The Peter Problem: How to Identify and Support Over-Promoted Team Members

I spent my summer in Vancouver, Canada. Outside the Metro Theatre is a plague, as shown in the picture.

The plague describes how writer Raymond Hull was complaining about the atrocious production he had been watching while standing in the theatre's lobby during an intermission.

A tall stranger who was also in the lobby then tried to explain to him how such an awful play made it to the stage.

The stranger, Laurence J. Peter, told Hull that every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. Workers, he argued, keep getting promoted until they are in over their heads.

The conversation in the lobby, which occurred sometime in the early-to-mid 1960s, sparked both men's imaginations and ultimately gave birth to their 1969 best-seller The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong.

The Peter Principle skewered corporate culture decades before the comic strip Dilbert and the TV series The Office became pop culture hits.

It sold millions of copies, and the term "Peter Principle" has entered the lexicon, particularly in business circles, to describe organizational dysfunction.

Why the Peter Principle is True

A 2018 study looked at data from more than 50,000 sales workers at 214 firms and "found evidence consistent with the Peter Principle."

It found organizations were more likely to promote top sales staff into managerial positions even if the most productive worker wasn't necessarily the best candidate.

Study co-author Kelly Shue, a professor of finance at the Yale School of Management, wrote that the Peter Principle is rooted in some logic as rewarding top performers with promotions can give employees a goal to strive for.

"I think many firms, thanks to Laurence J. Peter's work, are aware of this Peter Principle problem," Shue said. "They are aware that by promoting the top sales worker, they may not be getting the best manager. And I think they do it anyway in order to motivate people to work hard."

Who’s Peter in your project?

Who in your project has been promoted to their level of incompetence?

Following the Peter Principle logic, there will be someone in your project, maybe several someones, that have been promoted beyond their capability. These people can potentially harm your project.

If you go into your project believing that everyone is competent, the Peter Principle suggests that you are wrong. If instead you go into your project with the mindset that your role is to help people to be their best, to selflessly help everyone be the best they can be, you may have that extra 10% that stands you apart from other Project Managers.

How to help Peter

Helping Peter is not difficult and is good etiquette too

• Be clear on what you need from everyone on your project. This includes the sponsor and senior stakeholders, not just your project team. Peter is more likely to be hiding in the upper tiers of your project stakeholders, so ensure you’re being clear on expectations to everyone.

• Demonstrate what good looks like. Examples bring expectations to life and make them more explicit. Don’t just say what you expect, demonstrate what you expect.

• Be clear when expectations are not met and the impact it has. Peter may think he is meeting your expectation and you need to be clear if that is not the case. It doesn’t help Peter, or your project, if you sweep this under the carpet. It’s a difficult conversation, for sure. That’s your job.

• Be a friend. One day you may be the person who has been promoted beyond their capability and you will be the one that needs help, guidance and time to find your feet in your new role. Don’t judge, support.

Just because someone has been promoted beyond their capability, doesn’t mean with time, guidance and support they can’t improve their capability to be competent in their new role. As the Project Manager, you need to play a role in that journey for the good of your project.

If you can’t work out who on your project this principle applies to - how do you know it’s not you?