Normalized Incompetence & How to Break the Pattern

My family and I were driving back from North Carolina and made a quick stop at the McDonald's drive-through for breakfast. We would have been at Chick-fil-A, but it was a Sunday. The lines were long, the service was slow, and the order was wrong. The person at the window said they would correct it and bring it out to us. Yeah, right. I eventually had to go in, and they looked at me and asked, “What order are you waiting for?” I said, “The one you said you would bring to my car!” They eventually handed me the bag of food, and I managed to control my temptation to shout back, “Go take a few lessons from Chick-fil-A!”

Oxford Dictionary defines incompetence as the inability to do something successfully. In other words, missing the mark when it comes to doing your job. And it’s not always a lack of ability that leads to incompetence. Many times, it’s the lack of vision and motivation topped off with a coating of apathy. When enough of this incompetence gets embedded in the culture of an organization, it can become normalized – meaning it is no longer just a one-off experience, but rather it is the norm that will be demonstrated by the majority of team members. Below are the top five reasons normalized incompetence emerges and what you can do to correct and prevent it.

1. We hired the wrong person.

Every leader or manager knows that hiring is a bit of a gamble. No matter how thorough you are, there are no guarantees the person you hire is what you had expected or hoped for. Every leader has made hiring mistakes (including me), but the real challenge comes after you discover it. Some leaders refuse to fix the mistake, and they retain the person for an extended period. However, when the person you hired is incompetent, retaining them can have damaging effects on customers, co-workers, business reputation, and overall team culture.

2. Shortage of employees leads to compromise.

Over just a few days, I read about shortages of bus drivers, nurses, doctors, teachers, and truck drivers. These shortages can drive hiring managers to compromise and hire just about anyone who has a pulse and shows up for the interview. While many organizations are facing the same staffing challenges, some seem to do a much better job at finding talented people who are both competent and engaged. In other words, they do not compromise the standards that are mission-critical to their organization.

3. Incompetence can quickly become a contagion.

Just like the norovirus can spread quickly around a cruise ship, so can the apathy that emerges when a few incompetent team members are allowed to continue. I remember a highly competent, stellar employee of a nonprofit organization telling me how demoralizing it was to see a key leader get away with extreme incompetence. When such behavior is allowed to continue, it is only a matter of time before its impact will spread to others. There is a verse in the Bible that says bad company corrupts good morals. The same can be said about incompetence – tolerating incompetence will corrupt good performance.

4. Fear of conflict leads to the acceptance of poor performance.

I was once reading a 360 feedback assessment for a leader of a very large organization. We facilitated this assessment as a part of his coaching process. This particular leader was highly respected and very talented. However, he got a few critiques from team members for avoiding conflict and thereby accepting inadequate performance from employees. If a leader works too hard at being liked by everyone, he will end up with just the opposite – too many incompetent people being retained and the loss of respect from his top team members.

5. “Below average” work is normalized as “good.”

Have you ever noticed how your house seems reasonably clean to you? Then, you move a couch or shampoo the carpet and the amount of dirt looks like you have been living in a shed. How does that happen? Well, the longer we look at something, the more we grow to see it as “normal.” This is true with incompetence as well. The longer we accept inadequate performance, the more it will become normalized and look just fine, at least to you. This is why some managers no longer can see just how far the performance of some of their team members has fallen.

How to Move from Incompetence to Excellence

Normalized incompetence is like that pesky weed that continues to emerge even after pulling it out and spraying it. Breaking the pattern of this damaging and invasive organizational disease of normalized incompetence is essential. Here are three steps you can take to move from incompetence to excellence.

1. Focus carefully on the team you build.

EVERY new hire needs to be looked at regarding competence, motivation, and alignment with your organizational values. Do not let hiring fatigue cause you to compromise. If you have an incompetent team member that you have tried to coach towards growth and have not succeeded, it is likely time to move on.

2. Second, the vision you cast will determine the people you attract.

When leaders and managers create a culture of excellence and tolerate nothing less, it will be easier to weed out incompetence quicker. Incompetent people fear clear expectations, high standards, and accountability.

3. Third, the behaviors you model matter… a lot.

If you are a manager or team leader, everyone will look to you to model the values you preach. If you want excellence but model incompetence, you will produce a culture of incompetence and will also drive away your top people. So, make sure you are modeling excellence and seek input from others to ensure there are no blind spots that would say otherwise.

Contact us to learn how our experienced consultants can help you create an effective culture.

This post was originally published on centerconsulting.org.

About the Author

Jay Desko is the President & CEO of The Center Consulting Group and brings experience in the areas of organizational assessment, leadership coaching, decision-making, and strategic questioning. Jay’s degrees include an M.Ed. in Instructional Systems Design from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Leadership from The Union Institute.