Weaponized Incompetence in the Workplace

I am SURE I am not the first to write about this, but as it’s nearly impossible to have a truly original thought, what’s one more blog post on it.

Whoever came up with the idea of having students work on group projects was right in that it prepares you for the “real world.” Collaborating with others, communicating your thoughts, actively listening — all of this, yes. But even more so, the paradigm that there will always be those that choose to slack off and those that care enough to put in the extra effort. And in the end, every single person in that group getting the same grade.

We’ve all heard the phrase ‘weaponized incompetence’. And if you haven’t, might I point you to the episode of the Office where Ryan shirks the task of cleaning the microwave because he would just “make it worse” despite Pam so obviously retorting “how would wiping it down with a paper towel make it worse?” The Ryans of the world will never bother to clean the microwave because they know eventually the Pams will end up doing it themselves.

I have seen this play out time and time again from group projects that started in middle school and lasted through college and that I’ve experienced in one way or another in every job I’ve had in the past decade+ of my career. An exceptional amount of people hired for jobs they either can’t or refuse to learn to…