Get promoted to your level of incompetence

Over 50 years ago, a little known sociologist and management consultant wrote a book suggesting that anyone who is promoted long enough will eventually rise to their level of incompetence. To this day there is debate about whether Laurence J. Peter was joking in 1968 when he wrote "The Peter Principle." His original premise, "In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence," attracted attention because many people in organizations agree with the idea. Peter himself never did any actual academic research on the subject. The anecdotal examples in the book were fictional, with names of the characters taken from a children's book. Just because someone is good at doing a job does not mean they are good at managing those doing the same job. There is a mismatch between the skills required to be proficient at accomplishing the real work and the skills required to manage. With enough time and levels, every job in an organization will be done by someone who is incompetent. One of the problems when someone reaches their level of incompetence is what to do with that failed manager. Most organizations do not provide an off-ramp for managers who have failed. In many organizations it is difficult if not impossible to go back to the job being done before the promotion. Also, the employee's ego may be destroyed if they have to admit they failed at the job to which they were promoted. It is easy to see how employees can end up in these positions where they do not belong. It is part of the American Dream for many to get promoted to management. Moving up the corporate ladder can bolster an individual's self-esteem and improve their status in the eyes of friends and family. Many employees believe they can do a better job than their boss is doing. Not moving up when offered a promotion may mean the end of the career path in many organizations. Companies only give employees so many chances to advance, so people often feel pressured to accept a promotion to management. Worse yet, someone declining a promotion may be perceived as being lazy. Corri Miller, Assistant Professor of Management at Tiffin University said she has witnessed several situations where a "super" employee was promoted to "super"visor and failed miserably. "In some cases, it wasn't for lack of trying or understanding — it was the lack of the overall skill to navigate the role," Miller said. Many of those "super" employees left the company because of unhappiness with the new role. Some organizations have started to create career paths for those who do not want to move into management. As with many areas, Silicon Valley firms have led the way by creating career paths for their best engineers and others with highly-valued technical skills. Miller said it is important for organizations to find the right position for employees while providing growth opportunities, not only upwards, but within current or lateral roles. "Finding the right seat on the bus sometimes means recognizing great employees lack management and leadership skills," she said. Over the years there has been a lack of academic research conducted on the Peter Principle. However, a recent study of salespeople and their managers found that the Peter Principle does exist. It showed a strong inverse relationship between the performance of salespeople and the performance of those same salespeople once they become managers. In other words, the better the salesperson, the worse the sales manager. So, if you are successful in your current position at work, you may want to reconsider being promoted to that corner office you have been eyeing. Haan is Professor of Marketing & Entrepreneurship at Tiffin University. He can be reached at haanpc@tiffin.edu.