Here’s another great bit of prophetic wisdom by Robert Greenleaf written a few decades ago, but that continues to have relevance for all of us today.
“Ordinarily we think of competence as a linear “Good” – out to infinity. Not so! A critical disability that goes with expanding competence is the inability (or unwillingness) to examine the assumptions by which one operates. In order to achieve great competence, individuals (or institutions) must put their heads down, cut out the peripheral vision that might keep the assumptions always in view, and run!”
“Trustees as Servants” in Servant Leadership, pp. 105-106
Is Greenleaf suggesting that great competence is worth the cost of unexamined assumptions? That would be a big no. I think today we find the disability of competence in our overly pragmatic approaches to planning and strategy as well as training. We like to use words like “focus” and other words that while speaking to important virtues in leadership practice can become excuses for lack of vision and self-examination.
This makes me think of the phenomenon known as tunnel vision. I would laud a measure of tunnel vision if it is primarily focused on the end goal or ultimate vision. Tunnel vision though usually manifests itself more with methodology and day-to-day functioning and that is what Greenleaf is calling a critical disability.
My blunt summary of Greenleaf’s thoughts here, “Your over-focus on skill and competence will cripple your long-term fruitfulness and effectiveness.”
I will disclose that I have a high value of competence so I’m not minimizing the importance of people being competent. My feeling is that the intensity of efforts to increase competence doesn’t always result in “field” competence which is some of what Greenleaf I think alludes to. So maybe we need to expand our view of what competence truly means from a mostly skill-based connotation to a larger and more holistic understanding? Either way, I hear this as a calling from Greenleaf for skill-based leaders to pull their head out of their back-sides.
What else would you prioritize in leadership development and in your leadership practice besides skill and competence development?
How do you guard against tunnel vision in your day-to day leadership and functioning?
