So much on my mind...
But underlying most of my thoughts are the concepts of ACCOUNTABILITY and COMPETENCE.
Let's talk about COMPETENCE.
From my weekend in Asheville, I picked up the book "The Competent Organization" by Lee Thayer.
I have not thought about the concept of COMPETENCE in those words for years... possibly ever. But, I find that in STUDYING competence and accountability, I am finding great clarity.
Clarity that helps me better guide my own evolution, and allows me to share more clearly with others expectations... which is so very important.
Lee Thayer defines competence as:
A competent individual – is one who is consciously and continuously learning how to perform his or her role(s) today better than yesterday.
He goes on to say that...
Competence is not a destination. It is a way of life.
The competent person has a need or lust to do everything they do today better than they did yesterday.
Could my unsettled soul be simply a soul in the quest of competence?
I love that he doesn't define competence statically. He doesn't define it as so many do... "the ability to do something successfully..." He makes it dynamic. He makes it asymptotic.
He makes it unreachable, and yet
reachable EVERY DAY!
Think about those who have reached the highest levels of competence... and read about them. You find in all of them an insatiable appetite & commitment to improve themselves further...
Competence is a learning mind, and a learning mind must be an open mind.
I see so many around me who celebrate their competence and spend most of their energy wishing everyone else around them was similarly competent...
Such a distorted view...
There are such great similarities between a competent individual and an accountable individual... and probably the most significant:
- HOLDING yourself and NO ONE else responsible for your performance
- NOT BEING afraid to fail... but seeing FAILURE as an opportunity to learn better... Not allowing yourself to make the same mistake twice...
- NOT seeking praise, but seeking results and finding pleasure and satisfaction in accomplishment itself
- Working with the interest of others ahead of the interests of self...
- "being a question asker, not an opinion giver" Lee Thayer (LOVE THAT ONE)
Competence is bigger than accountability.
Accountability is one of the components of competence.
The part that I find most perplexing is that immediately, when I read these books or hear these thoughts, my mind asks...
"Am I competent?"
"Is he/she competent?"
Our LEFT brain immediately wants to apply the label, now that it has a definition.
And my RIGHT brain smiles... If it were only that easy.
We are such complex creatures...
TRUTH IS... I am incredibly COMPETENT and incredibly INCOMPETENT at the same time. It matters what characteristic of me you are evaluating. It matters when in my life you are evaluating me.
LIKE SO MANY CONCEPTS - the answer is not 1 or 0...
Where is my competence strong? Working with people, understanding their motivations, considering possibilities, assessing situations objectively, accepting people for who they are - seeing them, my willingness to say yes to too much...
Where is my competence weak? Holding people accountable, IMPOSING consistent values into our company, delegating successfully, prioritization, not allowing people to default to the simplest versions of themselves, my reluctance to say no to things that are of lesser importance...
Where am I today versus where I was yesterday? last year? 10 years ago?
On being a father? a husband? a son? a friend? a leader? an entrepreneur? a man? a contributing member of the community?...
To check off the box, or not, of "competence" and move on is the simple conclusion...
and the wrong one.
To study...
To struggle...
To debate...
To develop...
COMPETENCE more fully and completely into all aspects of who I am...
That is the journey.
And, to do it,
not from the standpoint of wishing I was already there...
but from the gratitude of all that I already am....
in each and every moment...
... that is a way of life
... that is everything
... that is harmony
Nestor