The Competency Trap: What to Do When Being Good at Your Job Leaves You Drained
“What are you good at? What do you love? Both are necessary.”
You're good at your job. People trust you, depend on you, and regularly turn to you when something needs to get done.
You deliver results. You solve problems. You've built a reputation for being capable and reliable.
So why does so much of your work leave you feeling drained?
It's a frustrating experience, especially when the work you're doing is something you're objectively good at.
We tend to assume that being good at something means we should enjoy doing it. But there's an important distinction that often gets overlooked in conversations about strengths, performance, and professional development:
Just because you're good at something doesn't mean it gives you energy.
And when leaders spend too much time doing work they're capable of—but that consistently depletes them—the consequences can extend well beyond a tiring workday.
The Cost of Doing it All
Think about the responsibilities you've accumulated throughout your career.
Some probably came naturally. Others developed because you worked hard, gained experience, and became increasingly competent.
Over time, people noticed.
You became the person who could manage the complicated project, navigate the difficult conversation, organize the details, or keep everything moving. And because you were good at those things, you kept getting asked to do them.
Competence creates opportunities, and developing new capabilities is an important part of professional growth. But sometimes our success creates an unexpected problem.
We become so good at certain responsibilities that we stop asking whether those responsibilities are actually a good fit for us.
The work continues to get done. Other people are satisfied with our performance. But internally, we may experience a growing sense of fatigue, frustration, or disengagement.
This can become a form of the competency trap: when our ability to perform certain work keeps us doing it, even when that work is no longer sustainable.
The challenge isn't necessarily that we're doing something poorly.
It's that we're doing something well at a significant personal cost.
Competence and Energy Are Not the Same Thing
One of the things I appreciate about Patrick Lencioni's Six Types of Working Genius framework is the distinction it makes between what we're capable of doing and what naturally gives us energy.
The model identifies three categories of work:
Working Genius: The kinds of work that tend to come naturally and provide energy and fulfillment.
Working Competency: Work we can perform capably but that doesn't necessarily energize us.
Working Frustration: Work that tends to create frustration and drain our energy.
This distinction is especially helpful because it challenges a common assumption: that if we're successful at something, we should keep doing more of it.
Consider a leader who's excellent at coordinating projects, managing details, and ensuring deadlines are met.
Their colleagues appreciate their reliability, and their organization increasingly depends on them to keep everything on track.
But what if that leader finds the work of managing details exhausting?
And what if their greatest energy comes from exploring new ideas, solving complex problems, or helping others see possibilities?
They may continue performing well while gradually losing enthusiasm for their work.
Despite their strong performance, they are experiencing a critical mismatch between the responsibilities they're carrying and the work that sustains their energy.
Why High Performers Are Especially Vulnerable
High-performing professionals can be particularly susceptible to the competency trap pattern.
They often have a strong sense of responsibility. They're willing to stretch beyond their comfort zones, develop new skills, and step in when something needs attention.
Those qualities contribute to their success.
But they can also make it difficult to recognize when their responsibilities have become misaligned with how they work best.
For high performers, this can show up in a few familiar ways:
1. Your competence keeps attracting more of the same work.
When you consistently deliver strong results, people naturally bring you similar assignments.
Eventually, your role may become increasingly defined by what others know you can do well rather than what allows you to feel fully energized.
2. You confuse being needed with being energized.
It's rewarding to know that others value your contribution. But feeling needed and feeling energized are not interchangeable.
You can be deeply appreciated for work that still leaves you depleted at the end of the day.
3. You assume feeling drained means you need to work harder.
When work starts feeling difficult, high performers often respond by increasing their effort.
They become more disciplined, improve their time management, or push themselves to be more productive. You can become very efficient at doing work that isn't sustainable for you.
And sometimes those strategies help. But if the underlying problem is a persistent mismatch between your work and your energy, becoming more efficient may not address what's actually wrong.
The Coaching Angle: Three Questions to Rethink Your Work
Recognizing that you're good at work that drains you is an important first step. But awareness alone doesn't change how you spend your time.
The next step is to get curious about where your energy goes—and what you might be able to do differently.
Here are three coaching questions to help you move from awareness to action.
1. What responsibilities are you good at but consistently find draining?
Think about the work others regularly praise you for. Which responsibilities leave you feeling satisfied, and which leave you depleted—even when you perform them well?
For the next week, pay attention to the activities that energize you, feel neutral, or drain your energy.
Look beyond how much time each task requires. A short meeting might leave you exhausted, while several hours spent working through a challenging problem might leave you energized.
Try this: Keep a simple energy log for five workdays. At the end of the week, look for patterns in the types of work that give you energy and those that consistently take it away.
2. Where has your success created expectations that no longer serve you?
Consider the responsibilities you've accumulated because you're capable, reliable, or willing to help.
Which are essential to your role? Which have become yours simply because you've always handled them?
Not every responsibility can—or should—be delegated. But it's worth examining whether your work is distributed intentionally or primarily according to who has demonstrated they can get it done.
Try this: Identify one responsibility you could delegate, share, simplify, or approach differently. Consider what conversation might be needed to make that adjustment possible.
3. What kinds of work give you energy, even when it’s challenging?
Not all difficult work is draining.
Some of our most demanding responsibilities can also be deeply engaging when they align with how we naturally think, contribute, and solve problems.
Consider the work that leaves you feeling satisfied, even after you've invested significant effort.
What does that tell you about the kinds of contributions you find most meaningful?
Try this: Identify one small way to make more room for energizing work in your current role. Treat it as an experiment, pay attention to what changes, and adjust as you learn.
This approach is closely related to job crafting, a concept in organizational psychology that describes how people proactively shape aspects of their work.
You don't necessarily need a new job to have a better experience of work. Sometimes meaningful change begins with small adjustments to how you spend your time, structure responsibilities, or collaborate with others.
How Working Genius Can Help You Escape the Competency Trap
One framework I find particularly helpful for understanding the competency trap is Patrick Lencioni's Six Types of Working Genius. The model identifies six types of work involved in moving ideas from possibility to completion and helps people understand which types naturally energize them, which they can do competently, and which tend to drain them.
What makes this framework especially useful is that it shifts the conversation from simply asking, "What am I good at?" to considering, "What kind of work energizes me?”
You don't need to have completed the Working Genius assessment to begin exploring these questions. But if you have, your results can provide additional insight into where your work aligns with your natural sources of energy—and where adjustments might be helpful.
Whether you're familiar with Working Genius or exploring these ideas for the first time, there are a few practical ways to begin applying this perspective to your work.
1. Recognize the difference between competence and genius
Think about the responsibilities you perform well.
Which come naturally and leave you feeling energized?
Which can you handle successfully but find less fulfilling?
In Working Genius terms, this is the distinction between your areas of genius and competency.
For example, you might be excellent at bringing projects across the finish line but find that the detailed follow-through takes more energy than generating or evaluating ideas.
If you've completed the assessment, compare those experiences with your results. If you haven't, begin by noticing which kinds of work consistently give you energy and which leave you depleted.
2. Consider where you contribute in the process of getting work done
Working Genius identifies six types of work that help move an idea from possibility to completion: Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanizing, Enablement, and Tenacity.
These represent different contributions, from asking important questions and developing ideas to evaluating possibilities, mobilizing others, providing support, and completing the work.
You don't need to be energized by every stage.
Think about a recent project.
Which parts did you enjoy most?
Where did you feel most effective?
Which responsibilities required significantly more energy?
If you know your Working Genius results, consider whether those patterns align with your geniuses, competencies, and frustrations.
3. Use what you learn to rethink how work gets done
Understanding your natural contributions is useful, but the real value comes from applying that awareness:
Perhaps you could collaborate with someone who enjoys the work you find draining.
Maybe one of your recurring responsibilities could be redistributed in a partnership.
Maybe a simple schedule shift can make more room for the activities that bring out your best thinking.
For leaders, these conversations are especially valuable because they challenge the assumption that the person who's most capable of doing something should always be the one responsible for it.
With greater awareness of your natural strengths, you can make more intentional decisions about how you and your team contribute.
And that's where Working Genius becomes more than an assessment. It becomes a practical tool for improving collaboration, engagement, and the way work gets done.
Frequently Asked Questions
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The competency trap describes a pattern in which people continue relying on established capabilities, even when a different approach might serve them better. At work, this can happen when professionals repeatedly take on responsibilities because they're good at them, despite finding those responsibilities draining or unfulfilling.
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Being good at something doesn't necessarily mean it gives you energy. You may be spending much of your time on responsibilities that require significant effort, even when you perform them successfully. Understanding the difference between your capabilities and the work that naturally energizes you can help identify opportunities for change.
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Developed by Patrick Lencioni, the Six Types of Working Genius framework identifies six types of work involved in getting things done: Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanizing, Enablement, and Tenacity. The framework helps individuals and teams understand the contributions that naturally energize them and how different types of work complement one another.
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Working Genius describes the types of work that naturally energize and fulfill you. Working Competency refers to work you can perform capably but that doesn't provide the same energy or fulfillment. Working Frustration describes activities that tend to drain your energy and create frustration. Understanding these distinctions can help explain why some responsibilities feel more sustainable than others.
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Working Genius can help you recognize whether you're spending significant time on work that consistently drains your energy. Those insights can inform conversations about responsibilities, delegation, and collaboration. However, burnout can also involve workload, organizational culture, insufficient resources, and other factors that require attention beyond individual strengths.
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Leaders can use Working Genius to better understand how team members contribute throughout the process of getting work done. By identifying the team's collective geniuses, competencies, and frustrations, leaders can make more informed decisions about responsibilities, collaboration, and areas where additional support may be needed. Facilitated team discussions can help translate those insights into practical changes in how people work together.
Moving Beyond the Competency Trap
Ultimately, escaping the competency trap begins with greater awareness and a willingness to reconsider how we contribute. Small adjustments to our responsibilities and the way we work with others can make a meaningful difference over time.
And that same awareness that helps us make better decisions about our own work can also help leaders make better decisions for their teams.
When leaders understand both what their team members do well and what gives them energy, they can be more intentional about how responsibilities are assigned, how people collaborate, and where adjustments might be needed.
Through my Working Genius facilitation and consulting, I help teams translate these insights into practical changes that support both individual engagement and team effectiveness.
What are you continuing to do because you're good at it—and what might change if you gave greater room for the work that energizes you?
Or schedule a free consultation and tell me a little about your leadership development needs. We can talk through what's happening, what you'd like to accomplish, and which approach might be the best fit.
Dr. Bethany Peters is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and leadership expert who helps individuals, teams, and organizations grow through leadership coaching, executive development, team facilitation, and evidence-based assessments. Whether she's coaching one-on-one or leading a workshop, Bethany creates practical, engaging experiences that help people communicate better, lead with confidence, and create lasting change.
