Rising To Incompetence, Part II: The Performance Management Alternative

"Incompetence - When you earnestly believe you can compensate for a lack of skill by doubling your efforts, there's no end to what you can't do"

~ Larry Kersten

"The real work is accomplished by employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence"

~ Laurence Peters

"Let's face it, in today's corporate environment, it's the bureaucratic nuts running the corporate nuthouse; if you show ineptitude and incompetence, your odds of landing a job or promotion improve exponentially"

~ Quentin Braun

In the previous article, we looked at the damage done to businesses that promote people to their level of incompetence and leave them there. I suggested demotions as the best approach to solve this problem, for both the employee and the company, and renamed them "Inverse Promotions".  However, we must also recognize that many people have an ego problem with demotions and it is not an idea that will catch on any time soon.

Something Must Be Done

The fact remains, however, that something has to be done. The cost to the business is too high. Leaving an incompetent manager in place costs the company in errors, lost productivity, high turnover, and low morale.

There also is harm done to the self-confidence and self-esteem of the individual who has reached their level of incompetence and doesn't know how to go back.

If employees can't request a return to their former position, or if they won't accept an inverse promotion, the company still must take action. The company has to protect itself, its other employees and even the career of the individual who has been over-promoted. The question is, how can this be done in a manner that effective and efficient for the company and that protects the ego of an otherwise valuable employee who got in over their head?


Performance Management

Performance management is one way to limit the damage and expense of an individual promoted beyond their level of competence. There should be a clear goal of determining whether or not a plan can be developed to adequately coach an individual to an acceptable performance level in a fairly short period of time.

The plan should be developed, written down, and agreed to by the individual and his or her supervisor who should both sign it.  The plan needs specific, measurable milestones and specific time frames.  Make sure the goals you set in the plan are S.M.A.R.T. goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely (or Time sensitive.)

Annual Performance Reviews are a waste of time in this instance. They are too formal and too infrequent. While the ultimate assessment of whether or not the individual met the plan laid out above must be formal, the steps to get there should not be.

Remember, this plan isn't for the few who were smart enough to decline an inappropriate promotion. This is for those who should have declined the promotion and didn't, either because they didn't realize it was beyond their capabilities or because they wanted the position for another reason, the prestige, for example. For that reason, the goals and metrics in the plan have to be unequivocal.

Manage This Issue

You can't leave an incompetent manager in place. It costs too much in money, morale, productivity, and innovation. If the employee won't request a return to a level at which they were competent, the company must take action.

-     Assess how quickly, if at all, the individual can be coached to an appropriate performance level.
-     Set unambiguous milestones and time frames and have everyone agree to them in writing.
-     If the goals are met, you have successfully managed the development of an employee and made them and yourself more valuable to the company.
-     If the goals are not met, everyone will agree that a step backward is in every one's best interest and the employee is more likely to be able to accept the "demotion"

Next in Part III, we'll look at what changes that company can instigate in order to try and avoid repeating these mistakes.



If you have any suggestions or topics you'd like to see covered, or if you'd like help with an issue you're currently experiencing, please drop me a line at gbossinakis@live.com. 
.
.