Competence: How did I do?

I don’t mind assuming it… we all want to be good at what we do. Even you, Professor Cynicism.

That feeling of effectiveness or achievement is called Competence. Competence is one of three basic psychological needs championed by Self-Determination Theory (SDT).

Higher confidence = greater intrinsic motivation = enhanced performance-directed effort and persistence (1).

This article explores how sports and sales teams can achieve higher levels of individual Competence with the goal of improve (1) workplace performance, (2) the internal desire to improve performance, and (3) personal satisfaction through high-quality workplace performance.

Competence matters

Competence is the experience of effectiveness and mastery in one’s environment (2).

It’s not hard to contemplate that higher perceived competence is linked to realising value, performance confidence, and a consistent desire to apply effort for that wonderful feeling of seeing improvement or hitting a goal. These feelings are addictive…that’s the internal motivation at work!

Figure 1 highlights the positivity you may see in a Tech Sales team with high perceived competence.

While high perceived competence drives motivation and growth, the absence of competence can lead to the opposite effect: disengagement and frustration.

Return On Investment

Investing in a culture that promotes perceived competence has highly desirable returns. I promise!

In tech sales, for instance, focusing on developing individual mastery and effectiveness not only boosts individual performance but drives team success (Figure 2). Higher competency can therefore translate to enhanced quota attainment, client retention, and more intrinsically motivated sales reps who are fully behind their personal and organisational goals.

WARNING: this doesn’t happen overnight.

Leaders…Building a culture of competence requires consistent effort and meaningful engagement. We’re talking long-term, sustained performance improvements.

Which leads us nicely to the next section. What changes can I, a leader, focus upon?

Building Competence: The Key Factors

1. Clear Expectations

To perform effectively, we must first know exactly what success looks like (3).

In sports, successful teams have clear expectations around behaviours, performance goals, and learning opportunities. My beloved New England Free Jacks rugby team are a great example. They magnified the clarity of weekly themed goals to align training sessions with match-day expectations and action plans. This clarity helps each player understand how to perform and improve.

In sales: Provide clear and specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), outlining individual responsibilities, and link them to organisational goals. When expectations are clear, people know how to channel their efforts and feel a sense of control.

In summary, define specific targets, expected behaviours, and key strategies to achieve these outcomes.

2. High-quality Goal-processes

Competence thrives when goals are meaningful and aligned with personal abilities and values.

Involve Autonomy: Ownership is critical. When people have a say in how they approach tasks, their connection to the goal deepens, leading to more self-driven effort.
Think Beyond SMART Goals: Goal-setting should be dynamic and flexible. Connect goals to personal growth and continuous improvement, not just outcomes. Include regular feedback loops to help sales reps adjust and stay on course. Figure 3 outlines the rest, and I wrote a short piece on goal setting beyond SMART here.
Set learning-based goals: Let’s think beyond the tangible outcome. Apply a focus on what skills and abilities need improvement. Encourage long-term development. For example, a goal might focus on enhancing negotiation skills, which will lead to better sales performance in the long run. And of course, learning-based goals require learning-based measurements, which may come in the form of regular check-ins and role play, for example.
Promote adaptability: Be ready to adjust goals based on real-time insights. If market conditions change, or reps identify new opportunities, flexibility is key to maintaining motivation and achieving success.

3. Change-Oriented Feedback

Change-oriented feedback is crucial for growth after both successful and unsuccessful events.

Feedback is a powerful tool for growth, but not all feedback is created equal. To enhance competence, feedback needs to be informational, and focused on what can change (5,6). This type of feedback encourages learning by delivering pragmatic, meaningful information that supports the knowledge and engagement for growth.

Change-oriented is our alternative to negative feedback. Negative feedback often serves the giver more than the receiver. From my experience with world-class coaches, less than 10% of their feedback is negative. Even when negative feedback is used, it’s accompanied by empathy, accountability, and clear expectations.

Change-oriented feedback leads to higher motivation, better adaptation to feedback, and a more effective, engaged sales team. When reps feel supported and know how to improve, they’re more likely to take ownership of their development and boost performance in line with company goals.

Here are some tips.

Start with questions: Open-ended questions (e.g., “What?” and “How?”) help gather insight into processes and outcomes before offering feedback, leading to more informed responses.
Offer choices in solutions: Encouraging autonomy helps the sales rep internalise feedback and commit to change.
Set clear, attainable objectives: Connect feedback with clear expectations for improvement.
Avoid personal criticism: Focus on behaviour and outcomes, not the individual, ensuring feedback doesn’t undermine their confidence. A bad day at the office is not a reason to comment on the human behind the Sales Rep.
Provide actionable tips: Offer practical guidance for future performance or collaborate to explore solutions.
Create psychological safety: Consider the setting and tone when delivering feedback, ensuring it fosters trust and receptivity.

4. Challenge and support

For individuals to feel effective, the difficulty of their tasks must align with their abilities (4,6).

High perceived competence is found where there’s a balance between challenge and support. Too little challenge leads to boredom, while too much overwhelms people.

Ideally, goals and tasks stretch our abilities, thus providing adequate challenge. In rugby, if we only task players with passing drills where success is typically >90%, we frustrate opportunities for learning and mastery. Player internal motivation for effort suffers, and less energy is brought to the drill. Now, if we adapt the challenge to a predicted success rate of 50-70%, we likely strike a balance to optimise stretch and learning. Players hit the target enough to know what Competence feels like but also satisfy Competence in learning from the unsuccessful attempts.

Challenge can be overplayed. If faced with a task where success is impossible, self-determined motivation suffers (1). What is there to satisfy internal motivation if our learning and effort amounts to zero progress? This is almost the anti-definition of Competence – where we are set-up for failure.

Great leaders therefore provide adequate support. Neither support nor challenge are effective as independent conditions.

Support requires challenge, and challenge needs support.

Sales Reps often face challenge with unfamiliar territories, long sales cycles, or competitive pressures. Leaders can help by providing support structures such as training, mentoring, and regular feedback, which balances the challenges with adequate guidance.

5&6. Incentives and Competition

Our final two ways to enhance competence are worthy of their own articles!

Incentivising success lives life on a knife-edge. Why, how and when should we reward success? Or do we choose to acknowledge? What happens when there is neither? Big questions for Part B of the Competence series.

Competition is a sticky point for Competence. Competition is a reality for many industries, especially sport! But competition carries the burden of the non-winners feeling ineffective and low on perceived competence. Part C of the Competence series analyses the ins and outs of using Competition for motivational purposes.

Thank you for reading!

References

1. Vansteenkiste M, Ryan RM, Soenens B. Basic psychological need theory: Advancements, critical themes, and future directions. 2020

2. Losier GF, Vallerand RJ. The temporal relationship between perceived competence and self-determined motivation. J Soc Psychol

3. Slemp GR, Field JG, Ryan RM, Forner VW, Van Den Broeck A, Lewis KJ. Interpersonal Supports for Basic Psychological Needs and Their Relations With Motivation, Well-Being, and Performance: A Meta-Analysis. 2024

4. Forner VW, Jones M, Berry Y, Eidenfalk J. Motivating workers: how leaders apply self-determination theory in organizations.

5. Ryan RM, Moller AC. Competence as Central, but not sufficient, for High Quality Motivation. In: Elliot AJ, Dweck CS, Yeager DS, editors. Handbook of Competence and Motivation. 2nd ed. New York: Guildford Press; 2017.

6. Carpentier J, Mageau GA. When change-oriented feedback enhances motivation, well-being and performance: A look at autonomy-supportive feedback in sport. Psychol Sport Exerc. 2013;14(3).

7. Ryan RM, Deci EL. Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being. American Psychologist. 2000;55(1):68–78.