Confident or Competent?

We all know that there is a difference between confidence and competence. After all, confidence is when someone knows that she is particularly adept at something, whereas competence is when she objectively possesses that acumen. It is easy enough to understand the distinction, but, in practice, we often conflate the two.

Confident people tend to be more charismatic, extroverted, and socially skilled. In most cultures, these are highly desirable features. So we automatically assume that confident people are also more able-skilled or talented. However, the reality is that while competent people are generally confident, overly confident people are generally incompetent.

Have you ever worked with or for someone who was very gregarious, well-liked, and seemed to have his act together? If you looked closely, did you notice that he didn’t seem all that smart or skilled? Was he just charming? That’s confidence.

And many folks out there ride along on their confidence alone. It’s good to be confident if you’ve got the competence to back it up. Otherwise, confidence alone is just a decoy. It is especially critical that managers distinguish between the two when recruiting new hires and promoting people within the organization. Relying on confidence alone will not help your organization succeed and grow.

A good place to start to bridge the confidence/competence gap is in the recruiting process. I have long been advocating that everyone involved in the acquisition of talent needs to be explicitly trained in interviewing and listening skills. Far too many hiring and promotion decisions are based on gut-level instinct and little more. This is the danger of hiring for “cultural fit.” What that often means is “how well do I like this person?” or, “Would I hang out with them outside of work?”

Smart managers, when looking to bring talent on board, look for proof of competence, and disregard confidence as just noise.  They look at credentials. Is the candidate known in the field for achievements? Does the author demonstrate thought leadership? Is there a track record of achievement? These are all indicators of competence.

Most of us have been brainwashed into thinking that confidence will eventually cause competence. This is not the case, as real life proves again and again. Of course, competence alone does not mean that someone will be a good hire or will mesh well with the team. So instead of being lulled by confidence, or being utterly rigid about competence alone, savvy companies look for people who are conscious and conscientious.

Conscious people are committed to learning, growing, and developing themselves, as well as everyone else on their teams and within their organizations. These people spend significantly more time focusing on the “we” than the “me.” The more conscious members an organization can hire or cultivate, the better off the organization is as a whole. Competence is the baseline. Confidence is the window dressing. Consciousness is the key to success.