Resiliency Part 4 – Are you Competent?

The Elements of Resilience

In her research on resiliency among operating room nurses, Brigid Gillespie identified Hope, Self-Efficacy, Coping, and Competence as critical factors in fostering the resiliency that the nurses need in the operating room and hospital environments.

We have looked at the first three factors  in previous articles (1, 2, 3). The last area to explore is competence.

Competence

Competence is a component of self-efficacy, and it is also a very important element in its own right.

I look at competence from two perspectives: measurable skill, and perceived competence.

Measurable skill is the result of training and experience and is positively connected with productivity, accuracy, workload management, and effective communication.

Perceived competence is the recognition by others that you are ‘good at what you do’ and you are looked to for mentoring, management, or leadership.

When the members of an organization have high levels of measurable skill, the organization more effectively rides out storms as strong productivity, reduced errors, balanced workloads, and good communication reduce damage. At the same time, the perceived competence of certain team members inspires confidence and engagement as we trust their judgement and direction. Even in the middle of a storm, team members with high levels of competence can both repair damage more quickly, and inspire confidence through decisive and effective action.

We have all seen this played out before. There is a calm that descends on a team in trouble when someone with real skill and perceived competence arrives on the scene: tasks are broken down into clear steps and delegated effectively; priorities are established and communicated clearly, details are attended to while the larger purpose is not lost. Competent team members acquire natural authority.

The Hallmarks of Competence

• Training – Do you have both the formal and informal training in the skills your position requires? And do you have the credibility in the eyes of your team that derives from knowing what you are doing?

• Specific or measurable skills – For entry and mid-level positions and roles, skills can be quantified in terms of speed, accuracy, knowledge, and the ability to apply them across different situations. At higher levels of competence skills are less easily measured. ‘Elite’ levels of competence in a field often encompass such a broad skill set that competence must be inferred from total performance, rather than being directly observable or measurable.

• Consistently good performance – Consistency is central to competence. People of lesser competence can often get away with ‘faking’ a job a couple of times, but are they able to repeat it, especially under varying conditions and with different degrees of pressure?

• Transferability – Are you able to take your learning and solutions to a variety of challenges or does each new situation still stump you?

• Effective delegation/scaffolding – Do you have the global understanding that allows you to break down complex tasks into smaller steps? Are you able to communicate those smaller steps to your team to see the end is accomplished?

• Self-awareness – Do you have that confidence that comes from knowing exactly what you know? Do you also know what you don’t know? That is that sense of self-efficacy again: that sure knowledge that the situations you are looking at you have seen before and you know exactly what to do.

• Managing unpredictability – Highly competent people not only cope successfully with unpredictable situations but they often use their skills, training, and experience to turn unpredictable turns of events to their organization’s advantage. That ability comes from having the confidence that allows you to stay ‘above’ the problem, stay cool, and not get sucked into reacting.

I work with business to redesign their futures help them become what they were intended to be in that initial vision… Want more out of your business? Contact me. From my home base on Vancouver Island, I provide planning and coaching support to businesses across Canada.

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