Understanding complexity in work

Why Matching Roles With People’s Ability Really Matters
 
Picture a typical organizational chart — like a pyramid, with entry-level employees at the base and executives at the top. Now think about the kind of work each level does. The tasks at the bottom are usually more structured and focused on immediate results, while those at the top tend to be broader, more strategic, and way more complex.
 
As you move up that hierarchy, the job responsibilities become less about ticking off to-do lists and more about solving big-picture problems, anticipating future challenges, and guiding the entire organization forward. That shift in responsibility requires something we call complexity management — or in plain terms, the ability to handle, process, and respond to complicated, often long-term issues.

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It’s Not Just About Skill — It’s About Thinking Style
 
Here’s where things get interesting. Different roles demand different kinds of thinking. Someone working on the factory floor might need to focus on the next hour or day (concrete thinking). A team leader might need to plan a few weeks out. But a CEO? They’re thinking months, even years ahead (abstract thinking).
 
This ability to think into the future and deal with complex issues is often referred to as a person’s cognitive scope. The bigger someone's cognitive scope, the more complexity they can handle — they can juggle more moving parts, think through more scenarios, and anticipate long-term consequences. It’s less about intelligence in the traditional sense and more about mental projection and pattern recognition across complex systems.
 
Why This Matters in Hiring and Promotions
 
When hiring someone new or promoting from within, it's not enough to just check off boxes for experience and technical skills. You need to ask:
 
Can this person handle the complexity of this role — not just now, but as the role evolves? Do they think in a way that matches the demands of this position, both in scope and time horizon? Because if their complexity capability does not match the requirements of their specific role – they will not be able to perform the work.
 
Let’s say you're hiring for a mid-level manager position. That person may need to coordinate across departments, balance short-term targets with long-term goals, and anticipate how decisions made today will impact the business six months from now. If you promote someone who's great at task execution but hasn't yet developed that broader thinking, they might feel overwhelmed. On the flip side, if you bring in someone who’s already operating with a high-level strategic mindset, they may get bored and frustrated by the job's limitations — and could end up leaving for a more challenging role.
 
The Risk of Mismatches
 
Getting the complexity match wrong can lead to two kinds of problems:
 
Under-matching: This happens when someone’s thinking scope is smaller than what the role demands. These individuals often feel overwhelmed, make poor decisions, and struggle to see the bigger picture. Their performance suffers, and they may burn out.
 
Over-matching: This is when someone has a broader cognitive scope than the job requires. They might feel underutilized, disengaged, and undervalued. Often, they’ll get bored, lose motivation, or feel out of sync with their supervisor, especially if they don’t see room for growth. So they leave.
 
Planning for Growth and Retention
 
One of the really valuable things you can do — especially in larger organizations — is assess where someone is now and where they’re likely to be in the future. When you understand a person’s current level of scope and how quickly that scope tends to develop (which can often be predicted based on age and experience), you can make smarter decisions about succession planning and career development.
 
For example, if you know an employee is likely to be ready for a senior-level role in two years, you can start preparing them now — giving them stretch assignments, coaching, and leadership exposure. That kind of foresight not only helps you build a strong leadership pipeline but also boosts retention, because high-potential employees see that they’re being invested in.
 
So how do you actually evaluate someone’s ability to manage complexity?
 
From experience, I have found that no written assessment will work. You need to use a unique interactive interviewing style that walks people through various complexity exercises to determine where they are today, and how quickly they will move to the “next level”. But, in addition to effective cognitive complexity interviewing, you might also look for traits like:
 

• Strategic thinking: Can they see the bigger picture via capability in abstract thinking?
• Analytical ability: How well do they break down problems and evaluate solutions?
• Judgment: Do they consistently make good calls, even under pressure? How well do they handle pressure?
• Initiative and tenacity: Are they proactive? Do they follow through?
• Achievement motivation: Do they strive to reach goals and improve performance?
• Planning skills: How well do they organize themselves and others to deliver results?

 
When you can accurately measure both the complexity demands of a role and the complexity management of the person you’re placing in it, you dramatically increase the chances of success — for the individual and for the organization.
 
Final Thoughts
 
Complexity management isn't just a buzzword — it’s a critical piece of building effective, future-ready teams. The higher you go in an organization, the more important it becomes to think long-term, work across multiple layers of complexity, and make decisions that shape the future, not just fix today’s problems.
 
Getting the match right — between the person and the position — is what separates thriving teams from ones that struggle. So, whether you're hiring, promoting, or planning for the next generation of leadership, don't just think about who can do the job today. Think about who’s ready for what’s coming next.
 
Complexity management evaluation is a key component of the CAES Assessment Battery and is applicable in all the developmental services (career, leadership, team, general performance) that we provide.