In his book, “Capability at Work: How to Solve the Performance Puzzle,” author Paul Matthews shares, “The first step is to ensure that YOU are focusing on performance, rather than learning or training, as your ultimate endgame. When you focus on performance, and the gap between current performance and desired performance, you are inevitably dealing with capability of both the organization and the individual.”

As a training and development professional, how do your organization’s stakeholders treat you? Even if you have a seat at the decision-making table, are you an order taker, or is your advice on improving the workforce’s performance valued and implemented? Are you seen as a vital strategic partner?

I worked in a training department many years ago where the chief learning officer (CLO) was included in senior management meetings. Still, the CLO was tasked with delivering the training that the senior managers decided their people needed, namely, leadership and technical training. The senior managers talked about training they observed at different organizations and compelled the CLO to bring the same training to the organization. In this example, the CLO’s job was reduced to overseeing the training vendors’ contracts. No one ever asked the CLO how they would help the organization achieve its strategic goals. It was a painful but important reminder that not all learning leaders are viewed as true business partners.

Becoming a Performance Consultant: Focus on Capabilities

In my quest to become a CLO, I studied the literature on improving organizational performance. I am especially impressed by Josh Bersin’s work on capability academies. Capability academies are a collection of programs, content, experiences, assignments and credentials based on a functional area.

According to author Paul Matthews, a capability has five components: knowledge, skills, mindset, physiology and environment. Capabilities encompass knowledge and skills, which are the traditional domains of training. The other three components are vital to transforming training into performance. When L&D leaders shift from talking about training to performance, they can gain the attention of other senior managers. Performance is how strategic goals are achieved. Better individual performance translates to better organizational performance.

So, how do you, the training and development professional, link capabilities to performance? Let’s find out.

Apply Jobs-to-be-Done Theory to Organization’s Strategy

The jobs-to-be-done theory is the concept that people use products and services to help them accomplish tasks, achieve goals and solve problems. Employees have jobs to be done (JTBD) in fulfilling the organization’s strategic objectives. Training professionals can decompose the organization’s strategic mission into JTBDs.

For example, when I worked at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, part of the strategic plan read that patent examiners would conduct timely and quality patent examinations. I extracted the following JTBDs:

1. Proficiency with the patent application process.
2. Comprehending complex technical information.
3. Technical writing skills to communicate successfully with patent applicants.
4. Accurately judgment of the patentability of an application.
5. Properly process, store and archive patent application files.

Map Capabilities To Jobs-to-be-Done

After examining the five JTBDs from the previous section, I came up with the following capabilities needed to support completing the JTBDs:

1. Knowledge of patent law.
2. Knowledge of the patent application process.
3. Ability to research prior art from past patents.
4. Ability to write correspondence, technical documents, and reports that are clear, concise and accurate.
5. Ability to defend decisions concerning the patentability of an application.

After determining the capabilities to be used (CTBU), I mapped the CTBUs to the JTBDs. By mapping the capabilities needed to perform the job with the tasks to complete, I determined the performance goals needed to achieve business success. Then I applied the CTBUs to relevant learning objectives and training modules using a course map.

Create a Training Plan to Enhance CTBUs

Another tool that I used after mapping the CTBUs to JTBDs is the performance program path (PPP). The PPP maps the learning objectives to the business rationales of the training by listing the performance outcomes and the behaviors that employees will apply after receiving the training. I pulled all the work that I had at this point into a master training plan (or an organizational development plan) that addresses the knowledge, skills, mindset and environment necessary for each CTBU.

Evaluate the Training Plan and Adjust as Necessary

Even though evaluation is last on this list, I suggest building in evaluation throughout the process. In this example, I used Phillips’s Return on Investment (ROI) Methodology, but the Kirkpatrick Model works just as well. The key is to focus on the behavior change and organizational impact levels of Kirkpatrick or ROI. The JTBDs and CTBUs mapping informs the PPP, which contains the performance goals to be achieved. All that is needed is to link measures to the performance goals. You may consider linking your organization’s objectives and key results (OKRs) to the training evaluation measures to give your performance consulting more credibility.

Becoming the Trusted Performance Adviser

Organizations exist to achieve goals. It’s the people who help organizations achieve goals through their performance. Good performance rests upon employees’ capabilities developed through training. Senior managers know that training is vital to creating good performance but need help to see the connections between your training programs and organizational performance. By taking a capabilities perspective, you, as a learning leader, can show a clear path from training to capabilities to performance to individual and organizational success.