Capability vs Capacity (The C-C Matrix)

 

CAPABILITY VS. CAPACITY: Your level of productivity is determined by your levels of CAPABILITY and CAPACITY.

Similarly, your organization’s productivity is determined by its levels of CAPABILITY and

CAPACITY.

Capability and capacity sound similar, but they are profoundly different.

Understanding their differences allows you to achieve your greatest height.

CAPABILITY is the potential or competence you have to get things done.

CAPACITY is the time or manpower you have to get things done.

In other words, if you are capable, you can produce high value output that most people can’t.

If you have high capacity, you can produce more output in a specific time frame.

The concept can be visualized using what I call the “Capability-Capacity Matrix”.

There are four categories:

1. Low capability, low capacity.
2. Low capability, high capacity.
3. High capability, low capacity.
4. High capability, high capacity.

Category 1: LOW CAPABILITY, LOW CAPACITY.

This is the WORST category to be in.

People in this category have low-value skills.

To make things worse, they perform those low-value skills slowly and weakly.

In the end, they sweat over the small stuffs and get nothing done.

John is trying to reproduce a 200-page book by copying each word by hand.

However, he’s gonna take 2 years to finish copying that book, because he writes slowly. The book he reproduces will probably be bad, since his handwriting is horrible too.

He doesn’t know there’s a basic technology called the photocopy machine.

What’s worse? No one would probably benefit from it.

Category 2: LOW CAPABILITY, HIGH CAPACITY.

People in this category produce a lot of output, but they’re not particularly valuable.

Anyway, they remain in this category for a long time because of two common reasons:

1. They’re trapped in the rat race.
2. They need short term rewards.

Jack has to work as a errand boy who takes care of minor stuffs of his company. He cannot gain valuable skills from it, but he simply needs that job to feed himself.

Organizations typically need this kind of role, as they do get stuffs done.

The thing is that this kind of role is not conducive to enhance one’s capability.

Another phenomenon is that people here generally work hard but tend to overlook working smart – an essential recipe for success today.

That’s why they keep working hard but rarely think about enhancing their capabilities.

Category 3: HIGH CAPABILITY, LOW CAPACITY.

These people have specialized or rare skills.

They are in huge demand. They produce valuable outcomes.

However, they tend to hit their ceiling of productivity because demand exceeds what they could supply.

A surgeon cannot be operating for 5 days straight. The patients have to queue and wait (while risking lives).

Category 4: HIGH CAPABILITY, HIGH CAPACITY.

YOU WANT TO BE HERE.

You want to have valuable skill sets, or to be able to bring something valuable to the table.

You want to produce high value output reliably and consistently.

You want to be the real deal, not a person with scams or fishy pitches.

A real example of this category would be Elon Musk. He has incredible capabilities and leverages his teams to handle enormous capacity consistently. The work load behind PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX is huge.

Of course, I’m not blindly advocating you to be a world-changer here.

Rather, I’m emphasizing the value you can generate in the long run by truly enhancing your capability and capacity.

So, which is the best category for you to be in?

By all means, it’s the high capability, high capacity (HCHC) category.

But understand that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Great things take time…

That’s why most people give up half way. That’s why less than 1% of the people belong to that category.

That said, you can definitely arrive at the HCHC category.

But don’t expect that to happen next month. Or next year.

Or even the next decade…

GOOD NEWS: It’s okay to be in any category right now.

What’s important is that you assess your position based on the C-C Matrix and start moving towards the HCHC category.

Personally, I’m nowhere close to HCHC now. But I know I’ll be there someday.

Here’s what I do consistently do to reach the HCHC category, and I strongly encourage you to do the same.

1. Be micro-aggressive, macro-patient. (Productivity)
2. Develop yourself continuously. You are your largest investment. (Personal development)
3. Spend your time with high quality people. Form your Master Group with them. (Living)
4. Enjoy your journey.

You can do it.