Self-check

Is your capability framework actually being used?

Most organisations have a capability framework. Far fewer can point to a decision that used one. These six questions are the difference between a framework that is in use and a framework that is on the intranet.

This audit comes from the NSC Group whitepaper “Capability frameworks that get used”. Three of the questions are the core test — can you name the assessment method, can you show movement over twelve months, and can you cite one decision that referenced the framework. The other three cover the conditions that make those three answerable.

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1
Assessment method
We can name the method used to assess someone against the framework, and two assessors would reach broadly the same result.
2
Evidence of movement
We can show capability movement over the last twelve months at a level above the individual.
3
Decisions
We can cite at least one real decision in the last year — a hire, a promotion, a development spend, a role design — that explicitly referenced the framework.
4
Levelling
The difference between adjacent levels is described in observable behaviour, not in adverbs.
5
Ownership
Someone owns the framework, and it has been revised since it was written.
6
Line usage
Line managers can explain what the framework is for without needing HR in the room.

0 of 6 answered.

Using this well

Answer as the organisation is, not as the framework document describes it.
If you cannot answer question three — a real decision that cited the framework — treat that as the finding, regardless of the score.
Ask two line managers the same six questions. Where their answers differ from yours, you have located the adoption gap.

The service behind it

Capability frameworks

Where the answers point at method and adoption rather than content, capability framework work is about making the framework decidable, not rewriting it.

Read about the service

Where the questions come from

Capability frameworks that get used

A capability framework defines the skills, knowledge and behaviours an organisation needs, at levels of proficiency, mapped to its roles. This paper sets out the four layers of a workable framework, the three ways levelling usually fails, a four-stage build method, why measurement is what turns a framework into infrastructure, and the structural reasons frameworks go unread after launch.

Talk the reading through

If the answers raised something you would rather not leave sitting, a short confidential conversation is usually the most useful next step.

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