Pushing Past the 'Peter Principle'

The Peter Principle states that everyone in a hierarchy eventually rises to his own level of incompetence. It's a philosophy that is woefully deterministic and altogether pessimistic, but taken by itself, it leaves a couple of questions unanswered, including whether people are able to eventually achieve competence once they've been promoted to a position whose requirements they're initially unsuited to fulfill.

My story of incompetence

When the Marine Corps finished training me as an electronic switchboard technician, I spent some time in  a couple different units fixing things like telephones and radios, instead, and building "Near-Vertical Incidence Skywave" antennas so that we could talk over long distances with Marines we had in the field.

I was out of my specialty and therefore incompetent in my position, but I had to find a way to be useful anyway. So, I did what any reasonable person wishing to be useful would do. I learned how to do the job that was needed of me -- and that included doing something the unit had never done before.

Happily, under the tutelage of our new Communications Chief, Gunnery Sergeant Morris, we made some great strides that hopefully prepared -- through a chain of leadership and training passed from one Marine to the next -- other Marines to communicate and to solve problems in critical -- perhaps life-threatening -- situations.

Some positions are easier to train for than others.

Field-expedient antennas aren't hard to build with materials that can be found pretty readily at a military compound with a communications platoon. Once that knowledge is obtained, the trick is to know the people, the equipment, and the situation well to plan far enough ahead to have all needed personnel and items onhand at the right time.

Likewise, leaders who are responsible for filling other positions must know the requirements of those positions and determine if they will fill them from outside the organization or within.

Either one is risky. It's entirely possible (and assured at some point, if you subscribe to the Peter Principle) that a person will not be suited for the job at the time he is hired.

But can he get there? That's a question worth asking. - Cam Beck