The origin of this topic is quite specific: whether just graduated or already working for five or six years, many people have doubts about capability models and about the stage they are at — what the requirements are for their current stage, how to improve their capabilities, and what the standards for promotion are — and they often get lost in the fog. This one-on-one aims to answer two general questions: how a standard model should be understood after reading it closely, and how to measure the stage you are at and the direction of capability improvement. The premise is: communication and answers are both sincere and practical.

Self-assessment most easily falls into two extremes: attributing a smooth result to stable capability, or treating a single mistake as total failure. Both are effortless, but neither helps you do better next time.

Prepare Your Own Feelings

First answer honestly; you don’t need to give pretty answers.

  • Does what I’m doing now correspond to my current level?
  • Are the capability model’s standards shared across multiple companies? Why do you call it a standard rather than “what I happen to think”?
  • Does years of experience matter in the capability model? Is the correlation high?
  • Does the capability model relate to the team/group? Does a rat-race atmosphere affect the model’s standards?
  • In my most recent two or three situations, what did I do, what results did I produce, and what alternative explanations are there?
  • Who can see a different perspective? Who is willing to give me honest feedback?

Points to Discuss

The core is “learning to measure yourself” — why you need to, how to discover your own problems, and how to improve your ability to discover problems.

  • How do I get promoted to the next level? What are the capability model standards that performance aligns with? What is the relationship between performance and promotion?
  • How do I improve the “most important, most worth breaking through” thing? How do I judge which thing that is?
  • What do I do when, from my own perspective, I find no room or opportunities?
  • How should I understand a standard capability model after reading it closely? Which parts are hard requirements, and which are optional growth directions?
  • How do I measure which stage I’m at? What is the direction of capability improvement?
  • Am I good at evaluating “handling uncertainty”? In two requirement changes, did I write out the scope of impact in advance and offer alternative paths?
  • Leave room for counterexamples: ask the other person to raise a counterexample, rather than only asking “what do you think of me”.

What’s being assessed is behavior, not personality. Pick one capability you want to observe, and write down the most recent two or three situations: what did I do? What results did it produce? What alternative explanations are there? Who can provide a different perspective? Finally, decide what to keep, stop, or practice next time.

Complaints and Feedback

  • I’m still completely in the dark about the capability model; no one has ever explained it to me.
  • I don’t know where the gap to promotion still is.
  • I feel that what I’m doing doesn’t match my level’s requirements.
  • and ＿＿＿＿＿＿

Ask the other person to raise a counterexample, rather than only asking “what do you think of me”. Request specific feedback: “In my last explanation, which part helped you make a decision? Which part made you stop and ask more?”