"Capitalizing on Capabilities"

Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood

Harvard Business Review

June 2004, pp. 119-127

The authors of this article have compiled a list of 11 capabilities that well-managed companies tend to exhibit. To maintain success, it is suggested that companies typically excel in as many as three of these capabilities, while managing to keep up with industry competitors on the other capabilities. The eleven capabilities are characterized by the authors as follows:

1. Talent—The organization is good at attracting, motivating, and retaining talented people
2. Speed—The organization is good at making significant changes in a short period of time
3. Shared Mind-Set and Coherent Brand Identity—The organization is good at arranging for customers and employees to have consistently positive experiences with the organization
4. Accountability—The organization is good at making sure that the performance management and reward systems hold employees accountable and obtain high performance
5. Collaboration—The organization is good working across internal boundaries for the overall effectiveness of the organization
6. Learning—The organization is good at generating and generalizing significant new ideas
7. Leadership—The organization is good at consistently producing effective leaders
8. Customer Connectivity—The organization is good at building enduring relationships with targeted customers
9. Strategic Unity—The organization is good at articulating and sharing their strategic point of view among employees
10. Innovation—The organization is good at doing something new in both its products and its processes
11. Efficiency—The organization is good at managing its costs

This article provides extra value by including a step-by-step process to guide organizations through the process of auditing themselves on these 11 capabilities.

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