The Capability Myth (and why your best people still can't do their best work)
Last month, a senior leader told me their team "just doesn't have the capability" to think strategically.
I asked what happened when people tried.
Turns out, strategic thinking in that organisation meant: navigating seven approval gates, filling out a 40-page business case template, defending your idea in three separate meetings, then waiting six weeks for a decision that often came back as "let's workshop this more."
So I asked her: "If you had to jump through that process every time you wanted to think strategically, would you bother?"
She laughed. Then she stopped laughing.
Here's what I see in almost every organisation I work with: We blame people for not thinking critically, strategically, or creatively—then wonder why training doesn't fix it. We talk about empowerment and capability gaps. We create complex processes on decision-making and send people to leadership programs.
And nothing changes.
Because here's the uncomfortable truth: Most capability gaps aren't capability gaps at all. They're system gaps.
When systems train people not to think
I used to work in advertising. Loved it: fast, creative, full of fascinating psychology. I became quietly obsessed with how tiny cues could grab attention, shift behaviour, trigger reward centres in the brain. But I didn't want to use that knowledge just to sell stuff.
Years later, working in transformation, I started noticing the same patterns showing up in how teams worked. Small shifts in how work flowed (the rhythm of meetings, the questions leaders asked, how decisions got handed off) created massive changes in how people thought and behaved. Engagement surged. Decisions sharpened. Ideas flowed.
But I also saw the flip side: systems that switched people's brains off entirely. And unfortunately, these systems are the norm in most organisations.
The 2hr meeting with no break that left everyone glazed over. The monthly report so dense with data that no one could find the actual insight.The template so rigid it killed the thinking it was meant to capture. The approval process so painful that people stopped proposing anything bold. The constant context-switching that made deep work impossible. (sound familiar?)
We'd designed work in a way that made it nearly impossible for brains to function well—then blamed people for not being strategic enough.
That's when I went back to the science. Neuroscience, psychology, cognitive load research. And I started mapping what I learned to the everyday ways teams work. Want more creativity? Design moments that actually trigger it. Need better critical thinking? Build it into how decisions get made, not into a training deck.
Over the past decade, I've watched teams completely transform, not because they suddenly got "more capable," but because we redesigned their work to fit how brains actually function.
When we redesigned how one government agency ran their planning cycle—shorter sprints, visible work, clearer decision rights—their strategic initiative delivery jumped from 40% to 85% in six months. Same people. Same budget. Different system.
I call this approach Design for Thinking.
What if work fit your brain instead of fighting it?
Design for Thinking isn't about teaching people to think better. It's about designing systems that make thinking easier.
It's the difference between sending someone to a two-day workshop on strategic thinking versus building strategic thinking into the weekly cadence of how work actually flows. Between running a training session on prioritisation, versus creating a decision architecture that makes priorities visible and trade-offs clear.
You can't "train" judgment in a classroom. You develop it through practice, inside systems that encourage it.
Here's what happens when you design work around how brains function:
Decisions get faster. Not because people rush, but because there's clarity on who decides what, with what criteria, by when. Less rework. Fewer approval loops. More confidence.
People actually get into flow. Work is visible, blockers get removed quickly, and context-switching drops. Progress feels real because it is real.
Capability grows in the work itself. People practice critical thinking, strategic judgment, and creative problem-solving daily—not in a workshop, but in how they collaborate, decide, and learn.
Teams reconnect. Clarity and purpose replace chaos and burnout. People enjoy their work again.
Customers feel the difference. Strategy finally translates into value that lands.
“Systems either make thinking easier, or they shut it down. ”
Why this matters now more than ever
We're at an inflection point. AI is accelerating everything. The pace of change is only getting faster. And people are exhausted.
But here's the trap: if your systems are broken, AI just helps you do broken work faster. Before you automate processes, before you roll out the next AI tool—fix the operating system. Because AI amplifies whatever system it touches.
The skills we'll need for the next decade—critical thinking, creativity, adaptability, judgment—can't be taught in isolation. They're developed in the way we work, decide, and learn every day.
Most organisations are still running on operating systems designed for a different era. What worked ten years ago doesn't cut it anymore. Sometimes what worked last year doesn't work this year.
Meanwhile, we keep talking about psychological safety, flexibility, capability building, and purpose, but none of it sticks when the system actively works against it.
That's the gap Design for Thinking closes.
It's not consulting jargon or pretty frameworks. It's a practical, brain-smart design that builds just enough structure to reduce friction and lift the quality of thinking—safely, quickly, sustainably.
And when systems fit the brain, people learn faster, think deeper, stay engaged, and perform better. Work becomes clearer, kinder, and more human.
Who this is for
This is for leaders who are tired of capability programs that don't stick. For transformation teams who know the real blocker isn't skills, it's systems. For HR and People & Culture professionals who want to develop people in the flow of work, not outside it.
If you're exhausted by training programs that don't land, frustrated by talented people who seem stuck, or just tired of work feeling harder than it should, this is for you.
Making work fit humans again
I genuinely love seeing people succeed. Business needs to perform—that's a given. But the best way to get there is to design work that helps people think, not fight against them.
When we fix the system, we fix the work. When people are growing, the business grows too.
Design for Thinking is a practical operating approach for modern work. It's how you protect attention, sharpen decisions, and create the conditions where people do their best thinking.
Want to see if Design for Thinking could work in your context? I've created a simple diagnostic that shows where system design might be holding your teams back. Take the 2-minute assessment to get started, or download the DfT overview to explore the approach in detail.
Over the coming weeks, I'll be sharing more about Design for Thinking in action—real tools, real examples, real impact. If you took the diagnostic, you're already on the list. If not, take the assessment and let's stay connected.
Because the future of work isn't about working faster. It's about thinking smarter—and designing systems that finally make that possible.
Stop training people to think. Start designing systems that make thinking possible.