When someone is underperforming at work, managers often rush to brand it as a capability problem and address it as such. Instead, workplaces should foster the conditions where workers have the capacity to cope, says Claire Libby. This perspective, increasingly gaining traction among organisational development experts and HR professionals, posits a fundamental re-evaluation of how employee performance is perceived and managed. The traditional approach, often focused on upskilling or disciplinary action, may be missing the deeper, often invisible, factors contributing to an employee’s struggle, leading to misdiagnosis, disengagement, and ultimately, preventable attrition.
The conventional wisdom dictates that a dip in performance signifies a deficit in skills, knowledge, or inherent ability. Consequently, the default solution often involves additional training, development programmes, or stricter performance management protocols. However, a growing body of research and real-world experience, championed by figures like Claire Libby, founder of ‘i am me’ and author of Your Wellbeing Matters, challenges this simplistic view. Libby argues that what appears to be a capability issue is frequently a problem of capacity—an employee’s diminished internal resources to sustain their performance, irrespective of their innate talents or learned skills. This distinction is crucial for organisations grappling with productivity challenges and the escalating costs of mental ill-health in the workplace.
The Hidden Costs of Unaddressed Stress and Mental Ill-Health
The financial burden of mental ill-health on UK employers alone is staggering, estimated to be billions of pounds annually. Recent reports from organisations like Deloitte have consistently highlighted this, with figures often ranging from £42 billion to £45 billion per year due to factors such as presenteeism (working while unwell), absenteeism, and staff turnover. Despite a heightened awareness of workplace wellbeing over the past decade, many organisations continue to intervene only when problems have become deeply entrenched, incurring greater costs and causing significant human suffering. This reactive stance often means addressing symptoms rather than the underlying systemic issues that erode an individual’s capacity to perform effectively.
Libby’s assertion is that workplaces are frequently "looking for performance problems when we should be looking more closely at the conditions that produce performance in the first place." This means shifting focus from the individual employee’s output to the broader environment and personal circumstances that shape their ability to deliver. The interconnectedness of personal and professional life is a core tenet of this argument. Libby famously articulates an "unpopular opinion" that "there is no such thing as work-life balance" because of the disproportionate amount of time individuals spend at work. Whatever transpires in one’s personal life inevitably "ripples into our work lives and vice versa," making a clear delineation often artificial and unhelpful for understanding holistic employee capacity.
Beyond "Wellbeing": A Call for Deeper Understanding
Furthermore, Libby expresses reservations about the term "wellbeing" itself, perceiving it as somewhat "fluffy and optional rather than optimal." She argues that the phrase fails to convey the profound, often "life-changing" consequences of its absence. This critique underscores a broader sentiment among experts that while "wellbeing" has become a popular buzzword, its practical application often falls short of addressing the systemic issues that truly impact an individual’s mental and physical health in the workplace. In many corporate settings, performance and wellbeing are still siloed, treated as distinct conversations rather than intrinsically linked aspects of human functioning.
When performance begins to decline, the immediate assumption typically leans towards a need for more training or stricter performance management. However, empirical evidence increasingly points to a more intricate reality. Most individuals have experienced periods where, despite possessing the technical competence for a task, they lack the internal capacity to sustain it. This manifests as a struggle to concentrate, impaired decision-making, tasks feeling overwhelming, reduced patience, and a noticeable decrease in resilience to daily pressures. Crucially, these experiences are frequently misinterpreted as capability deficits, when they are, in fact, early warning signs of dwindling capacity. This misinterpretation leads to misguided interventions that fail to address the root cause, potentially exacerbating the problem for the employee and the organisation.
Unmasking the Swan Effect: Early Warning Signs and Latent Stress
One of the most pervasive challenges in organisational settings is the insidious nature of stress. It often goes unnoticed until it becomes deeply embedded in an individual’s daily functioning. Libby eloquently uses the metaphor of a swan on a lake: appearing calm and composed on the surface, while its legs furiously paddle beneath to stay afloat. This mirrors the reality for many employees. Outwardly, they may appear functional—meeting targets, attending meetings, fulfilling responsibilities—yet beneath the surface, their sleep may be suffering, stress may be accumulating, recovery may be limited, and emotional reserves may be gradually depleting. Individuals become "a more diluted version of their brilliant selves."
Stress rarely announces itself dramatically. Instead, it typically builds quietly over weeks, months, or even years, only becoming visible when it reaches a critical point. By the time organisations recognise the issue, the underlying causes have often been present for far longer than anyone realised. At this juncture, supporting the employee becomes significantly more challenging, as the sense of overwhelm has gathered substantial momentum. This highlights the critical need for a proactive, preventative approach rather than a reactive one.
The Ecosystem of Performance: Interconnected Wellbeing Systems
Emerging research underscores that performance is not a fixed measure of ability but rather a dynamic state influenced by a multitude of "wellbeing systems." These include sleep, recovery, stress regulation, nutrition, movement, social connection, and psychological safety. These are not merely ancillary "wellbeing factors" but foundational conditions that directly impact how individuals think, feel, communicate, make decisions, and ultimately perform on a daily basis.
For instance, extensive research consistently demonstrates that poor sleep significantly impairs attention, decision-making, and emotional regulation. Chronic stress, a pervasive issue in modern workplaces, has been shown to narrow cognitive focus, reduce flexibility in thinking, and inhibit creative problem-solving. Over time, the cumulative effects of these unaddressed factors can severely compromise an individual’s cognitive and emotional faculties. Yet, these critical elements often remain largely invisible in workplace performance conversations, which tend to focus on measurable outputs rather than the intricate conditions that produce them. This narrow focus can lead to employees being unjustly perceived as disengaged, underperforming, or lacking capability when they are, in reality, battling fatigue, burnout, or reduced cognitive capacity. Such misdiagnoses frequently result in employees being "managed out" of the business, a costly and ethically questionable outcome for both parties.
The Evolution of Workplace Mental Health Awareness
The journey towards recognising mental health in the workplace has been a gradual one. Historically, workplace safety and health focused predominantly on physical hazards. The mid-to-late 20th century saw the gradual inclusion of stress as a factor, often in the context of specific, high-pressure occupations. However, it wasn’t until the early 21st century that mental health began to gain more widespread recognition as a legitimate and significant workplace concern, driven by evolving medical understanding, destigmatisation efforts, and the increasing economic costs associated with unaddressed mental ill-health.
The last decade, in particular, has seen a significant acceleration in awareness, partly spurred by public health campaigns, advocacy groups, and global events like the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced a collective reckoning with the fragility of mental wellbeing amidst unprecedented disruption. Many organisations have indeed made commendable progress in acknowledging the importance of wellbeing, and this progress should be celebrated. Companies have invested in initiatives ranging from mental health first aiders to Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) and various wellness apps. However, Libby and other experts argue that awareness alone, while a vital first step, is rarely sufficient to drive meaningful, sustainable change.
From Awareness to Action: Cultivating a Culture of Prevention
A single "wellbeing day," an annual awareness campaign, or a one-off initiative, while valuable for initiating conversations, rarely translates into profound, systemic transformation. As Libby aptly puts it, "We don’t expect to have clean and healthy teeth if we brush them once in our lifetime." Meaningful and lasting change emerges not from isolated moments but from the consistent environment and culture that people navigate every single day. Organisational culture, in this context, is often shaped less by what leaders articulate and more by what employees observe and experience. The behaviours modelled by leaders, the boundaries they respect (or disregard), and the expectations they reinforce become the unspoken rules that define daily workplace experience. Therefore, while awareness is foundational, sustainable change necessitates conditions that consistently support wellbeing, not merely occasionally.
A Proactive Future: Adopting a Preventative Model
Perhaps one of the most significant opportunities for modern organisations lies in shifting from a reactive, corrective paradigm to a proactive, preventative one. This involves drawing lessons from domains such as elite sports, where performance is never viewed in isolation from the foundational conditions that underpin it. In professional athletics, factors like sleep, recovery, nutrition, stress management, and mindset are universally acknowledged as indispensable components of peak performance. Neglect any of these, and performance inevitably suffers.
Yet, many corporate workplaces continue to expect consistently high levels of performance without affording similar attention to these fundamental human needs. A preventative approach in the workplace begins by empowering individuals to better understand themselves and their own capacity before they reach a point of crisis. It entails cultivating environments where employees can recognise the early warning signs of stress, comprehend the potential contributing factors, and feel genuinely supported in taking timely, proactive action. Our bodies are in constant communication with us, but in an overloaded, high-pressure environment, these crucial signals are often missed or ignored.
Prevention also inherently recognises that responsibility for wellbeing is shared. While employees undeniably play a vital role in making choices that support their own wellbeing, organisations bear an equally critical responsibility in creating environments where such choices are realistic, actively encouraged, and robustly supported. This means fostering flexible work arrangements, promoting realistic workloads, ensuring adequate rest and recovery periods, and building psychologically safe spaces where employees feel comfortable voicing concerns without fear of reprisal.
Redefining Performance Management for the Modern Era
By adopting a lens that views performance through the dual perspectives of capacity and capability, the entire conversation surrounding employee performance undergoes a profound transformation. Instead of solely asking, "How do we improve performance?" leaders and HR professionals might also inquire, "What is affecting this person’s capacity to perform right now?" This seemingly subtle shift moves the dialogue from one of mere correction to one of deeper understanding and, ultimately, to effective prevention.
Performance, in the traditional sense, is often treated as something an individual does. However, an enlightened perspective reveals it to be something an organisation enables. Sustainable performance is inextricably linked to sustainable people. Organisations that recognise this will not only foster healthier, more engaged workforces but will also build more resilient, innovative, and productive enterprises in the long term.
The Broader Impact: Sustainable Organisations, Resilient Employees
The implications of this paradigm shift are far-reaching. For HR departments, it necessitates a radical rethinking of performance management frameworks, moving beyond annual reviews to continuous, empathetic conversations focused on holistic employee support. Managers require training not just in task delegation but in recognising the subtle cues of diminished capacity and fostering psychologically safe environments. For business leaders, it means integrating wellbeing metrics into strategic decision-making, understanding that investment in employee capacity is a direct investment in long-term business sustainability.
Ultimately, the call to action is clear: the next time an employee’s performance appears to dip, the immediate instinct should be to pause and consider. Is this truly a capability problem that requires skill enhancement, or might it be a capacity problem, signalling a need for support, understanding, and a re-evaluation of the conditions under which that individual is expected to operate? Embracing this nuanced perspective is not just an ethical imperative; it is a strategic necessity for building thriving, resilient organisations in the complex landscape of the modern world.
