The notion of leadership competencies is a much-debated issue. In this article, we propose that how the leader makes sense of his or her competencies is key to leadership practice. Specifically, we look at how leaders reconcile discrepancies between the self-perceived proficiency of various competencies and their corresponding importance. Empirically, we study leaders within the music domain – how choral conductors make sense of their competencies in the shaping of their professional practice. We investigated how choral leaders in Scandinavia (N = 638) made sense of their competencies in the face of demands in their working situations. A mixed methodology was used, comprising a quantitative survey with qualitative comments and in-depth interviews with a selection of the respondents. The results show that when choral leaders shape their practice, they frequently face competency gaps that compel them to act or adjust their identity. The key to this sensemaking process is how they move competency elements they master to the foreground and wanting elements to the background. The concept of ‘sensemaking affordance’ is introduced to account for how various leader competency categories are negotiated to safeguard overall efficacy.

领导能力的概念是一个备受争议的问题。在本文中，我们建议领导者如何理解自己的能力是领导实践的关键。具体来说，我们研究领导者如何调和各种能力的自我感知能力与相应重要性之间的差异。根据经验，我们研究音乐领域的领导者-合唱指挥如何在其专业实践的塑造中发挥其才能。我们调查了斯堪的那维亚（N= 638）面对他们在工作环境中的需求时，他们会意识到自己的能力。使用了一种混合方法，包括定量调查和定性评论，以及与部分受访者的深入访谈。结果表明，合唱团领导人在塑造自己的行为时，经常会遇到能力差距，迫使他们采取行动或调整自己的身份。这种有意义的决策过程的关键在于，他们如何将他们掌握的胜任力要素转移到前台，而将想要的要素转移到后台。引入“造价能力”的概念是为了说明如何协商各种领导能力类别以维护总体效能。