Tony Robbins: An American author and coach says,
while James Carter, Jr. (an American politician)says,
“God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes and we must.”
The dignitaries used two words:
Capacity: that refers to what a person can do in a standardized and controlled environment,
Capability: that refers to as a person’s ability or potential to do something, and
Performance: that connect both.
The importance of these qualities for a person and their significance for both people and organizations is a must learn topic if one has to succeed in life.
Hi readers! you must have heard the two words: capacity and capability but, most of you must not have paid attention to the significance of both for a person and why they are important for an organization?
Apparently, these are small words but actually they are not because of not being well understood due to their characteristically different backgrounds. Similarly, leadership and leadership skills are not well defined and are poorly understood like capacity and capability which we frequently interchange unknowingly that the concept behind the two entities is inherently different though interrelated. Understanding the two is therefore imperative for their proper usage.
In a physical sense, capacity is the maximum amount that someone can contain or possess. It can be very well defined, for example, an elevator with a capacity of 1,500 lbs., will carry only this much weight as overloading will create problems. Similarly, people with limited time, energy and health cannot operate beyond this limit which affect their ability to work especially at peak level, under work overload, or under stress.
Contrary to this, capability is defined as a person’s ability (such as skills or aptitude) or potential that a person possesses, learn and/or develop over time to do something. Effective leadership, however, needs both the capacity to lead and ability to do the right things while the rest is for those who do the things right.
The question is what role the capacity play in an organizational functioning?
When I was working, I used to read/anticipate the minds of those working with me (there were many of different levels) and know exactly what they are up to? Not only this but I knew the capabilities and capacities of my bosses. I use this to plan my strategies for getting my work done and the objectives achieved. Luckly, I remained successful.
How could I do this? No one has taught me, but it was my inherent capability and aptitude that forced me to do what no one else could do. What I wanted to say is that organizations should understand and assess the capacity and limitations of their workers and pay attention to the factors that affect their performance such as
• Time: which should be flexible,
• Recognition: for the hard work of their employee to give them confidence that their work is being valued in their organization, and
• looking after their health and wellness by spending resources on them.
I have seen all this done amicably in organizations yet, most fail to produce effective workers and leaders because capacity alone cannot do it and it is where capability has to come in. Also, what the employees (largely educated people) return in terms of productivity cannot be matched with what the organization do to look after their wellbeing, which employees consider as their right.
Doing all this to the helpers kept in the house (illiterate and uncouth) does not make any change in them either as they are what they are and exhibit quite often where they are born and brought up. You can’t change or train them come what may. (This is my decades long experience which I will explain at the end).
Similar to this situation is the leadership and leadership skills that are not well defined and understood like capacity and capability which we frequently interchange unknowingly that the concept behind the two entities is inherently different though interrelated. Hence understanding the two is imperative for their proper usage.
The capability of an organization is the ability to facilitate efficient and effective functionality throughout various departments. For example, a software development corporation relies on several competencies such as
Expert-level software coding,
Quality assurance testing acumen, and
Managerial and customer support skills, in order to achieve successful product delivery outcomes.
Important among these three competencies is the human element. Skilled and knowledgeable humans can bring life to the capabilities of an organization as they possess:
expertise to utilize tools,
ability to implement processes, and competence to
drive the organization toward success.
Unskilled and ignorant people do the reverse of that, and I have witnessed this at several place in an organization where it is sometime done knowingly to oblige some blue eyed or to destroy the work of some to whom most are envoy.
It is important to understand that:
Capability refers to the ability to perform specific tasks effectively,
involve necessary tools, processes, and skilled personnel,
relates to components of project management, strategy, and organizational operations, and
involves the development, management, maintenance, and operations of various functions.
Therefore, enhancing capabilities will increase the maturity of an organization and her ability to deliver results.
Organizations that do not possess these characteristics will fail in all facets of their organizational chain: PIA, Steal Mill, Railway and other such big organization can be quoted as example which indicated that we as a nation do not possess even that much capability and capacity that enables us to recognize our deficiencies.
Dear readers! somewhere in 2013, I was sitting in a high-power interview board where I was asked “what is our major problem” and I replied to “capacity building” to which the board members did not agree without properly listening and understanding to what I said? This proved that none of them could understand what capacity building means except providing short-term training for a specific task. No dear reader! this is not capacity building.
Capacity is an entity which relates to the organization’s ability to meet her objectives and fulfil her responsibilities within a given timeframe. How can we achieve this is a big question.
Dear readers! if you look around, you will find the dilemma of this country and that is we lack:
the capacity to listen because we think listening to others is our insult,
since we don’t listen properly, we cannot comprehend it fully, and
since we cannot comprehend fully hence, we cannot communicate
effectively and conduct certain tasks amicably. The result is that we waist our energies in blame game and stands nowhere.
Even the helpers employed inside the house tends to do things exactly the reverse of what they are told. And this is despite the fact that they are being provided with three decent meals, adequate residential facilities, proper clothing and a handsome salary that they send to their dependents without spending a single penny (because all their need are amicably catered) and they are continuously doing that for years.
I have elaborated this here indicating that they apparently have no finical worries for themselves or their families, nevertheless, I could not understand whether they do it habitually or deliberately? I guess it is habitual because they have not been trained to provide services, rather they expect us to provide them with everything as charity. They are not interested in work. If sometimes I tell them to do things in certain manners, they will do them at that moment but next day, they will do exactly according to what is inculcated into their system.
And this is the point that I want to make. Our whole society is neither trained nor prepared to work because they neither possess the capacity nor capabilities (with few exceptions) to do that. We hire people from the same lot and have reached where we have to, under the circumstances.
The concept that we have enough people and resources which can be optimized to achieve certain objectives is now outdated and out of fashion. It is the streamlining of processes and enhancing the proficiency/competence of the individuals and performance of the teams that will work.
Finally, it is important to understand that while capabilities provide necessary tools, processes, and skilled personnel, capacity acts as the fuel that drives organizational achievements. Striking a balance between capability and capacity is crucial for optimal performance and sustainable growth.
What do you think dear readers? Please comment. See you next week. Take care, Bye.
