Ports North

Capability Framework

What they said.

Our organisation has engaged Zest on a number of projects and we appreciate how supportive and helpful the Zest team are. The team have taken the time to understand our organisation and our culture and work well with our leaders to educate and empower our teams.

Leanne Jeffries

General Manager Corporate Services

The Need

Ports North wanted to create greater consistency and clarity around its roles and the capabilities employees needed to perform successfully.

Existing position descriptions varied in structure, terminology and level of detail across the organisation. This made it difficult to clearly define role accountabilities, establish consistent expectations and demonstrate how individual roles contributed to organisational objectives.

Ports North engaged Zest to develop a consistent, organisation-wide approach to role design and capability. The framework needed to accommodate a diverse range of roles while creating a stronger foundation for performance management, employee development, career progression and workforce planning.

The Solution

Zest undertook a comprehensive review of position descriptions across Ports North, working closely with leaders, managers and employees to understand the responsibilities, expectations and requirements of each role.

We developed:

A consistent role summary format for use across the organisation.
An organisation-wide capability framework connecting organisational priorities, team responsibilities and individual roles.
Tailored technical capabilities based on the skills, knowledge and expertise required for each role.
Overarching capability pillars covering operational effectiveness, safety and risk, continuous improvement, integrity and accountability, and partnerships and stewardship.
Clear role requirements outlining the qualifications, experience and other requirements relevant to each position.
A consultation and validation process that allowed employees to review the documentation and confirm that it accurately reflected the work being performed.

Rather than relying on broad or generic competency statements, the framework translated the real requirements of each role into clear and practical language. This created a shared understanding of capability across Ports North while retaining the specialist requirements of different roles and job families.

Highlights

Consistency without losing role specificity: A common structure and language were introduced across a diverse range of roles, while preserving the technical requirements and accountabilities unique to each position.
Capabilities grounded in the work: Technical capabilities were developed around the skills, knowledge and expertise employees needed to perform successfully, ensuring the framework remained meaningful and practical.
A framework with broader value: The framework was designed to extend beyond position descriptions, providing a practical foundation for performance, development, career and workforce planning conversations.

Challenges

Bringing consistency to a large and diverse range of roles across different functions and organisational levels.
Balancing organisation-wide standardisation with the specialist requirements of technical roles.
Ensuring capabilities were practical and meaningful rather than generic or overly broad.
Reconciling different perspectives from managers and employees about role scope and expectations.
Maintaining momentum across a substantial number of roles while allowing meaningful consultation.
Clearly connecting organisational priorities, team responsibilities and individual accountabilities.

Wins

Established a clear and consistent framework for defining roles and capabilities across Ports North.
Improved clarity around role accountabilities, requirements and performance expectations.
Created stronger alignment between organisational priorities, team objectives and individual roles.
Developed tailored technical capabilities that reflected the work employees performed.
Increased employee involvement and ownership through consultation and validation.
Created a practical foundation for future performance management, development and career progression.
Introduced a shared language for discussing capability consistently across the organisation.

More Work.

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