Managing Incompetence: An Innovative Approach for Dealing with People
Tags: career, managingpeople, leadership, motivation
Published: 2021-01-04 05:24:16

---
title: Managing Incompetence: An Innovative Approach for Dealing with People
published: true
canonical_url: https://dvddpl.github.io/2021/01/04/managing-incompetence.html
description: dealing with incompetent people is frustrating.  a book review
tags: #career, #managingpeople, #leadership, #motivation
cover_image: https://media.giphy.com/media/Uk8VmSYTkhkbK/giphy.gif
---

> Day-in, day-out, managers and supervisors face a myriad of personalities in the workplace. Managing these individual characters can sometimes drive even the calmest boss into a frenzy. Here, is a humorous, yet practical and effective title on how to deal with all those seemingly ‘incompetent' people on your staff. 

![Managing incompetence - book cover](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/8rxed3xulgbms2u34mz4.jpg)

I got [this book](https://www.amazon.com/Managing-Incompetence-Innovative-Approach-Dealing/dp/1562868691) for Christmas from a friend who wanted to make fun of me since I became a Technical Lead last year:

>  You are an annoying perfectionist and know-it-all,  you will have a hard time managing people... :-)

![I love mankind. I hate people](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/7h20pjlzx7m05y43lzz8.jpg)


Of course, I smiled at the title and the book got me hooked and I read it in less than 2 days. 


**I both liked it and didn´t like it.**


**I didn't like it** because the title is actually a _bait_, a catchphrase. I really expected some humorous stories about incompetent colleagues and bosses, followed by plenty of **advice about how to cope with rage and frustration** and tips on **how to improve the performances (or at least reduce the damage) of those incompetent people** surrounding you.

But the main subject of the book is understanding the idea itself of incompetence and recognizing our own incompetence in managing people.

**I liked it** because it forces you to review your attitude towards the people surrounding you, it forces you to realize how much we could have been affected by the **"Surrounded by incompetent people" syndrome.**

The Fougi method is a template helping us to diagnose properly what we interpreted as incompetence.

## What is _incompetence_ after all?

Normally we tend to diagnose poor performances as incompetence and to attribute that to **lack of motivation or incapability.** 

> Either the person is stupid ( can´t do ) or lazy ( don't want to do ).  

The method suggested in the book lists  10 root causes why people won't do what they are told ( and therefore we list them as underperforming and incompetent) and provide helpful examples of how to solve the issue.  ( of which, 
of course, firing / relocating is the very last resort) 

_Communication, empathy, specificity, training, gratefulness, and forgiveness._ Change the perception of problems, the attitude towards mistakes, and focus on what YOU can do to help.

## Who´s gotta change?

Another reason I didn´t like the book was that I thought it was going to be funny and helpful to **change and improve others.**
On the other hand, it´s full of quotes ( and I love quotes!) and in the end what matters is **improving ourselves** ( if we can become better colleagues and leaders, we will ultimately help others achieving theirs and our team's goals)