The competency paradox

Monday, August 19, 2024

9:56 AM

I've had this conversation several times over my career. There is a coworker or employee who is highly capable at their role. However, the powers that be don't want to promote them. The individual is literally the glue that holds the business together. All work flows to them. They are frustrated with long hours, many tasks, leading, and doing.

This is the core of the competency paradox: Work flows to those who do it. The better you are at doing the work, the more work flows in. I suppose that this is the opposite of the incompetency paradox, which states that people are promoted to their level of incompetence.