5 Easy Ways To Prevent Capability Problems

Why is it important to address capability, or lack of? Having a capability policy is not enough. If an employee is dismissed without having first been through a formal capability procedure there is room for claims of unfair dismissal. Having and following a capability policy prevents problems from escalating and can often reduce the need to move onto formal disciplinary procedures. 

So how can you prevent capability issues from arising in the first place?

Nobody enjoys difficult conversations or having to raise when an employee is underperforming so by following these simple steps you can make sure your employees have everything they need to do a good job.

What do we mean when we talk about Capability problems? 

A Capability policy usually sets out the obligation and the employees in addressing capability issues that arise in the workplace. Well that sounds very formal and a bit scary.

The following is an extract from a Capability Policy.

“The Organisation recognises that during your employment with us your capability to carry out your duties may deteriorate. This can be for a number of reasons, the most common ones being that either the job changes over a period of time and you fail to keep pace with the changes, or you change (most commonly because of health reasons) and you can no longer cope with the work”

So what basically happens is that in the event that you are no longer working at a standard that the company finds acceptable you could find yourself subject to the capability policy.

The policy has one of two outcomes. One; your performance improves. Two; your performance doesn’t improve and you may find yourself dismissed. There is more to it than that but it can feel pretty brutal. The process is long and difficult for everyone involved so it is not something that is applied very often. Many managers will often accept lower standards of performance rather than tackling underperformance in a team member. Ignoring the issue only prolongs the agony for everyone involved. 

Preventative action – 5 ways to support capability

Prevention is better than cure. It saves time, money and heartache. So how do we take the preventative action or ‘nip things in the bud’

Most employees do not come to work to do a rubbish job. Why would they? Most of us spend a significant amount of time at work so why would we want to do a bad job?

1.Recruitment

When we recruit a new employee into the business, how much time have you spent checking that they are capable of doing the job you employed them to do? Most people start a job with some sort of development needs if for no other reason that every business has its own processes and foibles.

2.Induction

When the employee did an induction, was there a training plan? Do you or a colleague show them how all the systems work, more than once? Have you done everything you can to ensure that your employee is equipped to be capable?

3.Skills

When you updated that new IT system, how much training did you do to ensure everyone knew how to use it properly?

4.Communication

Once we’ve assumed that we have done everything to support our employees, how do we ensure that they continue to be capable? How often do you communicate the company strategy? Do you set goals and objectives? Does your employee know what the company priorities are so they can make good decisions when doing their job?

5.Objectives & Targets

By setting goals and objectives the employee has a clear understanding of what is expected of them and what a good outcome looks like. It also gives them an opportunity to identify if they have any training requirements to support them in their delivery of their objectives.

You don’t need to spoon feed your employees but you should enable them. Once they are clear on their objectives and you have had a conversation about their development needs you can encourage them to take responsibility for their development. Maybe they need to sit with another member of the team to learn something, they can organise that themselves.

Avoiding awkward conversations

Sometimes despite all your support an employee’s performance might suddenly take a dip. It happens. But rather than heading straight to a telling off or formal action it’s better to take a breath and invite them to have a cuppa. Often performance dips are affected by something significant but that may have nothing to do with work. 

If you have spent the time building a relationship with your employees and team then inviting someone for a chat is quite straightforward. After the “settling in” conversations I would introduce the subject by saying something like “I’ve noticed …” and then talk about what you’ve seen. Give real examples preferably first hand rather than gossip from amongst the team. You could then go on to say “This is out of character for you so I wondered if there was something happening.”

You might find that there are outside of work pressures or that the person is in need of some training and support.

This avoids the idea of having an awkward conversation that you may put off due to your own discomfort or worries about how the employee might react.

You’ve taken time to recruit, induct and train someone that has joined your business. You’ve made a big investment of time and money, now it’s time to protect your investment and support your employee. As an employer you have a duty of care to look after the wellbeing of your team. You can’t control what’s going on outside for your people but you can do everything within your power to make sure your employees have optimal conditions to do a good job.