IOWL submits Calibre and productivity evidence to UK Parliament

BELFAST, 5 December 2025 The Institute of One World Leadership (IOWL) has submitted written evidence to the House of Commons Business and Trade Committee as part of the Committee's work on priorities for 2026.

The submission asks whether UK productivity debate gives sufficient attention to the human judgement through which skills, technology, capital and organisational capability are converted into actual performance. It advances IOWL's distinction between Capability, Competency and Calibre and presents Calibre as a proposition for further measurement and testing.

“The UK’s productivity problem is not solely a skills deficit but a Calibre deficit.”

IOWL written evidence to the Business and Trade Committee

What the submission proposes

The evidence recommends that productivity and human-capital frameworks examine leadership Calibre alongside existing measures of education, skills, management quality and organisational capital. It also proposes Calibre Credits™ as a complementary form of evidence, the use of Positive Value Leadership™ development in selected leadership and skills settings, and stronger coordination between productivity, skills, business regulation and public-sector integrity.

The submission further proposes that major programmes and institutions consider the quality of leadership judgement alongside technical and financial capacity. It identifies potential applications in infrastructure, public procurement, management development, digital and AI adoption, and public leadership.

Skills remain essential

IOWL's submission does not argue that Calibre replaces skills, technology, investment, management or established productivity measures. Its central question is whether those inputs are converted into dependable performance differently according to the quality of judgement, integrity, responsibility and organisational culture through which they are exercised.

The evidence refers to the distinction as a three-pillar human-capital model. Capability concerns knowledge and potential. Competency concerns effective application. Calibre concerns the values and judgement governing the exercise of both.

From a policy assertion to a research question

The submission also calls for rigorous evaluation. IOWL's position is that Calibre should not be accepted as an economic variable merely because the Institute proposes it. The relevant question is whether measurable dimensions of human judgement and values-led agency explain variation in performance after other known factors are taken into account.

IOWL identifies international comparison as one route for that work and refers to its engagement with the OECD Future of Education and Skills programme and the OECD Global Forum on Productivity. The Institute sees value in testing whether the same human dimension appears across education, integrity, management and productivity contexts.

The Committee will determine how evidence submitted to its inquiry is used and whether it is published. Submission of evidence does not imply endorsement by the Committee, Parliament or the UK Government.