The Curse of Competence

It seems so simple. One person hires others to break off specialized tasks so that the group that is formed can do more than one person alone. Why does it have to make so many people ready for rubber rooms?

I had a long conversation yesterday with the Princess of Darkness about how hard it is to get stuff done in Corporate America. She can't stand it, and scaled back her participation rather than continue to subject herself to the mind games. She was taking things like due dates and organizational goals seriously and expecting others she worked with to do likewise (and, needless to say, a woman pushing on men to get stuff done goes over really well).

The Princess talks often about what she calls "the curse of competence": when you're compentent, you get punished by the people who aren't. You get more work to do, and you get all kinds of pushback when you expect competence out of others.

Sometimes it seems as if an implicit deal is being offered: I won't call you on your failings if you will overlook mine. It's very comfortable, good for everyone's self-esteem and everyone gets paid. Unfortunately, it is the recipe for a has-been economy.

C. Northcote Parkinson, who is famous for having said, "work expands to fill the time allowed for it's completion," also described an organizational condition he called Injelititis, and defined as five parts incompetence and three parts jealousy. His prescribed remedy was a stiff dose of intolerance before it's too late. Not the kind of intolerance directed against people who are different, but an intolerance for the shoddy, the half-assed and the indifferent.

I don't think we need to get back to the time when managers docked their employees for the mistakes they made. This would be management through fear and the limitations of this are well-documented. But we need some kind of standards and accountability. We need the people who really pull the weight to get rewarded. We need fewer places for empty suits to hide.