Capacibility vs Competency – What’s the difference?

Introduction

When hiring, we tend to focus on competencies. We like to ask questions such as “What can this person do?” or “Are they qualified for this job?” But what about capability? Shouldn’t we also be asking candidates if they have the potential to succeed and grow within our organization? While both types of questions are important and helpful, there’s a big difference between capability and competency that affects how we assess talent during recruiting processes.

Capability refers to an individual’s capacity to perform.

Capability refers to an individual’s capacity to perform. Capability is often used as a measure of employee performance, but it can also be used in reference to other entities such as companies and machines.

When we talk about capability, we’re talking about what someone or something is able to do–their ability or power. The word “capability” comes from the Latin word “capax,” meaning “able.” This suggests that if you have a certain level of capability, then you have the ability or power required for something specific (or many things). For example:

• You may say that an employee has high capability because he/she can complete tasks quickly and efficiently with minimal supervision
• In another scenario, we might say that our company has high capability because it has great resources and talented employees

Competency refers to an individual’s ability to do something.

Competency refers to an individual’s ability to do something. It is a measure of how well you can perform your job, as opposed to capability, which refers more broadly to the skills and knowledge that make up a person’s ability.

Competencies are often divided into three categories: technical (knowledge), interpersonal (interpersonal skills) and behavioral/psychological (attributes). In this way, competencies are related to but different from capabilities because they focus on what you know and how you interact with others rather than just what your responsibilities entail.

Both are important, but when it comes to talent management, capability is more important than competency.

Capability is about potential, competency is about experience.

Capability is about what you can do and competency is about what you have done.

Capability refers to your ability to learn new skills or knowledge; whereas, competency refers to your current level of knowledge in a particular area or skill set (e.g., “I am competent at using Word”).

Understanding the difference between the two will help you hire and retain the right people.

Capability is a measure of how much you can do, while competency is the degree to which you have mastered the skills necessary to perform those tasks. The difference between the two concepts may seem subtle, but understanding it will help you hire and retain the right people.

Capability is more important than competency when it comes to talent management because it’s more predictive of future performance–this means that if someone has high capability, then they’re likely going to be able to master any new tasks that come their way without much effort (and vice versa).

A person’s capability is a better predictor of future performance than competency.

Capability is the ability to perform a task, whereas competency is the ability to do it well. Capability is more important than competency because it predicts future performance better than knowing what you’re doing.

Competence comes from “competere,” meaning “to strive together.” Competency refers to your knowledge about something and can be considered an internal attribute of a person (e.g., their skills). Capability refers to an external attribute of a person (i.e., their ability), which may include physical strength or stamina but also includes mental abilities such as memory recall speed or creativity

In conclusion, it’s important to understand the difference between capability and competency. A person’s capability is a better predictor of future performance than competency, and understanding that difference will help you hire and retain the right people in your organization.