Every leadership expert that I have read in the last five years understands that the most important asset for any organization is the people who are on your team. If you have not transitioned from the industrial age to the information age in how you are leading your people you will not be able to compete in the new global economy.
Good to Great makes the point about getting the right people on your bus and making sure you get the wrong ones off. There is also a priority on verifying that everyone is in the right seat on the bus.
This is where the Peter Principle can create blind spots within your organization. Just because someone has been a very effective employee in the past does not mean they can continue to be effective in the future.
The natural tendency is when someone does a good job they eventually assume even greater responsibility. They were the best customer service representative you had when your company started and there were less than one hundred accounts.
When the company reaches three hundred accounts then other customer service representatives are brought on board and now your best practices representative just became a manager of other people. After all they deserve the job because they have tenure, expertise and loyalty to organization.
There is only one major problem; they are not gifted or passionate about managing a customer service department that one day will grow to over one hundred employees. These once great team members who are no longer effective have been promoted beyond their capabilities and that is why they are failing.
Never assume that because someone is great in one discipline they can naturally transition to leading others in the same area. If you do not watch this one very carefully you run the risk of a dysfunctional customer service department and tragically loosing a once great employee in the process.