Some of you are probably familiar with age-old cliches describing what leaders need. That leaders need character to be a person with true integrity. All while demonstrating a high level of competence in varying aspects of their life. When evaluating someone who has a job to do, character and competence represent differing approaches to determining a job well done. With age-old cliche it looks like this:

• Competence – the breadth of your ability
• Character – the depth of your integrity

Competence

On top is competence. It describes a persons’ ability and how well they do their duties. A car mechanic who repairs your car right the first time is an example of competence. Another example of competence is a speaker who engages, entertains, and leaves a positive enduring impression resulting in change for the listener. Thinking of competence as being on top is kind of like the icing on top of the cake. That is to say, it’s not seen as an integral part of a persons being, but instead it feels more like an add-on. As the saying goes, “It’s great if you have it.” But in all reality it’s okay if you aren’t competent.

Character

Placed on the bottom, character is viewed as the “foundation” of the two. Character is strong, and supposedly supports and undergirds competence. It can be thought of as the beginning point. Once you have a strong foundation of character you then build competence on top of it. By viewing character as integrity, being authentic, real or honest, you will discover a person who is good for their word, committed, confident and trustworthy.

Certainly, the ideology of having good character as a necessity but competence as a grand add-on is an unholy divide. The Bible makes no such distinction between the two but rather considers them an additive to each other.

The Good Person Myth

When I was interviewed for the director position for a network of churches, one of the committee members asked me, “Would you recommend someone as an interim pastor?”

“No,” I answered, “not unless I knew the potential interim pastor for a couple years and knew that person to be competent.”

“What if he is a good guy?” The committee member said. Something I have realized is the classic Christian reply.

“He may be a good guy, but if he doesn’t have the skills to be an effective interim pastor I would not recommend him,” I replied.

This ‘good guy’ or ‘good woman’ syndrome rails against the ones God calls to be leaders. In my first doctoral seminar, Warren Wierbse told his story of attending a seminary graduation at a pastor training school. What he remembered the most was something a graduation speaker said.

“Even if you don’t have skills, it’s the heart that matters.” Warren recalls the speaker saying. Warren quickly redacted the line with his own. 

“I’m glad my mechanic doesn’t think that way. I definitely don’t want my doctor thinking that way.” Warren laughably recoiled as his lesson from the graduation.

So here I am thinking, much like Warren, why would we choose church leaders that think that? Too often churches and church leaders provide excuses for their staff and volunteers’ lackluster performance. Excuses revolving around their good character such as they have a good heart, they are a good person or they really care about others. With those excuses and viewpoints, the mission of the church suffers. Those with only good character, are not competent at fulfilling their duties.

A more realistic way to view a leaders’ character and competence is like this:

Character and competence are like a ladder.

Each side acts as an additive to the other, making the ladder strong and balanced as a whole. If you try to climb on a ladder as pictured, with unequal parts, you won’t get beyond the second rung. This demonstrates the unholy divide in leaders which the age-old cliche stories portray is acceptable – that strong character can make up for the lack of competence.

So what do you think? Can you possess great character (meaning integrity and a personal trustworthiness) if you lack competence?

Competence is a character trait. 

If I am incompetent, how can I have good character?

If I am incompetent at my job, but I am receiving money for services rendered, I not only lack competence, I also lack character. To get paid for rendering a service you are not rendering is not honest. 

Proverbs 18:9 says, “The one who is lazy in his work is brother to a vandal.” (CSB)

Similarly, the New Living Translation says, “A lazy person is as bad as someone who destroys things.”

To be clear, competence does not mean perfection and does not necessarily mean greatness. Competence means continuing to work towards bettering yourself and improving the skills needed for the duty you agreed to perform. (Whether a paid job, volunteer or training.) If you cannot successfully perform those duties, you should allow character to dictate and discover a better area of work or service.

Of course, it takes time to develop skills. Repetitions will increase competence as new learning and personal adjustments are made. Active learning and getting proficient in a new skill demonstrates competence. A person who lacks competence would underperform with little (or no) indication of improvement. In most glaring examples of being incompetent the person’s effectiveness actually declines. Which brings me to ask:

Can a person possess a strong character if he is lazy?

No, in my opinion.

Is the “depth of your integrity” in full swing if you consistently refuse to acquire additional skills to make yourself and your area of responsibility more effective? Again, the answer is “no”.

For many of us, getting better is what we do. It is a day-to-day, year-to-year challenge. People with the integrity to develop their competence, as much as their character, will continually grow to be better than they were. People who refuse to develop their competence or decline to learn how to be competent, will also lack character.

In conclusion, character is not more important than competence as ago-old cliches portray. A lack of competence is a lack of character. To fulfill the role of a leader, you bear the responsibility to make the call to not follow age-old cliches about leaders. Therefore, you should demonstrate both character and competence with pride to the highest degree not only for yourself, but for others.