
How to Develop your Career Plan
Improving Employee Performance
Instructional Design: Adult Learners
Leading with Emotional Intelligence
Learn Emotional Intelligence, the Key Determiner of Success
Learning How to Increase Learner Engagement
Managing High Performers
Managing Self-Doubt to Tackle Bigger Challenges
Managing Your Career as an Introvert
Measuring Learning Effectiveness
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
Performance Management: Conducting Performance Reviews
Performance Management: Setting Goals and Managing Performance
Prioritizing Effectively as a Leader
Rewarding Employee Performance
Switching Your Career
The Practices of High-Performing Employees
Tips for Learner Engagement
Tony Schwartz on Managing Your Energy for Sustainable High Performance

Management Behavioral Anchors

  • Creates opportunities for learning and development throughout the organization                                                                        

  • Gives team members autonomy to determine how to complete work; delegates effectively                                                                                                                                                            

  • Ensures that knowledge and learning is shared across the organization; recognizes staff who learn from each other

LinkedIn Learning Courses for Managers, Supervisor and/or Leads

Building High-Performance Teams
Business Collaboration in the Modern Workplace
Collaborative Leadership
Communicating Employee Rewards
Creating a Culture of Learning
Delegating Tasks
Enhancing Team Innovation
Grit: How Teams Persevere to Accomplish Great Goals
How to Be Promotable
Increasing Engagement with Elearning Programs
Leading and Working in Teams
Learning from Failure
Learning to Be Assertive
Learning to Be Promotable
Organizational Learning and Development
Prioritizing Your Tasks
Recognizing and Rewarding Your Workers
Teaching Techniques: Blended Learning
Teamwork Foundations
Using Neuroscience for More Effective L&D
Ways to Build a Winning Team: Trust, Freedom, and Play
Working in Harmony as a Senior Team

Problem Solving

Anticipates and identifies problems; conducts appropriate analysis to understand stakeholder interests. Generates and evaluates alternative solutions. Takes thoughtful risks.

Core Behavioral Anchors

  • Evaluates the pros and cons, risks and benefits of different solutions; prioritizes opportunities and challenges in order to solve urgent, high impact problems first

  • Works effectively with others to solve problems and make decisions; seeks input from partners

  • Identifies issues and addresses them in a timely, data driven and transparent manner to achieve sustainable and optimal results

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Management Behavioral Anchors

  • Fosters an environment where employees feel safe raising issues, offering solutions and input                                                                                                                                                                      

  • Accountable for decisions and actions when solving problems                                                                                                       

  • Utilizes broad organizational knowledge to identify root causes and potential impacts of proposed solutions                                                                             

LinkedIn Learning Courses for Managers, Supervisor and/or Leads

Service Focus

Values and delivers high quality, professional, responsive and innovative service to all customers. Establishes and maintains positive, long-term working relationships.

Behavioral Anchors

  • Seeks and uses feedback from a variety of sources to improve service quality                  

  • Meets and often exceeds expectations; ensures that stakeholder needs are fulfilled; honors commitments and keeps promises

  • Adapts service delivery to meet the needs of diverse client base                                                               

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Management Behavioral Anchors

  • Holds self and team members accountable for high quality work and stakeholder relationships

  • Provides team members with clear direction and support in meeting their service-delivery objectives                                                                                                      

  • Ensures that service delivery roles, responsibilities and reporting lines are clearly defined, understood and accepted

LinkedIn Learning Courses for Managers, Supervisor and/or Leads

Building Relationships

Belonging and Community

Models, fosters, and promotes the University of California Principles of Community. Demonstrates empathy and respect for all people regardless of differences; promotes fairness and equity. Cultivates, champions, embodies, embraces, and supports a sense of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. 

Behavioral Anchors

  • Engages others in a way that makes them feel valued and accepted                                   

  • Values diverse people, experiences and ideas; cultivates and maintains an environment of inclusion that empowers all team members to contribute ideas and achieve goals

  • Is self-aware, understands one’s impact on others; treats all people with dignity, respect, and equity  

LinkedIn Learning Courses for Everyone

Motivating and Engaging Employees
Using Humor In Training to Engage Your Audience
Public Speaking: Energize and Engage Your Audience
Entrepreneurship: Finding and Testing Your Business Idea
Ideas that Resonate
Creativity: Generate Ideas in Greater Quantity and Quality
Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging
Teaching Civility in the Workplace
Women Transforming Tech: Breaking Bias
Multinational Communication in the Workplace
Communicating about Culturally Sensitive Issues
Unconscious Bias
Setting Team and Employee Goals
Performance Management: Setting Goals and Managing Performance
Be More Productive: Take Small Steps, Have Big Goals
Setting Your Financial Goals
Building Self-Confidence
Being Your Own Fierce Self-Advocate
Developing a Learning Mindset
Developing Your Emotional Intelligence
Being an Effective Team Member
Managing Self-Doubt to Tackle Bigger Challenges
Learn Emotional Intelligence, the Key Determiner of Success

Management Behavioral Anchors

  • Creates a positive work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment

  • Draws on diversity of skills, backgrounds and knowledge of people to achieve more effective results                                                                                                                                

  • Ensures that conflicts are resolved in ways that leave all team members feeling respected and heard

LinkedIn Learning Courses for Managers, Supervisor and/or Leads

Driving Workplace Happiness
Organizational Learning and Development
How to Be a Positive Leader (Blinkist Summary)
Creating a Positive Customer Experience
Managing Diversity
Developing a Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Program
Diversity: The Best Resource for Achieving Business Goals
Managing Multiple Generations
Inclusive Leadership
Managing a Multigenerational Workforce
Managing a Diverse Team
Setting Business Unit Goals
Grit: How Teams Persevere to Accomplish Great Goals
Managing for Results
Coaching for Results
Managing Team Conflict
Coaching Employees through Difficult Situations
Leading with Kindness and Strength
Managing Anxiety in the Workplace
Gretchen Rubin on Creating Great Workplace Habits
Cultivating a Growth Mindset
Fighting Gender Bias at Work
Becoming a Male Ally at Work
Cultivating Cultural Competence and Inclusion
Bystander Training: From Bystander to Upstander
Preventing Harassment in the Workplace
Skills for Inclusive Conversations
Communicating Across Cultures
Confronting Bias: Thriving Across Our Differences
Developing Cross-Cultural Intelligence
Leading Inclusive Teams
Creating Change: Diversity and Inclusion in the Tech Industry
Making Big Goals Achievable
Goal Setting: Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)
Successful Goal Setting
Defining and Achieving Professional Goals
Delivering Results Effectively
Working with High-Conflict People as a Manager
Managing Conflict: A Practical Guide to Resolution in the Workplace (getAbstract Summary)
Improving Your Conflict Competence
Fred Kofman on Managing Conflict
Creating a Positive and Healthy Work Environment
Diversity and Inclusion in a Global Enterprise

Collaboration

Interacts with others in ways that demonstrate collaboration and cooperation. Builds partnerships with others to achieve organizational results. Cultivates, builds and maintains positive relationships across the organization.

Behavioral Anchors

  • Cooperates with others; shares information and knowledge to identify and implement solutions in which all parties can benefit

  • Helps and supports fellow employees in their work to contribute to overall success                                                                 

  • Places the needs of the team above self-interest; builds and maintains effective working relationships

LinkedIn Learning Courses for Everyone

Collaboration Principles and Process
Being an Effective Team Member
Working on a Cross-Functional Team
Collaborative Design: Managing a Team
Communication within Teams
Time Management Tips: Teamwork
Building Your Team
Setting Team and Employee Goals
Rewarding Employee Performance
Performance Management: Setting Goals and Managing Performance
Building Trust
Developing Credibility as a Leader
Collaborative Design: Vision and Strategy
Holding Yourself Accountable
Performance Management: Conducting Performance Reviews
Foundations of Corporate Training
Measuring Learning Effectiveness
Coaching and Developing Employees
Developing a Learning Mindset
Learning to Be Approachable
Being Positive at Work

Management Behavioral Anchors

  • Fosters an open environment where employees feel safe providing constructive feedback                                   

  • Develops and cultivates mutually beneficial work relationships and alliances inside and outside the organization

  • Encourages and assists others in building networks to improve relationships and maximize results

LinkedIn Learning Courses for Managers, Supervisor and/or Leads

Collaborative Leadership
Business Collaboration in the Modern Workplace
Leading and Working in Teams
Dream Teams: Working Together Without Falling Apart (Blinkist Summary)
Building High-Performance Teams
Managing Employee Performance Problems
Organizational Learning and Development
Creating a Culture of Learning
Increasing Engagement with Elearning Programs
Developing a Mentoring Program
Coaching Employees through Difficult Situations
Driving Workplace Happiness
The Culture Code (Blinkist Summary)
A Toolkit for Giving and Receiving Better Feedback
360-Degree Feedback
Leading through Relationships
Managing for Results
Coaching for Results
Teamwork Foundations
Conducting Motivational 1-on-1 Reviews
Stepping Up: How Taking Responsibility Changes Everything (getAbstract Summary)
Delegating Tasks
Prioritizing Your Tasks
Mentoring Others
Learning to Be Assertive
Esther Dyson on Cultivating Health at Scale
Managing Anxiety in the Workplace
Gretchen Rubin on Creating Great Workplace Habits
Having Difficult Conversations
Implementing Creative Feedback the Win-Win Way
Managing Your Professional Network
Delivering Results Effectively
Creating a High Performance Culture
Using Neuroscience for More Effective L&D
Creating a Positive and Healthy Work Environment

Communication

Clearly and effectively shares information both orally and in writing. Uses the most appropriate and effective medium for communicating. Adapts and adjusts messages in line with audience experience, diversity and background. Seeks input and actively listens; checks for understanding of messages.

Behavioral Anchors

  • Consistently shares accurate, timely information; takes into account audience and communication method

  • States opinions honestly and in a straight-forward manner; maintains open dialogue with others; actively listens

  • Written and verbal communications are consistently clear, concise and appropriate to the audience         

LinkedIn Learning Courses for Everyone

Interpersonal Communication
Communicating with Empathy
Communicating In the Language of Leadership
Communication Foundations
Business Etiquette: Phone, Email, and Text
Communication within Teams
The Key to Good Communication: Your Audience
Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking
Own Your Voice: Improve Presentations and Executive Presence
Multinational Communication in the Workplace
Establishing Credibility as a Speaker
How to Present and Stay on Point
Communicating about Culturally Sensitive Issues
Improving Your Listening Skills
Communicating to Drive People to Take Action
Communication for Product Managers
Listening to Customers
Writing a Business Report
Grammar Foundations

Management Behavioral Anchors

  • Speaks honestly about issues; seeks the truth about a situation, no matter how unpleasant                   

  • Listens to concerns and carries them up the organizational chart; shares senior management strategies and information with employees

  • Sets and demonstrates high standards of integrity; practices discretion; demonstrates diplomacy and tact

LinkedIn Learning Courses for Managers, Supervisor and/or Leads

Communicating with Diplomacy and Tact
Organizational Learning and Development
Managing Up, Down, and Across the Organization
Managing in a Matrixed Organization
Strategic Planning Foundations
Strategic Planning: Case Studies
Assessing and Improving Strategic Plans
Communicating with Charisma
Effective Listening
Organization Communication
Organizing Your Office for Maximum Efficiency
Bill George on Self Awareness, Authenticity, and Leadership
Compassionate Directness
Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling (getAbstract Summary)
Humble Leadership: The Power of Relationships, Openness, and Trust (getAbstract Summary)
Organizational Thought Leadership
Leading the Organization Monthly
Business Development: Strategic Planning

Creating the Future

Change Agility

Anticipates and adapts to change. Supports change initiatives by energizing others at all levels and ensuring continued commitment when faced with new initiatives. Demonstrates tolerance and adaptability when dealing with ambiguous situations. Effectively plans for change and deals with setbacks through flexibility and resilience.

Behavioral Anchors

  • Adapts approaches as needed to address changing priorities; is flexible, open, and receptive to new approaches; willing to step outside of one’s comfort zone

  • Seeks to understand context while navigating through organizational change

  • Aware of own and others’ responses to change and responds in a way that is productive for the organization and its team members

LinkedIn Learning Courses for Everyone

Managing Stress for Positive Change
Change Management for Projects
Handling Workplace Change as an Employee
Developing Adaptable Employees
Learning Design Thinking: Lead Change in Your Organization

Management Behavioral Anchors

  • Creates a supportive environment in which team members anticipate and are able to adapt to change                                                                                                                                       

  • Actively supports change initiatives; holds team members accountable to adopt change

  • Actively builds awareness of change strategies and change impacts to team members; serves as a liaison between the team and change leaders                                  

LinkedIn Learning Courses for Managers, Supervisor and/or Leads

Driving Workplace Happiness
Organizational Learning and Development
Change Management Foundations
Managing Organizational Change for Managers
Leading Your Team Through Change
Communicating in Times of Change
Communicating Change in an Enterprise-Wide Transformation
Adaptive Project Leadership
Creating a Culture of Learning
Cultivating Mental Agility
Developing Adaptability as a Manager
Developing Adaptable Managers
Leaders: Make Your Teams More Agile, Creative, and United
Enterprise Agile: Changing Your Culture
Leading with Kindness and Strength
Developing Executive Presence
Developing Your Leadership Philosophy
Negotiating Your Leadership Success
Learn the Process of Effective Leadership
Leadership Blind Spots
Inclusive Leadership
Executive Leadership
Managing Anxiety in the Workplace
Gretchen Rubin on Creating Great Workplace Habits
Embracing Unexpected Change
Aaron Dignan on Transformational Change
Building Resilience
Business Innovation Foundations
Enhancing Resilience
Gary Hamel on Busting Bureaucracy
Learning Agility
Creating Change: Diversity and Inclusion in the Tech Industry
Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant on Option B: Building Resilience
Powerless to Powerful: Taking Control
Being the Best You: Self-Improvement Modeling
Discovering Your Strengths
Disrupting Yourself
Just Ask: Dorie Clark on Personal Effectiveness
Bill George on Self-Awareness, Authenticity, and Leadership
Ken Blanchard on Servant Leadership
Creating a Positive and Healthy Work Environment
Leading Change
Creating a Culture of Change
Organizational Thought Leadership

Mission and Vision Focus

Shows understanding of and commitment to the UC mission and vision.

Behavioral Anchors

  • Uses the  organization’s mission and vision as guideposts for decision-making

  • Connects individual role and aligns goals in fulfillment of the UC mission and vision                                                                     

  • Inspires others to achieve the mission and vision of the organization and the University

LinkedIn Learning Courses for Everyone

Mission and Vision Statements Explained
Acting Decisively
Improving Your Judgment for Better Decision-Making
Making Better Decisions by Thinking in Bets
Setting Team and Employee Goals
Performance Management: Setting Goals and Managing Performance
Be More Productive: Take Small Steps, Have Big Goals
Setting Your Financial Goals

Management Behavioral Anchors

  • Clearly communicates a team mission and vision that aligns with University goals                                       

  • Harnesses information and opportunities to more effectively achieve the mission and vision of the organization and the University

  • Proactively builds an environment where all team members strive to excel                                                                         

LinkedIn Learning Courses for Managers, Supervisor and/or Leads

Communicating with Diplomacy and Tact
Communication Tips
Leading with Values
Executive Decision-Making
Time-Tested Methods for Making Complex Decisions
Using Questions to Foster Critical Thinking and Curiosity
Setting Business Unit Goals
Grit: How Teams Persevere to Accomplish Great Goals
Driving Workplace Happiness
Organizational Learning and Development
Communicating with Confidence
Communicating with Charisma
Organization Communication
Effective Listening
Decision-Making Strategies
Making Quick Decisions
The Six Biases of Decision-Making
Goal Setting: Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)
Successful Goal Setting
Defining and Achieving Professional Goals
Managing Anxiety in the Workplace
Gretchen Rubin on Creating Great Workplace Habits
Creating a Positive and Healthy Work Environment

Stewardship

Demonstrates accountability, discretion and sound judgment when utilizing tangible and intangible University resources to ensure the public trust.

Behavioral Anchors

  • Acts in a manner consistent with the UC Standards of Ethical Conduct and other UC policies

  • Utilizes available resources (people, processes and tools) to achieve organizational goals; models accountability

  • Understands and adheres to safety guidelines; reports and corrects potential threats; models safe behaviors                             

LinkedIn Learning Courses for Everyone

Business Ethics for Sales Professionals
Setting Team and Employee Goals
Performance Management: Setting Goals and Managing Performance
Be More Productive: Take Small Steps, Have Big Goals
Setting Your Financial Goals

Management Behavioral Anchors

  • Holds team members accountable for upholding the UC Standards of Ethical Conductand other UC Policies

  • Identifies ways to share resources, promoting greater efficiencies across the University and communities served                                                                         

  • Holds team members accountable for adhering to safety guidelines, reporting and correcting potential threats; and modeling safe behaviors

LinkedIn Learning Courses for Managers, Supervisor and/or Leads

Building Accountability into Your Culture
Executive Leadership
Business Ethics for Managers and Leaders
Values and Ethics: Case Studies in Action
Managing Resources Across Project Teams
Holding Your Team Accountable
Fred Kofman on Accountability
Business Ethics
Developing Resourcefulness
Psychological Safety: Clear Blocks to Innovation, Collaboration, and Risk-Taking
Organizing Your Office for Maximum Efficiency

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