The Peter Principle: In a hierarchy, everyone will eventually be promoted to his/her level of incompetence.
Surely you know someone like this: she’s exceptionally skilled at her work and thus promoted. Eventually she reaches a role that no longer engages her strengths and skills, and instead leaves her feeling depleted, her team floundering, and her employers wondering what happened to their superstar performer.
Maybe it’s happened to you?
The Peter Principle, coined by Dr. Laurence Peter over 40 years ago, can lead to all sorts of problems. Often, the end result is an employer disappointed that the employee hasn’t “stepped up to his full potential” and an employee frustrated because he knows how to do the work but doesn’t know how – or have the support in place – to lead effectively.
I always commend the forward-thinkers who reach out for coaching with this issue. Rockstar employees can also be rockstar leaders, provided the desire – and an infrastructure for support – exists. Below are 6 ways you can lead through – or altogether avoid – the Peter Principle in your organization.
Employers:
1. Check With Your Employee. Before promoting someone to a management or leadership role, ensure the employee wants to make the move. Provide a realistic picture of what the role will entail, including the support you will provide. Recognize the difference between self-doubt (“I’m excited – but can I really do this?”) and disinterest (“I guess I have no choice”).
2. Provide Ample Training & Development. Training and 1-on-1 coaching are among the most effective routes in terms of behavior change, sustainability, and return on investment – especially when pursued together. Also consider group refreshers by bringing in speakers, hosting lunch-and-learns on leadership topics, and creating programs that connect leaders with one another regularly.
3. Offer Customized Support. In addition to the formalized T&D, make yourself available. Be creative! For example, I often encourage my clients to give the employee an excellent resource like Jim Collins’ Good To Great, assign a chapter a week, and meet to discuss and apply the principles.Employees:
4. Set The Stage For Early Success. Just like you’d want to hit the ground running in a new job with a new company, you want to succeed out of the gate with your new role. Enlist the help of your supervisor and/or coach to set milestones for your first 90 days. Don’t just assume you’ll learn as you go – be proactive.
5. Seek Out A Mentor. I wrote my doctoral thesis on mentoring and my research supports the countless other studies showing its effects are powerful. Decide which areas you most want to develop, then identify 3-5 leaders you admire, respect, and from whom you’d want to learn. Start from the top of your list, approach your potential mentor with a win-win offer, and apply what you learn.
6. Assume Nothing. A new title does not automatically make you a leader. Your team may not tell you what they want or need. What you consider typical leadership skills may now be antiquated. The key strategy: ask questions and listen carefully. Remember, the answers you receive depend on the questions you ask.
Continuing on the “assume nothing” theme, don’t assume the Peter Principle is inevitable. With proactive measures and honest discussion, superstar performers can become superstar leaders, ultimately developing legions of superstars around them!
Dr. Christi Hegstad helps you successfully do what you love! As a Certified Executive and Leadership Coach and the President of MAP Professional Development Inc., she coaches executives and leaders who feel stuck – whether in their leadership abilities, at a certain income level, or “spinning their wheels” in the day-to-day – to flourish towards a purposeful vision with clarity, confidence, and meaningful action.
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