Page 110 - The extraordinary leader

The Competency Quest • 87

also important to point out that your punctuality will not elevate you above
other people. Simply put, ineffective executives are also highly punctual.
If you want to work on improving your leadership capabilities, we advocate
focusing on behaviors that truly make a difference. So what are they? We
present these later in this chapter.
Assumption 5. Competencies are best developed by a direct focus on that specific
competency.
Fact: Our research suggests that one competency is developed in the process
of developing another. They appear to be, in many cases, by-products of one
another. That means that the direct linear method is not the only way to
develop or strengthen a competency. Indeed, there may be better and easier
ways that come in from the sides and the back, rather than merely hitting it
straight on. Chapter 8 expands on this concept.

3. Unintended Consequences

The largest drawback of the competency movement may have been its unfore-
seen by-products. We think that the competency movement has sent a series
of implicit messages to leaders. These include:

● Competencies are a checklist, and the leader’s objective is to check
each one of them off. You either have it or you do not.
● Everyone needs to be adequate in any given competency. Chapter 2
emphasized that “adequate” is not the correct target. The target needs
to be “extraordinary,” not adequate.
● The emphasis has been almost exclusively on those competencies on
which you are perceived as being deficient. The implication is that
the greatest value comes from moving a weakness to a middle range
where it no longer stands out.
● No emphasis has been given to taking a relative strength and making
it “off-the-chart” strong. Unwittingly, this has contributed to our
general pattern of “aiming low.”
● It has driven out other powerful and practical techniques for
developing people. Management experts ranging from Peter Drucker
to Thomas Gilbert have proposed an extremely effective way to
improve productivity and performance in an organization. They
advocated identifying top performers and then carefully determining