I once worked for a really good person--this is the kind of person you would love to have as a next door neighbor, a shopping pal, a Godparent for your children, and a companion at a party, but as a boss, the person was a disaster. She didn't have the knowledge, skill, interest, or ability to lead in the areas that made up her job description. In fact, as a boss, she created extra work for me--she was an additional job for me, not a help or guide at all.
Sometimes great people are in the wrong positions or professions, and this creates problems and lost potential.
Once I took a job because no one else would do it. I tried to do a good job, but clearly I didn't do a great job. I simply didn't have the right mindset or skills to do a great job with that position. After one year, I stepped down. I don't like to work in positions that I am not well suited for--I love that just right match of the right mindset, skills/abilities, interests with your job description--that spells success.
So how do we move ahead in our lifes while acknowledging this truth?
Find the right match
With good reflection and self-knowledge, we can continually move towards positions in life that match who we are well. This leads to happiness and success.
Great leaders match capacity and skill with vision and goals
Great leaders truly know their co-workers and employees. They are continually looking deeply at what their employees know and where their interests lie, and they work to match those employees with the vision and goals the organization has. This is different than simply matching people with jobs that exist, but instead, this matches and creates positions to make good use of individuals' talents, drive, and capacity. For example, with regard to the situation I shared about a co-worker, a good leader would have recognized this person's wonderful abilities which, I believe included the ability to serve small groups and individual students who struggle with tremendous attention and care, and then place that person in a position like that rather than a position she was unable to do.
Reroute people who are not a good fit for a job
Honestly, you do a person a favor if you reroute them when they are unfit or uninterested in a position. I know it is difficult to let someone go from a job, but if done well, it can be the perfect next step for an individual. It is better to do this earlier than later, however, because the longer a person stays in a position they are unfit for, the harder it becomes to positively reroute them to a better fit either in your organization or in another organization.
It's likely that we've all been good people in wrong positions for who we are and what we can do. We know how those misfit experiences feel, and if we were smart enough to reroute ourselves or worked with people who cared enough about us to help us find a better match, we understand that change in these situations is positive for our long term happiness and success. This is an important consideration for both individual and organizational health, happiness, and prosperity.