2010-08-11T22:37:00.000-07:00

We live in uncertain times and face significant change, where organisations face the challenge of survival as never before, and governments grapple with greater community expectations.

Reaching for more red tape or “command and control” shackles organizations and does not liberate them to respond to the challenges and excel. A hollow response.

The battle is on: Can we really adapt and change?

Our employees are like troops in the trenches. Trained and disciplined to do what they have been told, competently trained.

Yesterday’s thinking: Good enough (maybe) for the 20th Century but not the 21^st.

What we need are organizations and employees who can flexibly adapt to challenges together: Capability.

Capability is defined as:

“The ability to act quickly, effectively, and innovatively to a changing environment and to customer needs”.

A concept well researched and developed over many years.

What is this difference between competence and capability? Simply it’s the difference between:

Externally prescribed practices, and internalised excellence.

Running by the rule book, or imaging the future and making it happen.

Dare to be great, dare to win?

Then you need to grow from mere competence to being truly capable. Grasp the millennium shift.

Figure 1 shows the difference: Competencies meet standards, capability excels them.

Find out more by reading my Google Knol Capability and Organizational Health.

What have you to lose? 30 years of research in one article.

Capability: Are your employees self starting?