Last time, we talked about the danger of being the skeptic. Today, we’re looking at the opposite side of the coin—a trap that catches the “A-players,” the high-performers, and the “go-to” fixers. It’s The Competence Trap.
The hard truth: It is the most seductive trap of all because it feels like success, while it’s actually strangling your future.
The Definition
Let’s define the trap. The Competence Trap occurs when your competence, persistence, and high reliability become a liability. You are so good at “fixing” that you become the “catch-all” for every task that needs to be done right. You take on a little extra, then a little more, until your actual job description is buried under everyone else’s mistakes and incompetence. You think you’re becoming indispensable. In reality, you’re becoming a prisoner of your own competence.
Joe’s Story
Joe was known as “the fixer.” If a critical project was failing, Joe was the one who fixed it. Because he was fast and accurate, he began taking on all the failing projects. He felt indispensable and proud of his work ethic. However, when a director-level role opened up, Joe wasn’t even considered for the shortlist.
The management team’s feedback was a wake-up call: “Joe is too valuable where he is. If we move him, the department’s daily operations will fall apart.” Joe had worked himself into a corner where his competence made him unpromotable. He was so busy handling the tactical work of many people that he had no time to demonstrate the strategic vision required for the next level.
One year later, the weight of being “indispensable” crushed Joe’s growth. He is exhausted, working 12-hour days to fix issues others created and to save projects. He watches as an outside hire is brought in to lead the department—someone with the “bandwidth” to lead because they never let themselves get bogged down in the minutiae.
My Take
I’ve spent decades in the executive suite, and I’m going to tell you something your manager might not: Being the most “useful” person in the room is a career-killer. If you are the last stop for solving all issues, you are a risk to your career. If you are a “single point of failure,” you pose a risk to the organization and are not a candidate for higher-level roles. People in higher-level roles are expected to scale systems, not be the systems. You must learn the hard distinction between being “helpful” and being “impactful.”
If you don’t create strategic space on your calendar by letting go of tactical work, you will never have the room to grow. You have to be willing to let some things fail—or, at the very least, be done “well enough” by someone else—so you can focus on what only you can do.
Action Steps
How do you break the cycle? You need a Strategic Divorce from the busywork. Here are two actions you can take.
Identify “Low-Leverage” Tasks: Right now, list three things you do every week that someone two levels junior to you could handle. Not “could do as well as you,” but “could do.” Create a plan to hand them off this month. If it doesn’t hurt a little to let go, you aren’t doing it right.
The “Strategic Refusal”: The next time someone asks you for a “quick favor” that falls outside your core goals, ask yourself: “Does this help me reach my eminence, or am I just being the office fixer again?” If the answer is “fixer,” the answer to them is “no.”
For more on this, read Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. And if you really want to understand how you’ve been sabotaging yourself, find the classic HBR article, “Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?”
Before I sign off today, please rate yourself on this trap. On a scale of 1 to 5—where 1 is “I mostly do high-leverage work” and 5 is “I am doing everyone else’s job”— How trapped are you?
Don’t let your competence, persistence, and high reliability hold you back in your career. If you want to make progress, deliberately create strategic space on your calendar. Let go of tactical work you take on to fix problems created by others.
The road ahead is yours to shape!
Suresh 😊