From Skill–Will to Capability–Motivation: Why Leaders Need a Smarter Lens
- Sep 11
- 5 min read
Skills can be taught — capability and motivation drive sustainable leadership.
If you’ve ever managed a team, you’ve probably used (or at least seen) the famous Skill–Will Matrix. It’s simple: put people on a grid with skill on one axis and will on the other, and you get four types of employees. The model tells you who needs coaching, who’s a high performer, who might need re-motivation, and who could be the wrong fit.
It’s neat, clear – and a little too simple.
The problem? Skills and willpower aren’t the whole story. In today’s complex, fast-changing workplaces, this lens can be misleading. Someone with “low skill” might actually be deeply capable but just new to the context. Someone with “high skill” might have hit a plateau and be disengaged, but the model still puts them in the “star performer” box.
That’s why we need a smarter lens: the Capability–Motivation Matrix.
Why “Capability” beats “Skill”
Skills are specific: coding in Python, running a financial model, presenting to clients. They’re important, but they can be taught quickly if the person has the right foundation.
Capabilities go deeper. They’re about adaptability, emotional regulation, learning agility, systemic thinking, and resilience. These are the qualities that let people pick up new skills, apply them across different contexts, and keep growing even as environments change.
It’s also important to recognize limits. If someone’s overall cognitive capacity is too low, certain advanced skills may simply remain out of reach—no matter how much motivation or training is applied. That doesn’t make the person less valuable, but it reminds us that development paths are not identical for everyone.
A very different case is neurodivergence. Conditions like dyslexia or dyscalculia are often described as “skill gaps,” yet they occur in people with perfectly intact—or sometimes above-average—intelligence. With the right scaffolding, assistive tools, or workflow adjustments, these challenges can be managed effectively. In fact, many neurodivergent profiles bring sharpened strengths in creativity, problem-solving, or systems thinking.
The takeaway: capability is multidimensional. It’s not a checklist of technical skills, but the deeper foundation that determines how someone learns, adapts, and contributes—even if the pathway looks different from one person to the next.
Legendary UCLA coach John Wooden once said:
“If you are humble and willing to learn, you can improve. Without humility, you’re not coachable. Without willingness, you’re not teachable.”
That’s the essence of capability + motivation: if those two are there, missing skills are never the real issue.
Why “Motivation” is more than “Will”
The other axis of the old model is “will” – basically, does the person want to do the job or not? But motivation isn’t binary. It changes with context, alignment, and whether people feel supported.
Research on motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000) shows that three things really matter: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. When those needs are met, motivation soars. When they’re blocked, even the most talented people disengage.
So, if someone looks “unmotivated,” it may not be laziness. It could be a role misfit, lack of clarity, or simply not feeling safe enough to take initiative.
The Four Quadrants of the Capability–Motivation Matrix
Here’s how the updated matrix looks:
1. Capable + Motivated → High Performer / Trusted Achiever
These are your go-to people. They thrive on challenges, deserve autonomy, and should be part of your succession pipeline. Your job as a leader: empower, delegate, recognize, and retain.
2. Capable + Unmotivated → Disengaged Expert
Skills and brains are there, but energy is low. Often, this is about misalignment: wrong role, lack of vision, or simply boredom. First step: find out why. If you can re-engage them with new challenges or a different context, great. If not, you may have to consider an exit.
3. Motivated + Less Capable (yet) → Emerging Talent
Enthusiastic, eager, and ready to grow – they just need development. This is where training, mentoring, and structured delegation pay off massively. These people are your future pipeline; invest in them.
4. Less Capable + Unmotivated → Misaligned Role / Low Performer
This is the toughest quadrant. But even here, it’s not black-and-white. Sometimes it’s a temporary dip, sometimes it’s a role misfit. Clarify expectations, check for hidden potential, and if things don’t shift, help them move on fairly and respectfully.
Why this matters for leaders
The Capability–Motivation Matrix does three things better than the old Skill–Will model:
It’s more accurate. It avoids overvaluing disengaged experts or undervaluing motivated learners.
It guides energy investment. High ROI with high performers and motivated learners; selective investment with disengaged experts; clarity and fairness with low performers.
It’s more human. It recognizes that people aren’t just bundles of skills – they bring adaptive strengths, emotions, and potential that go beyond a job description.
What you can do as a leader
The Capability–Motivation Matrix is not just a diagnostic tool, it also points to clear development paths:
With High Performers (Capable + Motivated): These are already in the target quadrant. Stretch them with strategic assignments, delegate ownership, expand their decision freedom, and make sure their contributions are recognized. The leadership focus here is empowerment and retention.
With Disengaged Experts (Capable + Unmotivated): The developmental arrow points upward toward High Performer. Leaders must first diagnose: are needs unmet, is the role misaligned, or is clarity of vision lacking? Re-engagement through coaching, mentoring, or role redesign should be attempted before considering exit.
With Emerging Talent (Motivated + Less Capable): The path also leads upward toward High Performer. Invest heavily—training, mentoring, and scaffolding accelerate capability development when motivation is high. ROI in this quadrant is especially strong.
With Constraint Zone (Less Capable + Unmotivated): The movement is conditional. If motivation can be reignited, development toward Emerging Talent is possible; if capability can be built, a shift toward Disengaged Expert may occur. If neither is achievable, the arrow points outward—clarify expectations, support fairly, and when necessary, move them out respectfully.
The Bigger Picture
Tools like the Capability–Motivation Matrix are just the starting point. They give you a lens – but the real work comes when you integrate it with leadership practices:
Needs-based leadership frameworks to understand what fuels or drains motivation.
Strength-based delegation to put the right people on the right challenges.
Feedback models that build psychological safety and growth.
Together, these tools help leaders move from firefighting to designing environments where people thrive.
Final thought
Skills get outdated. Capabilities endure. Motivation ebbs and flows. As a leader, your job is not to put people in boxes, but to read the context, tune your response, and invest energy where it creates the most sustainable growth.
The Capability–Motivation Matrix is a reminder: when someone is capable and motivated, the sky is the limit. When one of those elements is missing, your role is to decide – do we guide, re-engage, develop, or let go?
That’s not just management. That’s leadership.
👉 Next step: Want to explore how this matrix connects with tools like Strength-Based Role Mapping™, Needs-Based Leadership, or Delegated Responsibility Flowcharts?
Check out our toolkit for sustainable leadership design – where diagnostics meet practice.
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