It Takes Competence to Change!
This article is about a subject that few people think of when “change” is mentioned. The topic is COMPETENCE.
Just what does competence have to do with change? A lot! First we’ll outline a series of very vital compentences. Then we’ll evaluate their relevance.
I can’t discuss competence without involving the ideas of veteran career counselor, lecturer and author Adele Scheele, who is the director of the Career Center at California State University at Northridge (in southern California near Los Angeles). In 1979, in her book called “Skills for Success,” Adele developed a scheme of six competences. The concepts certainly hold up today, and it’s our opinion that they’re vital to your understanding of just how you can profit from change management, particularly – although not exclusively — in the career and job area. There are six of these competences. Adele Scheele shows each of them as an active verb phrase so as to express how they’re related to the behaviors and attitudes you’ll need to be successful in the new world of rapid change and increasing complexity.
The six competence phrases are:
1. Experience DOING
2. Risk LINKING
3. Show BELONGING
4. Exhibit SPECIALIZING
5. Use CATAPULTING, and
6. Magnify ACCOMPLISHING.
Before we look at each of these in some detail, let me make a distinction between skill and competence. It’s important because a skill may be part of a competence, but a competence isn’t a skill. In fact, the major distinction is that a skill is something one does, while a competence is something one is.
To be able to paint is a competence, and it implies that one knows how to do it and has probably had experience in painting — or at least has training. But the skill is the act of doing painting…and the degree of skill is a subjective measurement of how well we do it. With that in mind, let’s look at the six critical career competences one at a time and see how each relates to building a basis for career or job change or advancement.
We all do stuff every day. But often we do it on autopilot. This competence - DOING - involves consciously EXPERIENCING DOING - being acutely aware and conscious of our behaviors, the feelings they engender — or the ones that drive the behaviors.
More importantly, it means making a judgement about all this and changing behaviors when they don’t serve our best interests or fail to lead toward our goals. This could mean doing different things. It could also mean doing the same thing in a different way, or in a different spirit. A simple and small change in the method, the display or the intention can make an enormous difference in the outcome.
A very successful friend of mine, a PhD. psychologist with a flourishing private practice in which she works mostly with artists and entertainers, defines insanity as: “doing the same things over and over, in the very same way, and expecting different results.”
If you want to see how this works, try an experiment with some of your friends or family members. Make some change in your behavior. Because these people are familiar with your habits and patterns, they’ll домашние кинотеатры Akai notice even small differences rather quickly. You’ll be able to tell when this happens. You’ll see it in their eyes. Or they’ll change the way they relate to you (it’s just a response to the change you’ve initiated). The minute you notice this happening, comment on it. Say something like, “Hey, I just noticed something different in you. What’s that all about?” Then shut up and listen. You’ll hear about YOU — and it’ll be an honest response or comment, because you’ll have caught these people off guard.
Be warned, though, this may create a little tension. People generally don’t like departures from the familiar. It’s a little uncomfortable for them. So be sure to thank them for their comments and express your love or gratitude in some way. That’ll reduce or remove the discomfort, and it’ll open the door for you to experiment further — in a relatively safe environment — and to expect honest feedback.
The objective in developing this competence is to expand your behavioral horizons. As you work with this concept, you’ll use it in your business life, in your social life, and in your personal life, because we do tend to become habit-bound, even with the people we care most about. So start thinking about new behaviors…and begin trying them out in small, safe ways. Once you’re comfortable with “experiencing doing,” take it into work or social situations and…
RISK LINKING. Risk? As we’ve all learned in our lives, that’s usually not a comfortable word. Ask yourself these questions, and answer honestly. Do you enjoy taking risks? What kinds of risks do you take? From your answers do you notice that you probably don’t really seem to cotton too much to the idea. Why?
Of course. Risk is an anxiety-ridden process. It makes you uncomfortable. Depending on the degree of risk, it can even make you fearful. Right? So what do we do? NOTHING! We don’t take risks, even little ones…especially with people.
Remember when you asked that first love interest of yours for a date…or got such an invitation? Anxious moment? Well, maybe it was just EXCITING! How many of you can tell the difference between anxiety and excitement? The two emotions are often mixed up in the same situation…you’re anxious about whether you can do whatever it is, or say whatever you must, but you’re excited about the possible successful outcome. But at the same moment you’re worried about perhaps NOT having a successful outcome…Right?
The competence here is to LINK UP with another person or with other people in ways that can further your career goals and
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