Pitfalls of Advancement
Opportunities for professional advancement are often times welcomed with open arms and can be some of the most treasured achievements in our lives. Typically with advancement, employees receive increases in pay, power, stature, and recognition (to name a few); which are all wonderful benefits to receive. However, in addition to the benefits stated, advancement may also bring moments of great challenges, stress, failure, and a relative cornucopia of interpersonal problems professionally and at home.
As many of you may have heard before, according to the Peter Principle, people tend to be promoted up to their highest "level of incompetence". The principle is based on the observation that as people prove to be competent in the task to which they are assigned, they get promoted to a higher rank, ultimately, leading to a position that they may not be competent in.
While there may be some truth to the statement, I do not necessary agree with the idea that the person will remain not competent for the job. To briefly explain, over the course of ones professional career, they receive skill training, product training, may seek post-secondary and graduate degrees, etc.; basically becoming relative experts in their field of employment. However, even with higher educational degrees, training, and experience, people may struggle in their positions; but why?
According to Marshall Goldsmith, “the higher you go (in the organization), the more your problems are behavioral.” Or in other words, people reaching management and higher level positions are technically skilled and intelligent. They have been to college, and received the necessary skill training. People reaching these positions are not incompetent, the skills that got them to this level are present, however, the new position requires a different skill set consisting of interpersonal behaviors.
What employers perceived as incompetence are actually behavioral issues, and these people skills are what prevent most from fulfilling their potential. This is why coaching is so important because coaching sheds light on the blind spots that people have in relation to their interpersonal behaviors or people skills and helps free them from the pitfalls of advancement!
As many of you may have heard before, according to the Peter Principle, people tend to be promoted up to their highest "level of incompetence". The principle is based on the observation that as people prove to be competent in the task to which they are assigned, they get promoted to a higher rank, ultimately, leading to a position that they may not be competent in.
While there may be some truth to the statement, I do not necessary agree with the idea that the person will remain not competent for the job. To briefly explain, over the course of ones professional career, they receive skill training, product training, may seek post-secondary and graduate degrees, etc.; basically becoming relative experts in their field of employment. However, even with higher educational degrees, training, and experience, people may struggle in their positions; but why?
According to Marshall Goldsmith, “the higher you go (in the organization), the more your problems are behavioral.” Or in other words, people reaching management and higher level positions are technically skilled and intelligent. They have been to college, and received the necessary skill training. People reaching these positions are not incompetent, the skills that got them to this level are present, however, the new position requires a different skill set consisting of interpersonal behaviors.
What employers perceived as incompetence are actually behavioral issues, and these people skills are what prevent most from fulfilling their potential. This is why coaching is so important because coaching sheds light on the blind spots that people have in relation to their interpersonal behaviors or people skills and helps free them from the pitfalls of advancement!
posted by Keith Smith at
1:56 PM
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