JOHN APPIAH'S COMPETENCE PROPOSITION

All over the world, it is a known fact that the more competent you are at your job/career, the more likely it is for you to progress and advance in rank and influence. In fact your career success is largely influenced by your technical competence. Job satisfaction is essentially hinged on your technical competence. Unfortunately most people are under the impression that years of experience and education determine how successful one is at a job. In this part of the world, employers would rather choose a candidate with several years of experience but little to show in achievements as opposed to choosing a candidate with less years of experience but strong evidence of achievements. No wonder the emphasis is always on any other thing but competence. People build their careers around charisma, organizational skills, and emotional intelligence. These qualities are important but what I am postulating in this write up is for employees to focus on building strong technical competence and for employers to identify and reward competence above any other trait.

Admittedly, technical competence alone doesn’t necessarily make you an instant success but indeed the lack of it surely has the potential to cripple your career and stifle job productivity. An incompetent person naturally possesses almost unlimited opportunities to be ineffective. The fact that you are competent technically doesn’t mean that you know how to do everything, but rather that you know what to do and how to get it done excellently. A truly competent person knows where his/her strengths and weaknesses lie and hence know what kind of expertise to include in the team to ensure greater productivity.

Technical competence is indeed a critical part in rising to leadership in business and the corporate world. Socrates the philosopher asserts that “one who clearly knows best what ought to be done will most easily gain the obedience of the others.” There is no doubt that competence engenders confidence and trust in a leader. Very often the technical competence of the business leader/boss/supervisor is usually at the root of loyalty and trust problems. One sure way of building legitimacy and influence as a leader is to show your followers that you are very competent and capable of getting the job done well.

When it comes to happiness and job satisfaction at work, the type of job you do, your level of education, how long you have been at the job and the type of industry you work within all are important. However, all that doesn’t come close to the importance of your technical competence. The bottom line is that you will be happier and more successful at your job when you know what you are talking about, and that you are capable of executing flawlessly what you say you can do. Ultimately your job satisfaction and career success is truly molded by your technical competence. This year, resolve to work at upgrading and improving your technical competence and your progress and promotion is guaranteed. #CompetenceMatters #BuildYourCompetence #Inspired4Impact #Graced4Greatness #BeExcellentAndStayonTop #BEAST