Insights

Capability & Learning Glossary

Plain-English definitions of the terms used across this site — DSAT, TNA, capability frameworks and the rest — each linking through to where we cover it properly.

Active SC / DV Clearance: UK Government security clearance levels — Security Check (SC) and the higher Developed Vetting (DV) — required to work on sensitive Defence and government programmes. Jason holds Active SC clearance and is a former DV holder. About Jason's clearances →
Apprenticeship Funding Compliance: The evidence and audit trail required to protect government-funded apprenticeship investment — proving that funded time, off-the-job training and progress tracking meet the rules, not just that someone eventually qualified. Apprenticeships service →
Capability Diagnostic: The eight places to look for the cause of a performance gap before deciding on a solution: knowledge and skill; role and expectations; process and workflow; tools and technology; resources and capacity; leadership and management; motivation and incentives; environment and culture. Only the first is primarily fixed by training. Adapted from Gilbert’s Behaviour Engineering Model and set out in Training Isn’t Always the Answer. About the book →
Capability Framework: A defined, consistent standard of competence for a role or specialisation, used for assessment, development and workforce planning. Unlike a job description, a capability framework is meant to be applied the same way by every assessor, not interpreted locally by every team. Read the full definition →
Capability Readiness Maturity Model™: Five stages of organisational capability maturity, from Reactive (ad-hoc, no evidence) through Compliant and Structured to Measured and Optimised. Most organisations can place themselves on this scale within one conversation. How I Work →
Capability Readiness Review™: Prelude's ten-question diagnostic for identifying which of six areas — capability, leadership, process, governance, workforce or training — a performance problem actually sits in, before any solution is designed. Take the free self-assessment →
Capability vs Competency: Related but distinct: competency usually describes an individual's skill or behaviour, while capability describes whether the organisation as a whole — people, governance, structure and process together — can reliably deliver the outcome. An organisation can have competent individuals and still lack capability. Read the full explanation →
Change Management: The discipline of managing the human and structural side of organisational transformation — communication, adoption, resistance and sequencing — distinct from capability building, though the two need to work together for change to stick. Read the full explanation →
CMI: The Chartered Management Institute — the UK's professional body for management and leadership, awarding recognised qualifications in leadership and coaching. About Jason's qualifications →
DSAT: The Defence Systems Approach to Training — the methodology set out in JSP 822 for designing, delivering and assuring training across UK Defence. In practice, it's a structured way of answering five questions: what capability is required, how will training be designed, developed and delivered to build it, and how will you know it worked. Read: DSAT Explained →
Evaluation (Kirkpatrick Model): The standard four-level model for measuring training effectiveness: reaction, learning, behaviour and results. Most organisations measure only the first level (did people enjoy it) and call it evaluation — genuine evaluation asks whether behaviour and results actually changed. Read the full article →
Golden Thread: A single, unbroken line of traceability from business need to business outcome, in ten links: business need, performance outcome, role and task, capability requirement, intervention requirement, learning requirement (where applicable), objective, assessment, performance measure and business outcome. Read top to bottom it is a design method; bottom to top, an audit tool. Builds on DSAT traceability and benefits mapping. The approach →
JSP 822: The Ministry of Defence Joint Service Publication that sets out DSAT requirements — the policy document behind Defence training governance, assurance and audit. Read: DSAT Explained →
Learning Governance: The decision rights and evidence trail behind how training and learning are assured, audited and held accountable — who owns which decision, and what evidence proves it was made well. Read the complete guide →
Learning Strategy: The document connecting capability investment to organisational goals — what's being invested in, why, and how impact will be measured — as distinct from a training plan, which just lists what's being delivered. Read the complete guide →
LMS (Learning Management System): The platform used to deliver, track and report on training. An LMS produces data by default, but data isn't the same as trustworthy reporting — most LMS problems are configuration and information management issues, not platform failures. Read the full definition →
Organisational Development: The discipline of improving how an organisation functions structurally — roles, governance, culture and process — rather than only developing individual skills. Capability work often surfaces organisational development needs that training alone can't address. Explore services →
Performance Consulting: Diagnosing why organisational performance is falling short before prescribing a solution — testing whether the cause is genuinely a skills gap, or something structural, before recommending training, restructuring or anything else. Read the complete guide →
Prelude Method: The label used in Training Isn’t Always the Answer for Prelude’s own syntheses and frameworks, such as the Performance & Capability Cycle and the Golden Thread. They bring together established disciplines (TNA, DSAT, business analysis and performance consulting) rather than inventing new theory. About the book →
Prelude Performance & Capability Cycle: Prelude’s working method, in five stages: Understand, Diagnose, Define, Intervene, Prove. Training is treated as one possible intervention among many, chosen only after the cause of a performance gap is understood. The approach →
PRINCE2: A structured project management methodology widely used across UK government and Defence programmes. Jason is a PRINCE2 Practitioner. About Jason's qualifications →
Should We Train? decision tree: A test for whether a performance gap needs learning: could the person perform the task to the required standard under ideal conditions? If not, there may be a learning need, once information, task design and practice have been checked. If they could, the cause is in the environment, and training will not fix it. Adapted from Mager and Pipe. Read the full explanation →
Skills Framework: A map of the specific skills required for particular roles — narrower and more operational than a capability framework, which sets the broader standard a role needs to meet. Skills frameworks are what make workforce planning and succession possible in practice. Read the full definition →
Succession Planning: Preparing the pipeline for critical roles before a vacancy forces a rushed decision — identifying and developing likely successors ahead of need, rather than reacting when someone leaves. Read the article →
TNA (Training Needs Analysis): The structured process of testing whether a performance gap is genuinely a training gap, or whether it's being held back by something else — unclear roles, weak governance, or a structure working against the outcome. A properly run TNA can conclude that training isn't the answer. Read the complete guide →
Totara: An open-source Learning Management System, built on Moodle, widely used across UK healthcare and public sector organisations for its flexibility around compliance reporting and structured learning pathways. Read the comparison →
Training Governance: Governance applied specifically to training delivery and compliance — audit-ready evidence, clear decision rights, and defensible assurance that training is meeting the standard it's supposed to. Read the complete guide →
Workforce Planning: Aligning roles, skills and structure to actual operational demand, so an organisation is ready for what's coming, not just resourced for what's here today. Workforce Planning service →

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