Difference between Ability, Capacity, Capability, Competency, & Excellence!

In business, we often take stock of materials and equipment meticulously but not that of the human skills with as much seriousness. We hear people say, I have able people but still don't get desired Performance.

Competency assessment and deployment is an important part of the job of leaders to get a desired level of Performance in a business setting. In order to do so, one must understand the difference between Ability, Capacity, Capability and the Competence.

As an example, one may say that, "I have the ability to write!"

But “How much can I write in what timeline?”

The ability (the skills) with a relevant measure to perform a given task or a process defines the capacity of a given person (just like that of an equipment) and in turn that of an entity. So one may say that my capacity to write is 50-words per minute (wpm) and I can keep writing for 1-hour at a stretch, say.

But “How much should I actually be able to write as per the demand of the situation?"

Say, the demand is to write 50-wpm for at least 2-hours at a stretch!

If I've the ability to improve to a level such that I can handle the gap between the demand and my current capacity level then I've the capability to perform at a raised level.

Can I win a competition of writing (speed & duration) though?

If I can challenge, compete & deliver the desired level of results (rather win the competition) in terms of quality and quantity successfully then "i am competent."

Accordingly, for Competency Assessment one may categorise employees as follows based on their competencies or the levels of their skills.

 

Five categories of employees based on their competency or skill levels to perform a job or a work are as follows.

 

1.  Novices! or Beginners! - Those who ‘don’t know’ How & Why of the job.

2.  Able! or Intermediates! - Those who ‘can do’ but ‘can’t deliver promises’.

3.  Capable! - Those who ‘can’ & improve ‘capacity level to deliver promises’.

4.  Competent! - Those who 'can troubleshoot & win' but ‘can’t transfer knowledge’.

5.  Experts! - Those who have ‘knowledge, can perform, troubleshoot, and coach others to make them competent'.

 

Table (from my book "TPM for Reliable and Just-In-Time Value Delivery to Customer") shows the evaluation criteria and corresponding training implications to graduate to a higher skill or competency level.

So how does one get performance!

The equation I've put in my book: "Ego + Ego: We Go! Behavior Modulation Techniques To Improve Kaizen Leadership, Performance & Negotiation Skills" is as follows.

With the understanding on the difference between Ability, Capacity, Capability and the Competence, I would like to revisit the above equation to get Performance as follows in order to get a Desired Level of Performance.

To get a Desired Level of Performance, it is the Capacity in place of Ability.

Now the equation looks like as follows:

Capacity + Motivation + Environmental nudges = Desired Performance

To get a Raised level of Performance, it is Capability in place of Capacity.

Now the equation looks like as follows:

Capability + Motivation + Environmental nudges = Raised level of Performance

To get a Benchmark level of Performance, it is Competence in place of Capability.

Now the equation looks like as follows:

Competence + Motivation + Environmental nudges = Benchmark levels of Performance

Believing in self to perform, planning meticulously and executing the plan to win is to lead one-self!

Helping and enabling others to do so & create more leaders is about the leadership without which the journey (as follows) to create 'benchmarks' and create 'excellent*' organisations could be a nightmare!

The Journey:

Beginner! (to) > Able! (to) > Capable! (to) > Competent! (to) > Excellent* Company!

(*10 out of 10 on a Radar* scale of 0-to-10)

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Do You Force Customers To Quit
In-a-problem ? No-problem! Dwell-a-while!
Customer or Custo-Mer ?  
Experienced A Delightful Payment ! 
An Experience of Heart-and-Soul 
Do you keep curing your brand ?  
A customer gets what s/he deserves: Shoddy Quality!  
Listen to iceberg of VOC to acquire customers 
Less With More And More Gets Sore 
Should one care for value ?  
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture 
Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?  
The Business Of Businesses 
That's how some business partnerships work 
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !! 
Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily 
Does recognition really matter 
That's How Morons Work
Simplicity Of Theory Of Relativity

Who Comes First: Consumer Or Customer ?

Other day in one of my sessions, the marketing staff complained about (false) sale of some products. The goods sold by the company a couple of years ago were still lying in near-unpacked condition at buyer's end. The new staff at their client company appeared non-cooperative when the seller approached to effect a new sale.

The objective of the training workshop was to improve sales revenue. The case under study turned out to be one of a wrong-sale.

Why were the goods lying in near-unpacked condition for so long?

Because the user didn't find it fit-for-use.

Why?
Because the order was finalized by purchase manager without adequate involvement of the end-user.

What had happened was the seller knew the purchase manager who happened to have 'influence' on closing the deal. So he used his relationship to materialise the order.

In the process the real user got ignored.

Not only does ego of the user gets hurt due to such indifference but also some opportunities get lost.

Opportunity to understand real needs: the voices of grassroot level customers.
Opportunity to design-in such voices in order to make the offering robust.
Opportunity to outdo competition through customized offering.
Opportunity to enhance relationship.
Opportunity to create 'word-of-mouth' publicity advocates reinforced through delightful experience of the offering.

All this loss at the cost of loss of future business.

Buyer's management might succeed in forcing the end-user to use bought goods particularly if it's a costly capital equipment. But such forceful 'selling' calls for some long-term Costs-Of-Poor-Quality (COPQ): Costs due to reluctance to use. Costs of wrong use. Costs due to inadequate serving of purpose. Costs of sour relationships among people within and without.

All this waste because of overselling or inadequate selling.

What's the learning?

Understand the difference between Consumer and Customer! End-user of the pen or pencil, the child for instance, is the consumer. Buyer, the parents, are the customer.

Consider the voice of consumer regarding functional use (her needs) first while designing an offering.

Do consider the voice of customer as well in order to design-in peripheral aspects of the offering as well as nuts and bolts of the corresponding buying process: the wants.

Sometimes however the role of consumer as well of the customer may be played by the same personality.

In any case, she might take presence of both the needs and wants for granted as a 'must'. But the seller/marketeer can't afford to because the absence of both surely won't be taken for granted individually nor jointly by both the consumer as well as the customer.

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Aesthetics Spills-Over Function, Want Spills-Over Need (Part-1)
Aesthetics Spills-Over Function, Want Spills-Over Need (Part-2)
Functional-Aesthetics
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling
How To Make A Difference
Nauseous Communication Gaps
Judge If It's Paralysis-By-Analysis
Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!
Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily
Does recognition really matter
Customer or Custo-Mer ? 
Experienced A Delightful Payment !
An Experience of Heart-and-Soul
Do you keep curing your brand ? 
A customer gets what s/he deserves: Shoddy Quality! 
Listen to iceberg of VOC to acquire customers
Do You Force Customers To Quit
Should one care for value ? 
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms !
Do You Ask Right Questions ? 
Talk In Order To Listen! 

Talent-Is-Latent: Enable It!

Business of the company that I went to assess was driven by research and development (R&D), high obsolescence of products and uniquely varying needs of customers.

High customisation was the order of the day. That in turn called for high level of customer contact and listening skills in order to capture voice of customer (VOC) precisely. This obviously calls for leadership skills to get it made in-house and get delivered before competition could do.

The need may appear unique to the company. But this in fact is the order of the day for most suppliers given the ever dynamic market place characterised by VUCA¹ and high level of competition.

While CEO of the company was keen to improve business processes to help retain their position externally, simultaneous concern was about 'attrition' he had been facing. Recently 'bought' talent also left, he complained.

Won't the training go waste under such circumstances, he feared.

Between the trained people leaving and untrained ones living (with you) for ever with their errors to annoy you, what is better?

Education, training and coaching builds people. Between 'Building' relevant skills captively versus installing 'Bought' skills as a foreign particle, what is preferable?

Companies need to understand that building pipelines of people is no less important alongside building the pipelines of products. In fact the former should be their prime agenda.

Why do people quit?
Especially those with high aspirations definitely do.

In fact, those without aspirations too move in absence of a conducive environment to hold them back. One of the major reasons of the other party leaving is indifferent treatment be it to people in general or to a customer in particular. 

So one of the most important portfolios of the CEO is not to leave HRD² to HR-D (HR-Department). Instead, creating culture that 'compels' people to stay back should be her hands-on agenda driven personally.

One can't ignore the fact that even seemingly dumb people have intelligence, so-called average though. It usually stays latent or dormant until challenged.

Leaving aside their own ego, superiors just need to facilitate unleashing it by making them feel confident and help them to realise their self-worth. They just need to be given an opportunity and a platform to shine. This can be done by encouraging them to express their thoughts, experiment corresponding changes in their work area without fear-of-failure.

It's a process of enabling³ people.

Once done, latent talent can be seen flowering and flowing-in smoothly. The pipeline of HRD can be seen getting 'built' that not only ensures employee retention but also creates a pull.

How to enable³ people?

First of all collect (Not Buy!) people who have fire-in-their-belly although with not-very-high aspirations and high-qualifications. Then enable³ them step-by-step. 

Step-1. Establish your credibility by demonstrating your actions on what you speak.

Step-2. Explain your expectations from them. Communicate your urgency and seriousness through complimentary evidences.

Step-3. Educate, train and coach them.

Education is to help them acquire goal specific knowledge.
Training is to help them acquire goal specific and industry-relevant, organisation-specific skills.
Coaching is to help them on 'Do-Why' and 'Do-How' in order to apply the knowledge and skills to enthusiastically achieve the goals of common good.

Step-4. Encourage, inspire & motivate to keep them engaged in the process. Give them a platform to showcase their talent and to shine.

Step-5. Empower them: Give them freedom-within-a-framework to experiment without fear of failures.

Step-6. Ennoble, means dignify them with high respect. Recognize & reward their achievements by actively listening to their efforts.

Step-7. Repeat the enablement cycle to take up higher challenges.

'Building' people rather than 'Buying' them is in a true sense creating a learning organisation as companies like Toyota do. It's their company level strategy driven by the top rather than merely a HRD² strategy left to the HR-D.

Footnotes:
1. VUCA: Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous. A term of military origin that represents warfare environment.
2. HRD: Human Resource Development.
3. Model 7-E© from Book "How To Enable A Change Process? Start-From-Self". Author: Shyam Talawadekar.

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!
Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily
Does recognition really matter
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?
Do you know a Best-Career-Plan
Take your career in fast lane!
Succession-Plans In Fast Lane! 
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms !
Nauseous Communication Gaps
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam!
Will It Work Here? 
Some Moron ! Some Great !!!  
That's How Morons Work
You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable
Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass 
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling
Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture
Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?
Make checklists your friends 
Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow
How To Make A Difference
Big-Be Or Bug-Be !
A customer gets what s/he deserves: Shoddy Quality!
Listen to iceberg of VOC to acquire customers

Doesn't Matter Who Wins As Long As Customer Wins

There are n-number of comparisons in the market between Apple and Samsung fighting neck-to-neck for market-leadership position. Recently I came across one that addressed who-will-win between them. It had good comparison parameters in terms of innovation management, management leadership, brand, design, ecosystem compatibility, user experience, customer needs, profitability, growth, etc. 

For a customer whoever wins is OK as long as the customer herself wins. Knowing this winning companies win customers by making them win. In order to be in the league, suppliers have to speak to more of their own customers as well as that of the competition. They have to do this more often because hardly four percent (4%) of dissatisfied customers speak. Even loyalists don't speak at times. Hence to make all of them speak they have to articulate transactions with them more assertively without hurting them.

Here is an example of how much more the suppliers need to do by finding their own ways and means to capture such voice-of-customer (VOC). 

The solution wasn't there both in Apple as well as in Samsung device at least until the time I went to e-press to publish this post. Assuming that my search for the one on Google was inadequate, what I am surprised is why should it take so long to copy-paste such a simple feature that existed in Motorola sometime in 1997. I still have that model in my museum. 

Someone may say customer may have so many funny VOCs and behaviors. It's difficult to capture all of them especially the maverick wants in final offerings.

That's exactly the point I wished to express through this blogpost, the often repeated cliche: It's difficult but not impossible. And it can't be so difficult for it to take decades as in case of above example. 

There are many such funny VOCs floating around that can be accommodated without much costs. Easy ones everyone can do. The one who does so with difficult ones also and does so speedily without adding costs to the customer is the one who wins.

Looking forward to my above need in future models of one of these companies. In case you come across such one in future please do inform me through the comment box hereunder. 

Winning 2-Minutes To Customer

Just read in Loksatta about one Mr Chitale receiving compensation of Rupees 7250 directly transferred to his bank account y British Airways for wheel of his bag getting damaged in handling. Airlines' response was smooth and speedy he said. Airlines had tried to repair the bag through their supply-chain partner but in vain.

In 1997, I was in NewYork on a group-study-exchange mission organised by Rotary International. While traveling from NewYork to Orlando, inadvertently my bag reached to Chicago. I complained to the airlines office at the airport. They promptly sanctioned 100 Dollars to me against the bills for essentials like overnight clothes, toothpaste, etc. Being around Disneyland I was happy to buy a couple Mickey-Mouse brand clothes at the airport.

Next day morning I got a 'good-morning' call from reception desk saying my bag was already in the hotel lobby safe and sound. Not much trouble for me although the airlines did have an opportunity to eliminate the error in baggage handling.

In a stark contrast to such delightful experiences, in 1981 I had to run from pillar to post knocking doors and windows in vain for a broken bag and its damaged contents due to erroneous handling by Air-India. Since then I avoid flying on it: a customer-quit as they say.

I remember that painful experience even after decades.

What is the learning?

There might be some chance of a person forgetting a good experience but hardly any chance of a customer forgetting bad experience from a supplier.

In case of one airline it was about 'sensitivity' to customer complaint while dealing it with a 'sense-of-urgency'. In case of other airline it was about 'indifference' to customer.

Now a days the sensitivity has acquired some strategy and structure to respond to customer complaints as a part of excellence-journey of companies. 

A Structure To Respond To Customer

I had introduced a 2-2-2-2©structure in terms of a model to respond to any stakeholder in general and to customer in particular. It was first introduced in a Cummins group company: Fleetguard Filters Limited Pune.

It was later on institutionalised in Cummins group worldwide.

In the context of a customer complaint, the 2-2-2-2© model might mean 2-Minutes, 2-Hours, 2-Days, 2-Weeks time-bound response to  customer for a given level of performance strived for. The response is supposed to eliminate root cause/s of the abnormality within 2-Weeks rather than stopping at first-aid treatment that anyway must be given within 2-Minutes. A powerful review mechanism driven by CEO (with an escalation matrix that an aggrieved customer can access in case of non-compliance) is an integral part of the structured process in order to ensure the timeline and quality of it's compliance. 

In the context of various other business situations, the timeline may be different and must evolve. For instance for an emergency/crisis having high impact, it could mean 2-Seconds, 2-Minutes, 2-Hours, 2-Days.

There is an empowerment mechanism built into the structure. Timeline-based visible dimensions as above are the generic ones. Company specific visible dimensions may be some sanction limits such as 100 Dollars compensation or a freedom to handover gift for the hassles or the efforts taken by the customer to complain and so on.

More important are the invisible dimensions that result into the culture reflected in terms of the spirit, the body-language, the humbleness, the humility such as that I had experienced while the airline employees responded to the complaint in making it hassle-free and speedy. 

There is tremendous scope and choice for innovations in both in order to delight customer with differentiation. The invisible ones in particular are difficult to emulate. That's where lies the competitive advantage.

If such a structure is implemented effectively, the customer becomes supplier's advocate and it's rewarding in long run as well as in terms of short term sales and numbers. Such an advocate is much more effective than even a highly paid marketing manager.

A prospective customer is likely to believe and act more often if recommendation comes from the horse's mouth: The Word-Of-Mouth!

What do you do when a dog barks at you?

I mind my business if the dog minds it's own business. 

But what do I do if it barks at me?

What options does one have when a dog on street barks at her while s/he is busy minding her business?

Option-1, Fail-to-notice or Simply-walk-away hoping that it won't harm me.
Option-2, Flight as they say or Run-away thinking that it will harm me.
Option-3, Fight-back 'Acting' or Be prepared to Hit-back-hard (in order to prevent dog becoming offensive).

If you have tried each or some of these options sometime or the other in past, it may be interesting for you to study the consequences you faced. 

'Funny' were those days when I faced such situations particularly on lonely streets while returning late from library during my college days.

If I simply walked away, the dog would continue barking. At times it became aggressive too. What-if I had not 'acted' to hit back with a stone? 'Fear of consequences' itself used to force me to 'act' anyway. I still continue the practice of 'acting' if needs be.

Once while a friend was with me, by-design I 'acted' to run away. And the dog became aggressive. It ran after me. Of course we were well-prepared to protect ourselves.

What's the learning?

If you keep quiet when someone hits you, be it a physical assault or a competitor's attack, actually you end up reinforcing the aggressor's behavior as justified. Like the street-dog, aggressor might become aggressive every time you are in sight.

Unless there's clarity-on or fear-of 'consequences', the aggressor would continue enjoying the bullying.

What's your role then? To subscribe to the famous Gandhian principle of "If someone slaps you on one cheek, show him your other cheek."? Or behave like epic character Raam?

If you misinterpret this statement to your detriment, you should be responsible and accountable for the consequences.

Perhaps Gandhiji himself didn't mean it that way. At least I am not ready to believe this at the cost of facing consequences of some Gandhian researcher's annoyance though.

I believe that Gandhiji himself hated cowardliness. Perhaps difference in his approach was that he was bold enough to be ready to face adverse consequences, if any, of adopting non-violent mode while fighting for just-rights.

My corollary in understanding Gandhiji is if I am not bold enough to face consequences of choosing non-violent mode then I must either take help of available lawful modes or in fact hit-back-hard in case of emergency or rather fight back well-in-time (proactively) in order to prevent one from arising. Care-before-Cure I mean. It might mean using Krishna-tactics to ward off sanely-looking people but insanely-inside.

Title-line of a Hindi song aroused P.J.-poet in me to pen down my belief in Krishna-kind of philosophy in this context to live in the modern world.

जैसे को मिले तैसा

जैसे को करें ऐसा-वैसा
राम संग बर्ताव राम जैसा
तो मुँहमें-राम बगलमें-छूरीवाले
कंस संग कृष्ण जैसा
समझले वरना खुदी हो जाओ ऐसातैसा

जैसे को करें ऐसा-वैसा 

राम संग राम जैसा कंस संग कृष्ण जैसा

क्युं है ज़ड-जोरू-जमीन पे भरोसा
अंतमें ज़ड को सारोने परोसा
तो जोरू ने अच्छेसे तरोसा 
जमीन ने खिसेको जो खरोसा
समझले वरना खुदी हो जाओ ऐसातैसा

जैसे को करें ऐसा-वैसा

 राम संग राम जैसा कंस संग कृष्ण जैसा

क्युं तू करे पैसापैसा
भूल गया आया तू नंगे कैसा
जाओगे खाली हाथ वैसे के वैसा
होना ही है एकदिन ये तमासा जैसा
समझले वरना खुदी हो जाओ ऐसातैसा

जैसे को करें ऐसा-वैसा

 राम संग राम जैसा कंस संग कृष्ण जैसा

Listen to the iceberg of VOC to acquire customers

Having traveled over 500-Kilometers in a 'bus-to-hell', I requested the agent to "book my return-journey on a bus-service that follows road-safety norms (especially the overtaking related), doesn't honk horn excessively, nor does it overuse brakes."

There was no other convenient alternative mode. A debt-ridden airliner had stopped operating on that (the Mumbai-Hubli) sector.

The travel agent gave me a funny look as if he was booking a ticket for an alien.

Not his fault because he was used to conventional requests like "timeliness, cleanliness, bus-with-video", etc. But someone like an idiosyncratic like me had to do the nasty job of giving customer-feedback. I usually don't hesitate doing so, sometimes even by making unusual requests such as above although unsure of the cognizance of it. 

I'm optimistic that sometime someone will. I think every customer who isn't, deserves to get a shoddy quality if s/he does!

Anyway, whether a customer complains or not, is it difficult for owners/managers of tourist buses to prevent their bus-drivers from overdoing: honking, speeding-up, braking on-and-oft, etc. kind of bad work habits. Now a days even digital technology is available to do so. Drivers, especially the bus-drivers, are constantly in a mood to kiss other speeding vehicles passing by.

Perhaps only on Indian roads the passengers must be getting reduced to a continuously-rattling grain-in-a-sieve. One has to master the art of Napolean-nap (quick nap on horse that he's famous for) to be able to take one in between a couple of sets of honking and braking in buses in India.

Forget feedback or lodging a complaint, hardly anyone even dares to voice such abnormal driving behavior. Surely s/he won't for the fear of the 'boss'-driver particularly if forced to travel frequently in the same bus.

Some companies do have a mechanism to capture such voice-of-customer (VOC). Because they know that, although sounding like 'idiosyncratic' casual remarks, VOC are just a tip of the iceberg (of complaints not voiced by many others for various reasons).

Some of them are sensible and sensitive enough to take next steps that of digging into the iceberg to take corrective and preventive actions treating such voices as 'complaints', although at times they may not be so.

- But having taken actions, how many look at the resulting improved practices as a competitive advantage! 

- How many build upon them and deploy them horizontally as specifications enhancing their own standards over and above their 'core-offering'! 

- How many communicate them (through their marketing promotion programme) in order to differentiate their services from from others!

Those who do, do score over their competition!

What steps do such forward looking companies take?

1/ They educate their staff that hardly over 4-out-of-100 dissatisfied customers might end up complaining. Rest just quit without-telling even as the so-called satisfied customers continue to 'live' with abnormalities until of course they get alternative-options.

2/ They install various mechanisms such as follows to capture VOC.

- They actually travel like a ghost-customer (known as mystery-shopping practice) in order to learn by observing abnormal as also good practices, if any.

- They train their staff to speak and/or 'actively-listen' to customers just as a mother would do with her tiny tots in order to learn their unspoken-unmet needs over and above their 'crying' wants anyway.

3/ They put Kaizen-improvements in place on relevant VOC observations, abnormal as well as good practices of own as also that from customer's gemba, and unspoken-unmet needs as also wants.

4/ They train and re-train their stakeholders on the above for effective implementation.

Actually specifications such as timeliness, cleanliness, video, etc. are a given 'Must-Quality' norms to enter or at the most to be in business.

Additionally it is the satisfaction of VOC: unspoken-unmet needs as well as wants (that's why it is called as 'Quality-that-Delights' the customer) that has the power - to expand the base of customer as also of the business (Ansoff-Matrix) by not only helping to bring out innovative products/services but also - to pull in additional customers (brand-affinity) while retaining the existing ones on existing products/services (brand-loyalty).

Of course, effectively communicating the resultant differentiations among all its stakeholders is part and parcel of the process.

Very few companies actually administer such a conducive mechanism by-design. Imagine the scope to benefit from it in terms of top-line sales and bottom-line profits if they do.

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.

No Time? Micro-Meditate!  
Functional-Aesthetics
Listen To The Iceberg Beyond Tip

Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up? 
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully 
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important? 
Eternally Happy! 
In-a-problem? No-problem! Dwell-a-while! 
I am afraid ! What do I do !! 
Fearful-Of-Death-of-Birth
Take Habits For A Ride 
Happy-Birthday-to-Youooo
Do You Celebrate Mean-or-Green 
Big-Be Or Bug-Be ! 
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam! 
Are You Good If Others Are Bad?  
Want Need-Or-Want 
How To Make A Difference 
Love is Care.. Care is Love !  
Deity is in the eyes of the beholder 
Success-or-failure! What-do-you-like?
Ball-Basin-Team Combine !  Maketh The Smile Divine !! 

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation