Assessing capability

Organisations need to assess worker capabilities to ensure they are equipped to meet current participant needs and to target training and development investment where it is most needed. It is also important for workers to receive regular constructive feedback about what they are doing well and any areas they need to further develop. This section describes how organisations can use assessment strategies to identify training priorities (this is known as a ‘training needs analysis’).

Organisations need to ensure that the supervisor or manager assessing a worker has the relevant skills, understanding and expertise to assess a worker. Assessing workers capability may at times need to be done by a different person to the direct supervisor if the skills are specialised or specific eg; use of a particular model of hoist.

Managers need to be confident that each worker has the capabilities needed to do any job they are tasked with. Deciding what to focus on is guided by factors such as:

• Work requirements: The Position Description Tool can help identify the key elements and capabilities needed in each role. Alternatively, the Framework can be used as a guide. The core capabilities are required to be demonstrated by all workers. For example, the first core capability in the Framework describes attitudes, skills, and knowledge that all workers need to establish and maintain positive, respectful relationships with NDIS participants. You can see how it applies in different roles by selecting the type of work, for either general or advanced support roles, or ancillary work. There may also be aspects of the role that require specific skills. For example:

  • A worker supporting a participant with intellectual disability who sometimes uses supported decision-making to reach a decision needs to understand the supported decision-making arrangements
  • Workers who support participants to communicate and manage behaviours of concern, need an understanding of positive behaviour support.
• Existing experience and training: Your approach is likely to be different depending on the experience of the worker you are assessing. For example, when assessing a new worker, you may need to do a broad assessment to check their understanding of what they learned in induction training and to check that they know how to apply this to different aspects of their role. Assessment of a more experienced worker might focus on assessing that their knowledge and practice reflects current requirements. For example, do they check in with the NDIS participant about their preferences for how supports are delivered, or do they simply do things the way they think they should be done?
• Timing: The Supervision and Support Relationship guide provides advice on capability assessment as part of the regular performance management cycle. This involves worker self-assessment and supervisor assessment, drawing on feedback and other evidence to give a picture of how a worker is going and what additional support or development they may need. If the worker’s job requires them to follow a specific procedure or deliver higher risk support types, you should assess their capabilities in these specific areas prior to asking them to apply them in practice independently. You also need to plan to confirm the currency of these capabilities on a regular basis, particularly if time has elapsed since the worker last delivered this kind of support or if procedures have changed. If a worker is delivering one or more of the supports described in the High Intensity Support Skills Descriptors refer to the training advice in each of the skills descriptors for further information on the type and timing of assessment.
• Practicalities: Your approach needs to be realistic and practical, yielding sufficient information to give you confidence that the worker is capable, while not being so time or resource intensive that it is unsustainable. A planned annual program covering all workers is more effective than a reactive approach that relies on one-off actions to respond to unanticipated needs.

Conducting capability assessments

The purpose of capability assessments is to ensure the worker is well-prepared to do the job you have assigned to them and to identify any support or further development they may need to feel confident and successful in delivering supports to participants. Assessments should be conducted collaboratively with the worker, in a positive and supportive manner. The Supervision resources provide extensive guidance on how to establish this kind of approach.

Some further useful tips to keep in mind when planning your approach to assessment:

• As the assessor, you should be confident that you have the content expertise prior to assessing the worker. If you as a manager or supervisor do not have the skill or understanding of the content, look around the organisation for someone that is across the content and expertise required to assess the worker.
• The assessment process should help workers self-identify strengths and where they may need to address gaps. A supportive and positive approach will encourage workers to see this as a useful regular opportunity to reflect on and develop practice.
• Always let workers know what to expect during the assessment process, inviting questions before beginning. Provide feedback on what you think they are doing well and where you see a need for further development. Ask for their viewpoint on both and discuss any points of difference in a constructive way.
• Basing assessment on more than one source of evidence will give you a more reliable indication of capability. For example, to assess core capabilities you could draw on worker self-assessment, participant feedback, and supervisor feedback. To assist you with this, you can download a tip sheet on types of evidence from the Supervision resources.
• It is better to observe a worker demonstrating how they work on more than one occasion so you can be confident you are seeing typical practice rather than a one-off occurrence.
• The assessment method should be appropriate to what you are assessing. For example, to assess that a worker knows how to support a person at mealtimes, observing the worker demonstrate this is more reliable than relying on verbal or written questions. However, verbal or written questions are a good way to test formal knowledge. For example: list three examples of restrictive practices that require authorisation before they are used. This example should also elicit a broad response demonstrating an understanding of restrictive practices as a last resort, with the least restriction and proportionate to the risk of harm, used only for the shortest possible time and identified and approved in a lodged behaviour support plan.
• If the assessment process identifies capability gaps, think about the practical change you hope to achieve and the information you could use to tell you if it has occurred. Being clear about the change you expect is important when looking for training solutions and talking to potential training providers. It also gives you a benchmark to measure whether the training solution you use has the intended effect. See Section 4 of this guide for further information on measuring outcomes.

Training for Capability: A Guide for NDIS Providers

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Training Outcomes Matrix

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Worker Capability Self-Assessment Guide and Self-Assessment Tool

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Training Selection Scoresheet

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Position Description Tool

This tool provides a step-by-step guide to building position descriptions based on the Framework. The tool will automatically populate with capabilities from the Framework based on the type of role you are creating.
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Supervision and Support Relationship guide

This guide provides advice on setting up and implementing a supervision relationship that provides workers with clear direction about role and capability expectations and constructive feedback on performance with a focus on engagement, capability development and wellbeing.
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Evidence for Assessing Capability – Tip Sheet for Supervisors

This tip sheet provides examples of ways to collect the information you need to assess worker capability.
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Worker Capability Self-Assessment Guide

Use this guide to develop a self-assessment tool for your workers. This guide describes the information to include and provides a template you can use.
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