Why is competency so quickly punished and yet we seem to work in those places where one fails upwards?
Do a job well, do it efficiently, and one will be suddenly tasked with more and more work with the expectation that one can accomplish all tasks, regardless of how varied they are, with the same expediency. Once overload hits, one is seen as not being able to keep up.
And yet those that coasted on the mediocre, the mundane, but, in taking their time to accomplish anything, had time to be social, are the ones to be given greater authority, the opportunity to “manage,” though they possess no ability to quantify tasks and resources.
I see this all the time in the civilian world, even more so in the world of public service such as with government agencies. It doesn’t seem to happen as often in the military, though they will consistently push someone just to the edge of burnout.
Is anything wrong? not really. I’m just observing. I’ve come to deal with the civilian side of my life by cutting back on the amount I strive to achieve, and, sure enough, though I am achieving less, it is more often recognized. In a way I feel dirty. On my uncivilian side, I work hard and now there are higher ups strongly “debating” each other over whose unit gets to have me on a more permanent basis.
Still, I’d rather not start on the path of failing upwards.
(and let me add, there is a little story I really want to tell that inspired this, but I have to wait until the outcome has been reached… and I have that punk’s stripes… to say anything.)
It’s not just the civilian world. I watched MacGyver – who is naturally inclined to do his best first time out of the gate – get hammered just prior to and in the beginning of his last deployment. Everyone in the unit knew he was the “go to” guy when you needed to get something done. So they all went “to” him. And he did his best to keep up with the workload but eventually he gave out. The pace and pressure were inhuman.
And when he did, he was chastised for not being able to “keep up”. And while he was being chastised for “not being able to keep up”, the guys that sat back on their arses were the ones garnering the accolades.
Made no sense to me. But no good deed goes unpunished, does it?
dito to h6….
senior chief says…because the level of knowledge of the ones you are working with is so far below the level of your experience, you must learn to be patient and allow them to come to your level of knowledge through what you teach them. It’s just the way it is. That doesn’t take away the suck factor though.