Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Once again, thinking at one layer higher than usual may bring insights that prove effective.

There is competence: someone is able to do something well. They know the topic, they know the skills, and they apply them all. The adjective “well” is used often and truthfully.

Then there is meta-competence: this has something to do with being competent with and about competence.

I struggled to find this concept for several decades. I worked in government. Employees were often judged for their abilities. The simple idea being that persons judged to be more competent would be promoted to positions requiring more competence. The simple idea often fell broken on the rocks of reality.

The problem I often found was, “Who are the judges?” I frequently met judges who were not competent. They couldn’t write a sentence, but judged others on their ability to write. They had not read a book or paper on technology in ten years, but judged others on their technical abilities.

We lacked people who were competent about competence, i.e., we had little meta-competence.

At this point, I am supposed to provide the solution to this meta-competence problem. Well, that is the problem. Someone has to judge competence with competence to decide competence, or something like that. A high-level manager needs to hire a hiring expert so that competent people are hired. How does the high-level manager know whom to hire? Who is the hiring expert, i.e., the person with meta-competence. How is the high-level manager supposed to be competent at meta-competence?

At some point, someone has to do the first task and do it well.

Advice? Do it quickly. Judge the results quickly. If the first step was a mistake, change the first step quickly. Time doesn’t always heal all wounds.