Chapter 10: The Competencies, Part One - Working with Others

The big idea: Four of Casper’s nine competencies are about how you handle other people: collaboration, communication, empathy, and fairness.
Carry it into the test as: Show these through what you would say and do, not by naming them.

Casper assesses nine competencies. Acuity Insights lists them as a flat set; we group them into two chapters for teaching. This chapter covers the four that are most about other people. You do not choose which competency a scenario tests, and you should never name them in your answer (“this shows my collaboration”). They emerge naturally when you run the DECIDE method well. Knowing them simply sharpens your eye for what a strong answer should demonstrate, and they are how you review your practice.

Collaboration

Working with others toward a shared goal, and putting that goal ahead of being right or taking credit.

A strong answer shows: including others, sharing information, resolving conflict so the team keeps functioning, valuing the outcome over winning.
Common miss: solving the problem alone in a way that sidelines or bruises the team. A solo win that wrecks the group is not collaboration.
Everyday anchor: in a group cook, you make sure everyone has a job and the meal comes together, rather than taking over the kitchen.
In an answer: “I would bring the group together to agree on who does what,” not “I would just do it myself to be safe.”

Communication

Getting your meaning across clearly and respectfully, and listening as much as talking.

A strong answer shows: choosing the right time and place, listening first, being direct without being harsh, checking that you understood the other person.
Common miss: a blunt or public delivery that is technically honest but damages the relationship, or assuming instead of asking.
Everyday anchor: you raise a problem with a friend privately and calmly, instead of firing off an angry group text.
In an answer: “I would ask what happened from their side before responding,” not “I would tell them they were wrong.”

Empathy

Noticing how another person feels and letting it shape what you do.

A strong answer shows: acknowledging the other person’s emotion, responding to the human and not just the task, extending good faith.
Common miss: a technically correct response that steps over a distressed person, or empathy that stops at sympathy and never acts.
Everyday anchor: when a friend gets bad news, you sit with them before you start offering fixes.
In an answer: “I would acknowledge how frustrating the long wait must be before anything else,” not “I would explain the policy.”

Fairness

Treating people equitably, applying rules consistently, and weighing everyone’s interests rather than just the loudest person’s.

A strong answer shows: considering who else is affected, applying a principle evenly, resisting favoritism even when it is uncomfortable.
Common miss: helping the person in front of you at the hidden expense of others, like the discount for one customer that is unfair to all the rest.
Everyday anchor: you split the group’s work by what is even, not by who complains the most.
In an answer: “Giving my friend the leaked questions would be unfair to everyone who studied honestly,” not “I would help my friend because they are my friend.”

Key takeaways

Four competencies cover how you work with people: collaboration, communication, empathy, and fairness.
Demonstrate them through concrete words and actions; never name them in your answer.
The common misses are the lone-wolf fix, the harsh or public delivery, the cold correct answer, and helping one person at others’ hidden expense.
A scenario usually surfaces several at once; running DECIDE well brings them out naturally.