DailyPost 2282
FIXED COMPETENCY VS IMPROVING COMPETENCEY, DYANMIC COMPETENCY, CONSOLIDATING COMPETENCY…
Fixed competency is what India in believed for ages. Some improved in that fixed competency because of rigor of their practice and the will to rise and rule. The vast majority lived at the same level of competency in the same fixed area and life went on peacefully, incessantly, without any change. As long there was periodic rise in the renumeration it did not matter. Competency is one element we as a society and community don’t get into, what we are bothered about how much does one earn. What is the earning dependent on, is another story.
The concerned person, or the so called professional would crib, if he did not get a regular pay hike. There was no reason for a corresponding competence hike or addition, either pre or post the hike, was not a part of the professional ecosystem. Working in the same environments, doing exactly the same work, broadly working with same people brought in a level of competence complacency that with the passage of time we find even the base competency for the job missing. The world has been living in the shifting sands of competency and how far this mindset can take us, is now not open to imagination, it is known.
It is taking us nowhere. It can’t anyway. We have also created a moat around us, that moat are the skills to manage without improving or adding to the competency basket, even it was a dire need. This was through connections, interpersonal relationships, delivering things outside of your job, manipulating juniors to get his work done, camouflaging while not doing himself etc. It has led to the creation of a crazy professional world. Some certifications were pushed off and on like a filler. The present world requires improving your competency on near regular basis, otherwise you don’t stand a chance anywhere and bring the business also on the competence plateau.
Thinking of a developers skills few years back to ChatGPT coding skills, delivering in jiffy. These tools add to your delivery capability immensely. Have we got the competency right, not only in scaling to the right level but also of handling complexity that was not being handled earlier. Improving skills is a linear progression of skills, lots being dependent on technology today. All professions are getting severely handicapped for this reason. Then with this core progression, there are lots of other dynamic competency which needs to complement. You may call them as complimentary skills. Together, it becomes the arsenal of the day. What is utterly essential, as we all know is consolidation of these competencies to a level, where we can proficiently use them in our day to day professional life, making oneself, if I may call so, indispensable. That should be our final destination, even if it seems to be a mirage.
FIXED COMPETENCY IS EVEN WORSE THAN A FIXED DEPOSIT IN THE DAYS OF HYPER SKILL INFLATION.
Sanjay Sahay