“Someday when I am incompetent…”: Reflections on the Peter Principle, Leadership, and Emotional Intelligence

via In the Library with the Lead Pipe by Kim Leeder

A few years ago I learned of the “Peter Principle”: the concept that in hierarchical organizations, whether public or private, individuals are promoted up to their level of incompetence, and there they remain (Peter and Hull 16).

In their book of the same name, the authors observe with satirical accuracy that, regardless of career field, high-performing individuals are continuously promoted over time until they reach the point at which the challenges of their new position exceed their skills, thereby decreasing their performance, eliminating the possibility of future promotions, and reducing the effectiveness of the organization as a whole.

In short, most people advance in their careers until are promoted to a level at which they cease to achieve.

Peter and Hull attribute this phenomenon to the fact that promotions are generally based upon performance in the old position, while each higher-level position requires new and different skills. Strong job performance as a staff member is not a predictor of strong performance as a manager.

Continue reading where you will find Kim using examples from librarianship but reading it through I simply substituted the British civil service of which I had 22 not always happy years experience!
None of this is, of course, new but I think we all need to be reminded from time to time.

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