Hey Founders! 🌟 This one is for you.
I read a quote from Reid Hoffman, not the exact words but he said…
Building a growth stage startup is like climbing a mountain ⛰ , jumping off a cliff, assembling a plane 🚀 on the way down, and trying not to crash 💥.
Well, the Peter Principle won’t help you much with building the plane part, but it can be your shhhecret mantra for choosing the right pilots & plane crew.
Wait, wait… don’t trip up.
I’m explaining.
What’s Peter Principle?
abc… It’s about knowing thy enemy that sits inside you.
“The Peter Principle states that individuals tend to RISE to their level of incompetence.”
As per the principle, just because someone excels in one role doesn’t mean they’ll excel in all.
After a time, or after enough PROMOTIONS, there comes a stage, where INCOMPETENCE takes over the individual, and s/he seizes to grow.
There could be a multitude of reasons behind this, but I won’t get into that. You may read the ‘Peter principle’ wiki page to dive deeper. Google it yourself, don’t be incompetent 🤪
So, what can you do if you don’t want your startup to be plagued by this?
Actually, a lot.
⚙ Structure your teams in a way that brings the best out of them. Shoulder individuals the departments & responsibilities where their talents shine brightest 🌟.
Don’t promote because you’re impressed, or because of favoritism.
🧠 Be wise.
Promotions should be based on skills for the new role, not just past achievements, and never for appeasement.
💡 And skills mean, both soft & core skills.
Ensure teams/individuals possess the necessary skills for upcoming responsibilities.
🙌 Build a culture of effective & open communication to identify strengths & gaps, and foster a culture where feedback flows freely.
Help the individuals and team have fun. Ensure they feel challenged. And double ensure that they see enough growth opportunities.
❌ If you spot the individual to be not growing, or not making an impact, if they are stagnated in their career, don’t hesitate to discuss alternative positions or gracefully part ways. 🤷♂️ That’s anyway, sooner or later gonna happen. So it’s better to save both ships from sinking.
Remember, Founders, the Peter Principle won’t hold true if you provide the individual with a conducive environment AND AND AND if the individual has an insatiable hunger for growth & challenges until RETIREMENT.
So, invest in culture to make your startup soar to new heights 💪🚀
See you in another post 🙏
