Competencies vs. Confidence vs. Success

Confidence in what you are doing at all levels in the company is critical; especially for the high-risk businesses of construction contracting.

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Sustainable success comes when this confidence is kept in alignment with the competencies required to effectively serve the customer.

Leadership Tools: Competencies, Confidence, and Success.

COMPETENCIES

  • Know clearly what competencies are required to effectively serve the customer at an individual level and aggregated team level.    
  • Rigorously look at your workflows and where you can reorganize them to close some of the competency gaps at the team level through work reassignment.  
  • Relentlessly work on closing those competency gaps individually and as a team.  

CONFIDENCE & SUCCESS

  • Many times your competencies are actually much higher than your confidence and that will impede success because you are afraid to take risks that you are more than competent enough to take.
  • Success breeds confidence and that leads to more success - up to a point. All decisions carry risks and as long as you are 15% confident in an outcome that has a 15% chance of success all reasonable people will act appropriately. If however you are 30% confident in that decision you. This is when failure starts to creep in.  

"There's nothing like biting off more than you can chew, and then chewing it anyway. "

Mark Burnett

Remember Icarus and flying too close to the sun…


An outside perspective is a critical tool for helping you keep your team’s confidence and competencies in alignment.




Balancing Exploration and Exploitation
Exploitation involves choosing the best option based on current knowledge of the system which may be incomplete or misleading. Exploration involves testing new options that could lead to better future outcomes but drawing resources away from exploitation.
Business Operating Layer
Execution is the discipline of getting things done and is especially critical for contractors because we work in a highly competitive business with relatively low margins compared to the risks taken.
Succession - There is No One Best Way
As systems become more complex (or V.U.C.A.), such as operating a company or succession planning, there is not a single “One Best Way” that will work in all situations.