Managing for the Long Term Toward the Growth and Development of the Field of Performance Improvement Part 2: Building Capabilities for the Field

Very often building an organization’s capability is touted as a strategic priority because building capability is critical to business performance (Gryger, Saar, & Schaar, 2010).

In a survey conducted by McKinsey, 58 percent of participants recognized building capability as a top organizational priority, whereas 90 percent of respondents placed it among the top 10 (Gryger et al., 2010). Focusing on building an organization’s capability enables companies to gain a competitive advantage. Smallwood and Ulrich (2004) explain “that they form the identity and personality of the organization by defining what it is good at doing, and in the end, what it is. They are stable over time and more difficult for competitors to copy than capital market access, product strategy, or technology” (p. 1).