|
Searching for Competence in the Mediocrity Mire
By Jana M. Kemp
Are you feeling bogged down in a seemingly bottomless mire of "I can't do that," It's not my job," "I'm bored," "I don't know how to do it" and "Why should I care anyway"? Do you hear these phrases when you go out to eat, when you shop, when you work or when you get home from work? Do co-workers, service providers, supervisors, or employees utter similar phrases on a daily basis? If so, you are working in a mediocrity mire.
Do you want to stay working in the mire? Or, would you like to hear "I'll be happy to help you" or "I'll get this finished for you today" or "I know how to do this and will ask for help if I run into trouble" even just once a week? If so, you too are searching for competence.
At the same time, you may be one of the competent people in your organization. Are you surrounded by competent others? Or, are you the seemingly the only bastion of competence in your organization? Are you the one who works hard, gets things done on-time and on-budget and at the same time do you find yourself unappreciated by those around you? Or, are you finding yourself getting beaten-up because you are competent?
What then is competence? Competence is being competent; being able and fit to fulfill the requirements of accomplishing the tasks and work at hand in a manner that allows and encourages others to also demonstrate their competence. Sometimes we recognize competence when we see it because both our minds and our hearts tell us that the action taken or the work performed was sound, high-quality, well-meaning and effective.
Why then is competence so hard to come by? Maybe it's fear or exhaustion. Perhaps because it can be seen as a threat to those who don't want to work as hard as the competent person appears to be working. Then again, maybe we're just out of time - having trouble finding the time required each day to become competent. Or, in the midst of mediocrity mires that produce rich paychecks we may be forsaking our need for competence in order to distract ourselves into believing that life really is okay in the mire of mediocrity.
Whatever the reasons that keep the mire of mediocrity surrounding the domain of competence, and threaten to engulf those who demonstrate competence, the challenge begins with recognizing competence whenever and wherever we can.
You can take on the challenge of finding competence by looking for:
- Individuals who accomplish work accurately, on-time, on-budget and with a service- or team-outlook.
- People who continuously improve their knowledge and skills.
- Companies that reward employees and consumers by producing products and/or services that are well-made in safe facilities, that don't destroy employees or the environment, and that fulfill their fiscal responsibilities to stay in business.
- Organizations that stay true to their mission and give back to their communities according to that mission.
Reward competence or it will leave - in the form of companies going out of business or in the form of employees actually leaving, or worse yet, in the form of people quitting-but-staying-on-the-job. Consider these rewards for others or yourself when competence is demonstrated.
- Say "thank you."
- Recognize people in public for doing the right things and for doing them well.
- Tie raises and bonuses to competence and achievement.
- Keep the tone of competence alive in the organization. Let everyone know that competence seeks competence, no others need apply.
You know you are in the mediocrity mire and that it's time to change your situation - which can include quitting and finding a better place - when:
- You hear or are told "we don't pay you to think, just to do the job."
- People frequently say, or imply "why do you work so hard, slow down, you're making the rest of us look bad."
- You offer suggestions that are never acknowledged, or are discounted.
- You dread going to work.
With the constant work and personal demands on our attention and energies, it sometimes seems easier to take on the outlook of "why should I care, why should I try harder, I'll get along fine if I just put out a minimum effort." Yet, our energies dip and our passions flicker out each time we chose to fall victim to the lure of mediocrity as a state of being that is better than competence.
Consider becoming a competence crusader - searching for bastions of competence and/or individually maintaining your competence. The rewards? Enjoyment, creative challenge, innovation, productivity, and profitability are among the rewards. One of the biggest rewards is the discovery that you are not alone - lots of us want and expect competence and even excellence to be in our daily lives.
It's hard to care about excellence when competence is hard to find. Yet, if we are ever to achieve excellence in our work and in our lives, we must begin the search for competent individuals and organizations today. Who have you congratulated on their competence lately?
# # #
Jana M. Kemp is an internationally recognized speaker, author and workshop provider on the subjects of improving day-to-day business activities. Jana hosts Momentum(tm) every Saturday at 9:00 a.m. on KBOI 670am. Reach Jana via her website www.janakemp.com
Now online...Better Meetings for Everyone.
Get easy to implement tips on how you can improve your meeting,
decision making and time management skills by subscribing here
to Jana Kemp's quarterly e-newsletter. Click
here to subscribe.
|
