A story was told of a businessman who had two young boys as apprentices in his business. One was always by his side, a very diligent, humble, and committed servant. The other was the opposite, a very carefree fellow who never paid attention to the intricacies of the business but was very intelligent with good work stamina. Throughout their years of services, the man shared their roles based on their skills and abilities. The intelligent one was only attending to files, doing bank transactions, inventories, and other financial/administrative duties. The committed one was at the business front attending to customers, doing business negotiations, and dealing with their purchase and sales personnel. The man was at the centre, supervising both of them, and the business was flourishing.
Both of them learnt the business from these different angles. When they got settled and had their different businesses, it was difficult for them to fit into the other roles. Even when they hired staff to cover those lapses, their was a huge gap because they could not coordinate those sections effectively.
In this scenario, the intelligent one had the competence but lacked some commitment. The committed one had the zeal/commitment but lacked some capacity/competence.
For any business to scale up, competence and commitment need to work hand in hand because both are the integral part of an organisation.
Competence involves the skills and attitude needed to perform specific tasks effectively and efficiently. Commitment involves the dedication and attitude of a sense of responsibility in the execution of tasks.
Every individual has competence of varying degrees and commitment of varying intensity. It is important for us to weigh, know, and categorise ourselves into these degrees in order to determine where and how to make adjustments. These degrees are categorised as:
- Low competency and high commitment.
- Low competency and low commitment.
- High competency and high commitment.
- High competency and low commitment.
A mere look at these varying degrees already tells which group is at a highest advantage as far as productivity is concerned. It also explains why some people are so loyal and dedicated to duties, yet limited to some levels of promotion at work. It further tells why some people climb some managerial positions in arithmetic progression while others do the same in geometric progression. It explains why some organisations are retarded in growth and progress despite having staff with unreserved interest, loyalty and commitment.
Having employees with the capacity to understand more, to commit more, and to handle more is the greatest asset any organisation can have. Those who are called ‘star performers’ in an organisation are evidently those with high commitment and high competency. They are the most valuable asset of an organisation.
Having said that, it is imperative for every individual as well as every organisation to know the level of skills, competence, capacity and commitment of every staff and get the required motivation, training and a well laid improvement plan for everyone based on the requirements of these different categories.
Children and young adults are also urged to understand this disparity and work hard to fill the gaps between these varying degrees and get better strategic agenda for their future.
Amara Ann Unachukwu.
