#Promoted until incompetent plus

When she graduates from college, she is offered a full-time position within the sales department which she gladly accepts.īecause of her excellent working knowledge of products and people skills, Katherine quickly rises as a top sales performer. Over the next year, Katherine takes on additional duties and is able to juggle them without a problem. She is well-liked by employees, dependable, and is a fast learner. Katherine is hired as a college intern to support the product development team. He called this the ‘Peter Principle.’ (1)įor illustration, let’s start with a typical scenario that may happen within the workplace environment. “Eventually, every employee tends to rise to their level of incompetence.” he wrote. When the employee has reached the performance limits and fails to improve, they irritate their peers and clients with their inability to do their job. He surmised that this meant that a promoted employee might be less successful in a new position because while they had the skills to do their old job, they weren’t prepared for the extra responsibilities.Īs employees climb the corporate ladder, one, two, or three rungs, their performance may be so bad that they no longer warrant any more promotions. However, the promotion gave very little weight to their ability to assume increased responsibility. Peter’s observation was that people are promoted based on their performance in their current position. The Peter Principle, published in 1969, tried to explain how people become incompetent. The book ‘The Peter Principle by Laurence J. The Peter Principle: The Theory Behind Workplace Incompetence Both the employee and the company can suffer enormous consequences. Besides putting an individual’s continued employment in jeopardy, consistent issues with performance block achievement of company goals. There are some causes of inadequacy that can be avoided, while others can’t. There are several reasons why some workers are viewed as incompetent, even if they are trying hard to succeed. Incompetence can lead to low morale in the workplace, reducing productivity as well as increasing employee turnover. It is said, “To error is human….”, but the inability to do something (and do it correctly) is frustrating, whether it’s a peer or a boss.

#Promoted until incompetent plus

Grooming people to succeed before they step into the next role helps to prevent the Peter Principle and offset the ineptitude of colleagues who are good at what they do now, but not up to the future challenge of the next role.Īs the author Laurence Peter once wrote, “Incompetence plus incompetence always equals incompetence.A part of being a human is making mistakes. Of course, leaders must first identify the ingredients essential for the next role and design the experiences and training that will ensure competence before it is required. Using skill development as a prerequisite to promotion encourages an honest conversation about who is, or is not, ready for the next role. The best way to prevent the Peter Principle is to offer skill training, coaching, and mentorship before promoting people. Good organizations and teams have learned an important lesson. In case you haven’t yet noticed, incompetent people are typically oblivious to their incompetence. And to make matters worse, once in a new role, their subordinates with higher skillsets go crazy reporting to someone so hopelessly incapable. The good news is that once it is known that a colleague is incompetent in their current position, they generally stop being promoted.

Incompetent people abound throughout most organizations. Unfortunately, the idea is as true today as it was in 1969 when it was first published. The Peter Principle instantly became an international bestseller. People rising to the level of their incompetence captures the reality many leaders observe in organizations everywhere. They then stay put, without any real capacity to perform in the role. They continue to get promoted until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent. Written as a satire that struck a chord of fidelity with leaders across the globe, The Peter Principle suggests that people in any hierarchy tend to be promoted based upon their success in their previous role.