June 14, 2024, TULSA, OK - The Peter Principle is a management concept developed by Lawrence Peter, which states that in a hierarchy such as the workplace, people are often promoted based on their performance in their current role rather than their suitability for the intended role, leading to eventual promotion to a level of incompetence. This system of promotion ultimately leads them into a plateau, known as "Peter's Plateau” because they aren’t adequately prepared to succeed in their new role and so they just remain there, never to be promoted again.
Hogan Assessments has found three effective ways that organizations can avoid promoting leaders that fall into the Peter Principle trap.
1. Define leadership correctly
Academic literature on leadership has for years defined leadership by where a person sits in the organizational hierarchy. However, Hogan defines leadership as a person's ability to build, maintain, and motivate a team to outperform the competition. Therefore, leadership is really all about followership.
2. Use scientifically valid assessments to understand leadership potential
If a person ascends into a leadership position, the commonly held belief is that they are effective leaders. However, for decades organizations have identified leaders by their ability to emerge among the group. They are often socially skilled, politically savvy, and likable, but these characteristics often don’t equate to leadership effectiveness. Through the use of scientifically valid assessments, like the ones developed by Hogan, organizations can better identify effective leaders—those who can build and maintain a high-performing team.“Often times promotions are given to individuals who exude what people think are the qualities of a leader and that can ultimately hinder an organization’s advancement,” says Jackie Sahm, vice president of integrated solution, Hogan Assessments. “In fact, the best leaders are those who display humility, can accept criticism and understand their limitations.” said Sahm.
3. Develop leaders by focusing on the right outcomes
Often, the success of leadership development programs is evaluated by leader-centric measures such as, did the leader like the program? Did the leader get promoted? Did the leader score well on performance ratings after the program? Avoid measuring circular outcomes by making sure your leadership development and coaching initiatives are team-focused or other-focused rather than merely leader-focused or contaminated by organizational politics.
About Hogan Assessments: The international leader in personality insights, Hogan Assessments produces valid, reliable personality assessments grounded in decades’ worth of research. More than 75% of the Fortune 500 use Hogan’s talent acquisition and development solutions to hire the right people without bias, boost productivity, reduce turnover, and promote diversity and inclusion. For more information, visit hoganassessments.com.
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