WHY IS COMPETENCE SO HARD AND TIME CONSUMING?

The short answer is— Because competence is actually a very complex experience. It is far more complex than most people realize. Even at the primary level, it is extremely complex. Let’s begin with what competence refers to. It refers to “being able to perform an action or set of actions sufficiently to reach a specified outcome.” That gives us several variables: Ability — capacity, training, development, etc. Performance — actions co-ordinated to effect a result. Measurement — what is sufficient? Sufficient as measured by the outcome, quality of the skill or sub-skill, timing, co-ordination, etc. Outcome — specific results that can be measured.

Just with that we have a lot entailed in the idea of ‘competence.’ Now let’s distinguish competence from skill. That’s because you can have a skill and not be competent. In Coaching, you could have one of the core skills necessary, say “questioning,” but if you lack supporting, listening, etc., then you would not be competent as a coach. To be competent requires skills and it also almost always requires multiple skills.