Hey :)

This idea of the competency trap comes up all the time in my work with business owners.

At its simplest, the competency trap looks like this:

Because you can, you do.
 
Not because you should.
Not because it’s the highest-value use of your time.
Just because you know how.

If you know how to do the thing, your default response is to get on with it.

This shows up in almost every industry.

If you’re the owner of a manufacturing business and you cut your teeth on the shop floor, you know the machines. You know the tools. So when someone’s off sick, someone quits, or there’s a capacity issue, you jump in.

You’re helpful.
You’re capable.
You keep things moving.

And on the surface, that all looks reasonable.

So what’s the problem?

The problem is that every time you do that, you’re not doing the work only you can do: building, directing, and strengthening the business itself.

There’s also an overlap here with an idea from Peter Senge, which is the idea of a limiting factor.

Here’s how I think about it.

If every time there’s:

…and your response is always to step in because you’re competent, then you never actually solve the underlying problem.

You keep the business exactly where it is.

Your competence becomes the limiting factor.

I see this consistently in professional services.

Owners who came up through client work know exactly how to run an account. They’re excellent at it. And because they’re excellent at it, that’s where they default when things wobble.

Not because it’s the right long-term move, but because it’s familiar, fast, and reassuring.

But instead of building a business that doesn’t need them in client delivery, they keep reinforcing a business that depends on them.

Jay Papasan’s example makes this very concrete.

He talks about a plumber who gets into real estate. Whenever there’s a broken sink, leaking pipe, or faulty toilet, he fixes it himself.

“It’ll only take five minutes.”
“It’ll be quicker if I do it.”
“I’ve got the tools anyway.”

And eventually, the realisation hits: he’s spending his time fixing toilets instead of building a property business.

The extreme but powerful solution?

He literally sells his tools.

Now, in B2B services, the “tools” are more subtle.

They’re your skills.
Your knowledge.
Your familiarity with the software.
Your ability to rescue situations.

Which makes the trap harder to see — and easier to justify.

This is where opportunity cost really matters.

And I don’t mean your hourly rate.

At some point, you have to accept that paying a plumber £25 an hour is cheaper than you doing it — even if you can.

Because the work you should be doing has leverage.
It compounds.
It shapes the future of the business.

That idea ties neatly into The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, and their focus question:

What’s the one thing that, if I did it, would make everything else easier or unnecessary?

Even more simply:

What’s the thing that ONLY I can do?

Fixing a broken sink isn’t it.
Running an account isn’t it.
Jumping in to plug gaps usually isn’t it.

As you start to see the competency trap for what it is, the work becomes letting go of the tools — not because you don’t value them, but because they keep pulling you back into low-leverage work.

Over time, the aim is simple:

Less doing because you can.
More doing because you should.

And a business that grows because you stopped being its most capable safety net.

🗣️ 👀

Chris.