Overview
The Capability Framework is a foundational tool that helps the public sector attract, recruit, develop and retain a skilled, adaptable workforce. This guide helps people managers to effectively use the Capability Framework throughout the employee lifecycle and covers:
- Filling a role
- Managing your team’s capability
- Supporting your team members’ career progression
Filling a role
The Government Sector Employment legislative framework sets the rules for employment within the NSW Public Service and establishes the Ethical Framework, which requires the recruitment and promotion of employees on merit.
In addition to aligning to the requirements of the legislative framework, you should follow your agency’s policies and procedures when recruiting and use this guide to supplement your knowledge.
Here are some tips to help you use the Capability Framework to recruit vacancies within your team on the basis of merit.
Creating a role or filling an existing role
Prior to commencing a recruitment process, it is important that you review and identify the capabilities you need in your team.
Ask these questions to identify the capabilities your team needs:
- How does your team help your agency achieve its strategic goals?
- What capabilities does your team need to deliver the required outcomes of the role?
- Where are the capability gaps in your team?
After answering these questions, move to the next stage - developing or reviewing the role description and focus on these key areas:
- Check your agency’s delegations, authorisations and processes for creating or filling a role.
- Creating or filling a role? Work with your HR team when seeking to create a new role. For more information see the role description resources on our website.
- Review the Capability Framework to determine the most suitable focus capabilities. The Capability Comparison Guide is useful in determining the number of focus capabilities at the right level.
Design your capability assessment approach
- Use the Recruitment and Selection Guide to help you design recruitment processes that assess the pre-established standards of the role, which includes assessing candidates against the required focus capabilities.
- Work with your recruitment team to apply recruitment adjustments and any modifications under GSE Rule 26 when employing eligible candidates. Rule 26 allows agencies to employ eligible people, including people with disability, into non‑executive roles by adjusting advertising and assessment requirements to facilitate their employment.
Managing your team's capability
The Government Sector Employment legislative framework sets the core requirements for our performance management systems. The Performance Development Framework defines the benchmark expectations for managing performance of our people across the sector.
One of the core requirements of the Performance Development Framework is to ‘develop employee capability’. You can use the Capability Framework and associated tools to assist you in strengthening team member’s capability. See further tips below to develop employee capability.
Explore their capability development and set goals
- Use the Capability Discovery Tool to further develop your team member’s capabilities. Start by having both you and your team member assess their capabilities against the role description’s capabilities or focus capabilities. Compare the results to see where the team member exceeds expectations or where development is needed.
- Where development of capabilities is needed, work with your team member to set clear goals and explore different ways to strengthen their capabilities, such as:
- On-the-job experiences like stretch assignments.
- Learning from others through coaching or shadowing.
- Structured learning including formal courses or targeted reading.
- Check if the team member needs any workplace adjustments to perform better in the role.
Review progress
- Celebrate achievements to reinforce strong performance.
- Provide timely feedback, remove obstacles, and create growth opportunities.
- Update goals as your team members build new capabilities.
Remember: Capabilities build over time. As your team member progresses, they demonstrate behaviours from earlier levels alongside new skills. For example, someone performing at the adept level also demonstrates the knowledge, skills and abilities from the foundational and intermediate levels.
Supporting your team members career progression
The NSW Public Sector Capability Framework is a valuable tool to help support your team member’s career planning and goals.
Discover their career goals
- Discuss career goals and capabilities your team member wants to develop.
- Encourage them to visit I work for NSW website to review capability levels in roles similar to their target role.
- Use the Capability Discovery Tool to identify development areas based on the capabilities of the role they are aiming for.
Build their capabilities
- Give feedback and suggest activities that help your team members gain experience, expertise and capabilities needed for their next career step.
- Use the Capability Discovery Tool to provide development tips based on current capabilities.
- Work with them to plan development activities that align with their goals.
Support development opportunities
- Find stretch tasks within their current role and development opportunities within your agency.
- Explore mobility options inside and outside the agency, such as secondments.
- Encourage networking by recommending they find a mentor, attend networking events, or join relevant communities of practice to share experiences and discover opportunities.
Tip: As capabilities transfer across roles and contexts, encourage your team members to seek opportunities throughout the public sector to further build their capabilities.
