If you have lived long enough, you know of the relationship; Capacity = Productivity – λ or some similar equation or definition variant. If you have not thought about it quantitatively, you have lived it out literally because it is a fact.
Capacity is the measure of containment, the amount that can be held. Many times, we like to envision capacity with the largesse of infinity. But the truth is that capacity is always finite, it can absorb your gift and skills, your time and assets but remain finite. The secret weapon of capacity is its ability to regenerate. Regeneration allows something new to come out of what was. It can create headroom for so much more, it can change the trajectory of capacity as it retrieves the abilities of the inputs positioning them for desired outcomes.
Leveraged Capacity!
Proverbs 18:16 says a gift opens the way and ushers the giver into the presence of the great. If we look at this scripture from the perspective of a physical gift, it will literally mean that your gift (a part of your capacity /input) has created an influence (effect of catalysation of the input) that brings you access (outcome). By the way, a friend AHG, pointed this interpretation out to me weeks ago, ironically clear as day, I had missed it. Now to be clear, Proverbs 18:16 is a Living Word and has many living manifestations!
To illustrate further, I remember when candidates would declare for a big elective office, if you could organise a fundraising that could bring in good donors, you would immediately go from obscurity to someone the campaign would call back and engage with and in many cases, gain access to a would-be president right in your living room! Your gift literally ushered you to the front of the line with all the potential that such access holds!
In the example, above, the gift had the effect of amplifying some outcome considered as desirable to the great. That is leverage!
Leveraging is the ability to use an asset, far beyond it’s known or calculated value. It is the application of strategic advantage. For example, in leveraged capital, we use debt (a borrowed asset) to amplify (multiply) returns from an investment!
Now let us walk through the basics to eventually get to the end.
Your capacity defines what you are able to hold or contain within your purview! For example, there are several people who are multidisciplined. One person is a speaker, leader investor, teacher, researcher, employee, employer, parent, spouse, caregiver etc. That person’s personal capacity allows all these, done well simultaneously, concurrently or in whatever process format works.
Your capacity can as such be measured as the maximum value you represent or can produce. Capacity and productivity go hand in hand but are not equivalent
Productivity defines what you put out, your measurable output or outcomes. For example, a technical writer generates 10 publications a month (capacity might be 12), an entrepreneur has built 2 businesses (capacity might be 3), a leader started 5 viable teams in 2021 (capacity might be 12), an engineer developed 3 new products (capacity might be 4), a CEO grew capital from X to Y (capacity might be 1.2Y). These are specific, measurable outcomes! We see a trend where outcomes/productivity suggest, unexhausted capacity.
The first law of thermodynamics says that energy is always conserved, basically energy is neither created nor destroyed only changed, the equation gives a clearer illustration ΔU = Q − W.
ΔU – Change in internal Energy of the system, W – work done by the system, Q – Net Heat transferred into the system
The point here is that the total internal energy of the system does not equal the work done by the system, there is heat present that cannot be captured as work done. It is noteworthy that the ability to do work is 100% dependent on energy, to that point the more energy you can convert to work done, the higher the throughput!
In a Pareto optimal scenario also known as the zero sum; all input resources translate to an output or outcome.
Noting the universal first law of thermodynamics, is a Pareto optimal scenario possible? A better question is how do we improve efficiency significantly enough that your input resources approach the outcome. How can capacity tend to or approach productivity?
Here’s how!
Capacity Factors (CF):
Capacity Factors are factors of capacity that can be catalyzed to achieve Productivity. Below is a list.
Education (acquired degree or knowledge), skills (know-how, tangible), contacts (accessible networks), assets (money, equity, tangible and intangible), characteristics (habits, image, creativity, giftings, character etc.), opportunities (access, fortuity, favor) etc.
Capacity Factors can be placed into two broad groups, objective Capacity Factors (CFo) and subjective Capacity Factors (CFs)
The objective Capacity Factors have been studied by major researchers and come in many variants. Some research combine both objective and subjective attributes, for example John Maxwell teaches on the five success factors that combine both objective and subjective attributes.
Our work concluded that identifying them in the two main groups have been most applicable to broad spectrums of people.
The objective Capacity Factor can be further placed into three verticals
Objective Capacity Factors (CFo)
The objective Capacity Factors can be placed in three verticals of Talents, Training and Tools (CFo)
Talents – know how and skills, practical knowledge, converted knowledge, must be practicable (eg build a table, write software code)
Training – education, role, job (engineer, doctor, artist, COO, builder, seller)
Tools – what / who you can engage, leverage or access, the opportunities available to you (capital, decision makers, networks, media)
With our broad list of Capacity Factors subsequently bucketized into three verticals; what we have clearly identified are the objective factors! What happens to the subjective factors? Let us look at them more under wider lenses.
Subjective Capacity Factors (CFs)
The subjective Capacity Factors account for attributes that are mainly intangible and particular but not necessarily unique to the individual. They are typically inherent but can be manipulated and modulated albeit with a great deal of will power and discipline. Subjective Capacity Factors can be dependent on circumstance, or environment and be influenced by the dominant ecosystem. They also can be honed and transformed to skills. They are represented by Characteristics such as habits, charisma, personal image, creativity, giftings, character etc. they are for the most part subjective and capture this categorization. Others include integrity, teamwork, resilience, patience, drive, will power, ambition, courage, luck etc.
So now that we have reviewed the subjective Capacity Factors, then what? This is the classic hard skills, soft skills dilemma, assessing the tangible versus the mostly intangible factors.
Are the contributions of subjective Capacity Factors too diminutive to count? On the contrary, they are extremely important and account for the delta that determines either a convergence towards or divergence away from Productivity! The sum of the objective and subjective Capacity Factors make up the resultant Capacity Factor.
Basically, this very simple equation illustrates the relationship,
CFr (Resultant CF) = CFo (Objective CF) + CFs (Subjective CF)
The λ (lambda) Effect
What is notable is that the objective Capacity Factors because of their tangibility are more fixed terms somewhat analogous to hard skills for a job. You can acquire them through specific steps. So, you either have them or not at each given point in time.
The subjective Capacity Factors are far more ambiguous because some can be biological, inherent, acquired, influenced etc. They are mostly intangible and hard to decipher except via outcome or some action.
Remember our capacity equation
Capacity = Productivity – λ. λ accounts for the gap between Capacity (what is possible) and Productivity (what is outputted).
If we can reduce λ using efficiency techniques, then Capacity will be almost equal to Productivity. In contrast if the converse is true, then Productivity will be divergent away from Capacity.
By the way this relationship in some variant is a standard used by every global manufacturing, production, or economic development sector to capture progress, monitor efficiency and to measure the impacts of improvements. It directly relates to profitability, a key currency of success!
λ is the inverse of the resultant Capacity Factor, λ = 1/ CFr, or λ = 1/ (CFo + CFs).
Reducing λ. Improving Productivity
To decrease λ and allow capacity trend closer to productivity; the λ equation above shows us that it is very straightforward to do. To reiterate, while λ is the quantity that separates the capacity from productivity, it is measured as the inverse of the resultant Capacity Factor or 1/CFr, this means that λ = 1/(CFo + CFs) will decrease every time the Capacity Factors increase! So the higher the resultant capacity factor, the smaller λ gets and the closer Capacity approaches Productivity!
Now we noted that the objective Capacity Factors are tangible and more fixed, take more time, have more tie dependence and are typically more expensive. For example if a role calls for Blockchain development expertise. It would be an imperative to know how to program a ledger, know the tools like truffle Hyperledger fabric and learn solidity to write smart contracts. These will take time and possibly money and the interactions with different entities. There is no escaping it. The subjective are more fluid, If you want to get your Capacity so optimized that it approaches Production, adjusting the subjective Capacity Factors will be the most efficient and most impactful way to do so. For example adjusting attitudes toward a team, creating better working environment, being more attentive to remove roadblocks and inefficienciesin a production line could drastically improve outputs without much outside intervention!
A simple illustration of the Leveraged Capacity:
Just like each of us have the ability to self-govern, Kanayo is CEO of Kanayo Inc. How can Kanayo effectively improve her Capacity to Productivity relationship. While Kanayo might be unable to make drastic adjustments to her objective Capacity Factors, assuming she holds a PhD in “Kanayomics” and has worked several years in this personal field, honed every skill, attended many trainings and has a well-oiled network that is slightly overused; with nothing much to do in short order on her objective factors, Kanayo can drastically improve her emotional quotient. She can connect more wholistically to herself. More effectively manage her temprament; she can leverage her charisma more situationally. She can make integrity central to the way she leads her team. Make fairness, equality and openness more the hallmark of her engagements. As CEO of Kanayo Inc she would through these subjective acts drastically improve her personal economy by many folds. More would listen, engage and be influenced by her!
The Leveraged Capacity is Capacity that is powered to approach Productivity, where the equation between the two terms have a very low value λ. It is one that uses its Capacity Factor assets far beyond their known or calculated value. It is the application of strategic advantage to supercharge the contributions needed for a desired outcome.
You can do the same every day, for your personally economy, your workplace, your business, your life, the world you desire to live in. Reduce the λ! Power your Capacity to high Productivity! Make the adjustment, it’s in your purview! Now you know, go do it!
Please note that terms like Capacity Factors and other terms used in this writing are all part of research done by Miranet LLC Inc and used to develop a series of commercial evaluation tools including the Economic Capacity Calculator a product of the Economic Posterity Series.
About Ngozi Bell
Inspiration, Hard Work, Innovation. These three foundational elements anchor Ngozi’s core belief that manifesting the extraordinary is always within reach. Inspired by her mother A.C.Obikwere, a scientist and author, she learned the privilege of living at the edge of important encounters and dedicating herself to robust and perpetual learning. Ngozi’s background is a combination of Physics, Engineering, Venture Capital/Private Equity, regulations, and business where she has managed over $1B in cumulative revenue. Ngozi is a speaker, storyteller, and writer on a diverse set of topics including AI, iDLT, ML, Signal Processing, iOT, women, entrepreneurship and more. She contributes regularly to VOA, has been a TEDx speaker and is published on tech and non-tech platforms. She is a champion of STEM, women, youth, art and the Africa we must engage. Ngozi is an adjunct professor of Physics and management with work experience in Asia, Europe, Africa, Middle East, and North America. She is a founder of a number of a number of enterprises and host of the podcast Stem, Stocks and Stews (https://anchor.fm/stemstocksstews-podcast).Https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/ngozibell/
Credit: This article was originally published by Sundiata Post
