Competence

The third 'C' in the 5 C's of Success is Competence. BusinessDictionary.com defines competence as a cluster of related abilities, commitments, knowledge, and skills that enable a person (or an organization) to act effectively in a job or situation. In comparison to 'competency' (plural competencies) which refers to a cluster of abilities relating to excellence in a specific activity, competence indicates sufficiency (state of being 'good enough') of knowledge and skills that enable one to act in a wide variety of situations. Because each level of responsibility has its own requirements, competence can occur in any period of a person's life or at any stage of his or her career.

I believe that one of the most frustrating situations we come across in our daily activities is when we are met with incompetence. It has this innate ability to hinder progess and bring the wheels of industry to a screeching halt. We are, however, much more forgiving when it comes to people in training, probably because we all have empathy when it comes to someone who is learning a new skill. Afterall, we've all been beginners at something multiple times in our lives as we develop new skills, so we can empathize with the person who is bettering him or herself by taking on more responsibilities and learning something new. It is this empathy that retailers seek from their customers by giving new employees a TRAINEE name tag while they are in training. We're also more patient with folks in a car that is clearly marked STUDENT DRIVER. After waiting for well over an hour in a line that had only managed to process a single indivdual in all of that time, with two cashiers, one of the other "patient" customers remarked that the "In Training" signs displayed in both windows were probably permanent fixtures.

The point is that competence is learned and it is possible to better ourselves by adding to our list of core competencies. We need to take into consideration the fact that we are not all cut from the same cloth and that there are certain things that we may never excel at no matter how hard we try. It may be said that in my school years that I was a competent musician having played trumpet and baritone in band from sixth grade through college. However, I have come to grips with the fact that I will never rise above a very basic level of competence in music. My piano and guitar playing skills remain forever elusive to me, while others excel at music very naturally.

These naturally born skills are often called gifts. I believe that people do have natural tendencies to succeed in certain areas. We all have gifts that we can develop. The New Testament provides us with the parable of the talents which is to say that we are all given gifts, but we need to put them to use in order to achieve success. Don't let your talents go to waste. Know your strengths and play to them. This will give you the edge you need to succeed in a competitive world.

The first 7 letters of competence spell compete... Competence can further be defined as having the ability to compete at something. If you are consistently coming up short in competition after competition, you'd probably be better sevred by considering a different talent. One in which you can achieve victory upon victory. Competition is healthy, don't fall for this "We're all winners" mentality that is poisoning society. The law of the jungle is still survival of the fittest, the incompetent merely end up fodder for the more competent.