Competence and meta-competency

There seems to be a growing awareness about the key role of meta-competencies.

While "competence" is the capability to perform a required activity in a given context, "meta-competency" is the higher order ability of developing competences and adapting them to situational demands.

It is a reflective ability that works on the basis of self-distance, empathy and emotional self-regulation. It means to operate and apply competences while at the same time holding a keen awareness of one's own mental, emotional and embodimental processes.

I am convinced our complexity age calls for a far more wide-spread awareness and conscious development of such meta-competencies be it for leadership, coaching, supervision or a just higher capacity for personal job mobility.

What is your view on this?

#complexity #leadershipbyeveryone

Further readings:

- Bergmann, Gustav et al. (2006): Metakompetenzen und Kompetenzentwicklung, QUEM-report, Schriften zur beruflichen Weiterbildung, Heft 95/Teil II.

- Yeow, Joobee (2011): The role of self-regulation as a meta-competency in developing leaders: a longitudinal field experimental study