The term ‘capability’ and the more commonly used (in HR) term ‘competency’, are essentially interchangeable. Reading the HR literature will provide you with little in the way of a consistent definition of the term beyond what we intuitively understand it to be. I tend to use the term capability more often. It just seems more descriptive of something bigger than an ability. I think of it (very colloquially) as being able to do something meaningful, well, in the real world. Which is essentially what the term competency means as well, so let’s not split hairs.
Capability is holistic
Whether you call it competency or capability, one thing that you will find broad agreement on is that this is a holistic term. The most common way of breaking down the whole is into the following parts. I’ve used the term competency here because this structure will typically be found in job descriptions and the like.
Knowledge: Knowing ‘what’ to do to perform the competency, and having the requisite professional information and understanding which describes the effective performance of the competency.
Skill: Knowing ‘how’ to perform it competently, including the judgement required to put the knowledge into practice effectively.
Ability: the ‘raw material’, or innate components of the competency that enable it to be performed effectively. These are the things we have been endowed with that are typically stable over time rather than those things easily able to be gained through learning. They are usually some kind of measurable cognitive, sensory or physical ability.
Other characteristics: Often this is the category for ‘everything else’. I prefer to think of these things as the ‘make or break’ factors. They are the characteristics that often toe the line between our personal and professional selves that help us be our best in both realms. They are often the things that help us cope with our environment and thereby enable us to perform the skill better than we would without them.
The secret ingredients of capability development
There are three aspects of capability development that I consider essential for true learning and growth to occur – self-reflection, practice and feedback, learning from others.
Self-reflection
Thinking of dancers, there are two analogies that are helpful for understanding the role of self-reflection. One is the mirror in dance studios. It allows you to see yourself as you dance. You get immediate feedback. Without it, you'll struggle to make meaningful progress because you haven’t got a reference point to compare with what you feel yourself doing. It allows you to see what you are doing, and what you look like, so that you can make changes.
The equivalent of the dance studio mirror in strategic thinking capability development is called meta-cognition. It is the ability to think about our thinking – observe our thoughts as we think them. In the same way as the mirror, without it, you'll struggle to make meaningful progress. Which is why it is the bedrock on which my teaching is designed.
Another analogy is that of a dancer watching a recording of their performance after the fact, which leads us to the next secret ingredient…
Practice and feedback
We all have the opportunity to practice our professional capabilities in our roles on a daily basis, but it is what happens immediately afterwards that determines how much we grow from our experience. The default is often to stuff down any feelings of incompetence or awareness of learning needs, sometimes in the rush to get onto the next thing, and sometimes because those feelings are darned uncomfortable! Making space after practicing a skill to reflect and consider feedback on how you went is where the dots are joined and learning accelerates.
But let's be real—it isn't always easy to face the mirror when it means acknowledging flaws or areas where we need significant improvement, right? And it is even harder to hear feedback from people we work with on how we need to improve. What is needed is a safe space for questioning and pulling apart your performance for the sole purpose of learning how to improve. Coaching and mentoring from those outside of your immediate workplace is often the best source of this kind of safe, supportive feedback.
The challenge with developing a ‘thinking’ capability, is that no one but you can hear your thought process! We can’t watch it on playback like a dance performance. So you are not going to get feedback on that unless you take the time to share it with someone who has the right lens and language for helping you to ‘see’ what you are doing and improve on it.
Learning from others
We limit ourselves when we learn inside our own heads. Don’t get me wrong, you can still learn a certain amount on your own, but you can expand your learning by many times by walking through a learning experience with others who are on a similar journey. Theirs will be unique to them, but even seeing how others perform a task who are opposite to you in some way can be an enlightening way to open your eyes to new possibilities, question your habits, and remove your own self-imposed limits.
This is especially the case when learning a thinking capability because as I mentioned, we don’t always get a chance to see others, or share our own. I’ve seen people make huge strides in their growth simply because they realise that they are just as capable in some areas as people they’ve always looked up to, or because they realise that those people are struggling with things that come naturally to themselves, or they’re encouraged by the fact that everyone is strong is some area and working on another.
Strategic thinking capability development
Strategic thinking is one of those skills that is revered as a professional skill, yet is rarely taught. When looking to learn this skill, my advice is to look for a well-designed programme that is holistic, in that it doesn’t just teach you ‘what’ to do, and one that involves structured self-reflection, practice and feedback, and learning from others.
Aaaannnndd… it just so happens I know of one! You can check it out here.
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