Incompetence really hurts

For some reason I’ve gotten hooked on this crazy Manager-Tools podcast.  I’m not a manager, I’ve never been a manager in the technical sense of the word.  But these two guys are always putting out interesting stuff that from which I learn a lot.

A couple of weeks ago Mark Horsman briefly posted on Incompetence and an article from the Harvard Business Review.  The key findings?

Incompetence is far more pernicious than we realize. “Incompetent people don’t perform up to speed, don’t recognize their lack of competence, and don’t recognize the competence of others.”

It’s the last two statements of the drop quote that are most troubling.  Incompetence people don’t recognize that they are incompetent…and guess what, they can’t tell whether you’re competent or not either! 

I’m fortunate to work with a lot of very, very highly competent people in my organization and in my immediate team.  There isn’t a dud among them.  But articles like this, and the research a paper here always make me wonder how we handle competence and management in Christian circles.  We trust God a lot, and we trust that the Holy Spirit will straighten people out.  Fortunately God is really, really good, but maybe we’re missing some things.