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New Insights into Leadership Development • 175

are not implying that one behavior causes the other. Later in this chapter, we
provide our analysis of various reasons for why the linkage occurs.
Competency companions provide excellent clues for making significant
improvements on a differentiating behavior. People need to examine their
level of competence on a differentiating behavior and then review each com-
petency companion. They can examine situations from their own experience
when poor performance on a competency companion affected the percep-
tion of their ability in the differentiating behavior. The question to ask is “If I
were to improve my performance on competency companion A, would it
improve my performance on the differentiating competency B, or at least
would it enhance the perceptions of others regarding my ability on differen-
tiating competency B?” Looking for situations or past experiences where two
behaviors might have been linked will help people to identify a competency
companion that may be the key to developing extraordinary talent on a dif-
ferentiating behavior.

Mechanisms of Competency Companions
Why do competency companions leverage improvement in certain behav-
iors? We believe that there are a variety of reasons for the impact that is evi-
dent when both the competency and the competency companion are rated
positively. We are clear that there are different mechanisms creating the
impact. The following is a list of six mechanisms that best explain the com-
petency companion phenomena.

1. The competency and the competency companion fit together in
people’s perceptional systems. The Rosenberg et al. research found
that certain characteristics fit together in most people’s minds. If you
have attribute A, people assume you have attribute B. If they know you
don’t have attribute B, they question if you could possibly have
attribute A. Therefore, the first explanation of why competency
companions create impact is that perceptually people believe these
characteristics fit together, and improving one helps create the
perception that the other is more positive.
2. Competency companions facilitate the expression of another
competency. Consider the linkage between interpersonal skills and
technical skills. What appears to be happening is that having strong