Time, things and money are the only three resources that any (all) organisations have available to them. It is the optimisation of these resources that builds capacity.
Time: the people available and their knowledge,skills and attributes
Things: the physical, logistical, technological resources that are available to us
Money: the financial resources that give us flexibility to buy additional time (e.g. recruitment, over-time, training) or things (additional tangible resources) should we need them
Optimising these three resources is measured against the stated objectives of the organisation. Normally these are the strategic objectives for a period – the priorities of the organisation, towards which it intends to concentrate its resources/capacity.
And the points of intervention that an organisation can make in order to optimise the combination of resources (time, things & money) in order to achieve these strategic objectives are:
Competency focuses on “Time” – increasing the abilities of the human resources (staff, consultants, donors, supporters, volunteers, partners, beneficiaries etc.).
Capability focuses on “Things” – what tangible resources are available to the organisation to allow it to exploit its competencies (i.e. what these human resources, where, when, how, etc. ).
Cost is the enabling resource “Money” that allows us to invest in the organisations competency (buying better Time) and in the organisation’s capability (buying more appropriate things).
Take a look at Activity & Resource-based Planning on how day-to-day management of the three resources (time, things & money) can build capacity through good operational planning & management
