4 Capability Framework Examples

A capability framework outlines the skills, knowledge and behaviours an organisation needs to achieve its goals.

Done right, a capability framework should be accessible and understandable for everyone in the organisation.

Key Elements of a Capability Framework

Core Capabilities

These are the overarching groups of capabilities in your framework. They are defined by looking at business drivers or functions and their reinforcing activities. Without even one core capability, your organisation would be flying blind, which is why they sit at the top of your framework.

Example: Governance.

Sub-capabilities

Under each core capability will be a collection of subcapabilities that further anatomise critical key skills, behaviours and knowledge. The number of sub-capabilities under a core capability is really up to your organisational needs.

Example: Coaching Talent.

Competency Levels

Managing performance of capabilities comes courtesy of competencies – generally in the form of a scale or spectrum. To define competency levels, break capabilities into behaviours or job roles.

Example: Sharing own knowledge and experience to develop others.

Specialist Capabilities

These are optional. They essentially add a specialist stream of capabilities to better reflect organisational requirements.

The time to do this is when there are additional or potentially complex expertise and behaviours tied to job roles or families e.g., leadership capabilities or legal department.

Enterprise Framework Examples

Enterprise capability frameworks are hard to come by, and for good reason. They are an organisation’s secret sauce recipe. So, we have to look to consultants.

Deloitte’s Leadership Capability Model

This one is a good example of using strategic drivers as the tentpoles of your framework.

Core capabilities are derived from the most complex leadership responsibilities, grouped under people, relationship and business leadership. But from there, sub-capabilities – not just competencies – are linked to specific levels of leadership.

The Learning and Performance Institute (LPI) Capability Framework

This framework uses 5 core capability groups for 25 subcapabilities, each with 4 measurable levels of competency (and the baseline competency of no experience).

These measures of competency aren’t tied to job roles but are ultimately a strategic display of performance.

Takeaway

At its core, a capability framework should effectively align performance with organisational outcomes. Just remember that for every behaviour, skill, process or expertise noted, there should be a strategic impact felt by the performance of that capability.

Public Sector Framework Examples

Public sector capability frameworks differ slightly from private sector ones. They need to be reviewed in the interests of not just employees, but also the community they serve, which means they need to be agile.

NSW Public Service Commission Capability Framework

Outlines 20 organisational capabilities organised into 5 groups, where each sub-capability has 5 levels of competence.

In their guide, each sub-capability is denoted by its core capability, a performance descriptor of the sub-capability itself and its competency levels.

Office of Personnel Management Competency Approach

The American vernacular uses competency, but we and many industry thinkers prefer capability.

This approach’s capabilities are created and framed within the context of nearly 200 federal job roles. They offer ready-made frameworks for certain functions and a list of capabilities HR can utilise to manage performance.

Takeaway

Both of these examples act simply as a pool from which functional managers and human resources can draw from for processes like job role design, performance management, talent mobility and career planning.

You can learn more about this topic by checking out the full article: https://acornlms.com/enterprise-learning-management/capability-framework-examples