HR Guru: Capability policies – How to get the right people on board

In Jim Collins’ popular book Good to Great, he introduces the reader to the concept of ‘First Who, Then What’. This is the concept that you have to get the right people on the bus (the bus being an analogy, a business entity) and the right people need to be in the right seats.

I have spoken to many nursery managers over the years about the powerful meaning of Jim’s lesson in the book. All too often we accept poor performance in our nurseries, and we hope that performance will improve just with the passage of time.

As an HR consultant I can tell you that moving someone off your ‘bus’ gets harder the longer they are employed!

Possessing a formal capability policy to sit alongside a disciplinary policy is a very good idea. Issues with capability can often be due to ill health, diagnosed and undiagnosed, or a loss of ability. Capability is a ‘can’t do’ rather than ‘won’t do’. We consider misconduct to be when we won’t do something.

Capability can be addressed through a comprehensive training plan for team members. We can also address issues with capability through effective performance management.

Where an employee’s capability is due to ill health incapacity, we can work through a process to try and understand whether the absence is caused by a disability and, if so, what reasonable adjustments we can consider that would enable the employee to return to work.

Where performance is an issue, we can take steps prior to formal capability action and use performance improvement plans (PIPs). Sometimes what is needed is for the method of delivery of the training to be adapted. In some cases, it’s as straightforward as the training being repeated or an internal coach supporting the colleague while they undertake the training. In certain circumstances, the ‘focusing of the mind’ that performance needs to improve is all that is needed for someone to reflect on what they can do better.