The Peter Principle

Thursday, February 02, 2006

The expression, "The Peter Principle" was made popular by Laurence J. Peter. The principle is that employees will advance to their highest level of competence and then be promoted to remain at a level at which they are incompetent. I have seen this in practice all over the world.

The employee that sweeps and mops the floors at McDonalds becomes very good at doing that job, in fact he does an excellent job. He is promoted to taking orders at the counter or worse at the drive through. The problem? His English is worse than mine!

The computer operator in India excels at operating a computer. He is promoted to a computer specialist working through problems for those who call into America Online. The problem? The person with the computer problem can't understand a darn word he/she says.

The church member who serves at every opportunity is made a Deacon, which means servant. As a Deacon, there is none better---a great servant. He is "promoted" to serve as a Shepherd/Elder. Problem? He has a servant's mentality and personality and not that of a leader.

It happens every day all over the world. People are being moved "up" the line to a position they do not deserve and cannot handle. This is not a good thing! It makes everybody dealing with this situation unhappy. Not always, but many times the most unhappy person in all of this is the one being promoted to the level of incompetence.

Ted Kennedy was very good at being a Kennedy so he got promoted to being a Senator. Never mind that he can't find his rear with both hands---there he remains. Bob Dole was an excellent Senator, maybe one of the best. He was nominated to run for President but was rejected by the people. Why? Senator Dole is a great man but he was not competent to win the race. This is good that he didn't win. We need to stop putting people in position to fail. I know men who can teach Bible Classes, lead prayer groups, give spiritual counsel, etc. that become Pastors. Problem? They can't preach! They weren't called by God to preach, they aren't going to learn by practice---they can't do it. They make the people miserable who "have" to listen to them.

What's the answer? Just stop promoting people to a level of incompetence? Yes, that would be good but it isn't going to just happen. I SUGGEST PRAYER, A LOT OF PRAYER.