The Edge of Incompetence
By Jo Scott, Consultant – SVA Consulting
On the last program day of Sydney Leadership 2011 I sat with a now friend and fellow member of Sydney Leadership and we talked about snakes. Actually a snake, inside a piece of bamboo. Once you find it, you are that snake. There is no out, no option but to keep going forward. Unless of course you are interested in a major head injury.
Perhaps I should take a step back and set the scene a little before we dive into this story….
It was October 2010 when I first met this friend at an event entitled ‘Failure’. As the invitation to the event hit my inbox and the title flashed in the corner of my eye, I knew I was going to attend. It was a gathering of people who realised there is something in this thing we call ‘screwing up’. And perhaps we should talk about it, maybe even walk towards it.
Of course, there were many Sydney Leadership alumni in the room that day, which is how I ended up emerging through the fog on a crisp autumn morning in Bundanoon with 30 of Sydney’s CEOs, board members and executives from across the corporate, non-profit and government sectors. It was the first day of Sydney Leadership 2011.
At our first gathering we started to share our leadership challenges – these were deeply personal reflections, which at their core were about how we, as individuals, can sometimes get in the way of the progress we seek to create. Most of us had realised this about ourselves and because we cared deeply about our social cause, and because we were passionate about something bigger than us, we knew we had to do something about it.
I was taken by how many of the reflections had a common underlying theme; the fear of vulnerability. There was a common expectation (and often embodiment) of fragility in the face of looming failure. I wondered if I would have ever had that glimpse of humanity, ever know this deeply, if not for Sydney Leadership.
For the following 9 months we worked experientially. By using our own group of 30 and by taking part in various communities, we explored systems in change. Each system was confronted with challenges for which there was no known solution and often not even a good understanding of the question to be answered. It was not simply about studying these systems or talking about them; we were them. We were like scientists watching a reaction in a test-tube, but the reaction we watched was us.
As we explored systems in change I watched a pattern emerge. I watched myself in it. And I watched others in it. Each time the pattern emerged with a similar rhythm. It started out strongly; all the hallmarks of confidence and focus, but also striving and force. Then, a crescendo would erupt. As the crescendo faded, there was surrender. And then, sometimes immediately, other times after many days, weeks or months, there was release. I’d found an edge. It was failure. The edge of incompetence.
The thing about the edge of incompetence is it’s a boundary, something that constrains you. It holds you in your current way of doing things and inherently, it keeps you feeling safe. Everyone’s edge will be different, but there is no doubt in my mind we all have one. And as long as we stay inside that boundary, as long as we move away from our edge (as long as we wish for safety), we will have difficulty pursuing what really matters to us and our communities.
The thing about an edge is when you find it, it opens up possibility. Strangely, like a snake in bamboo that has decided, perhaps there is a way forward.
Sydney Leadership is a year long leadership development program, working with leaders in the corporate, non-profit and government sectors. The objective of Sydney Leadership is to unleash real leadership across sector lines and bring new ways of working to make progress in a time of entrenched social challenges. Sydney Leadership is operated by Social Leadership Australia, which was founded by The Benevolent Society.
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