I have so many conversations with clients who feel a huge disconnect by their beliefs about what they think they are capable of and how they actually feel, or experience the doing of it.
Ordinarily, something new or novel. They know that have what anyone else in their position could be expected to have, they know they have done similar things before to draw upon – yet they say they feel incompetent and unable to do the new thing.
It is remarkable how we seem to so quickly move on from what we have learned and accomplished, to bank it in our unconscious and only notice what we lack, haven’t done before or haven’t yet experienced.
As if the hard earned battles and victories of the past count for nothing. As if today isn’t the tomorrow you were so worried about yesterday.
Two factors that can really make a shift in how we create a better connection between the feeling of competence and the experience of it are by looking at it through the lenses of what we are conscious and aware of and seeing how much effort, resistance, thoughtfulness it demands of us.
Martin Broadwell introduced four stages of competence in 1969 to explore how we develop skills.
Yet whether it is learning a skill, practice, habit or behaviour the clarity the model offers I think comes from its simplicity.
Here are a handful of things looking at this simple model is useful for:-
If you think you lack competence, skills, gravitas – you are already on your way as you know what you do not know. So you already know more than you thought you did! (Conscious incompetence)
If you are concentrating and attending to the development of skills, behaviours, habits – you are practicing competence (Conscious Competence). We are all a work in progress learning to become Yoda – beware the reckless narcissists that think they are Yoda when they aren’t and look at the carnage they create.
Unconscious Competence – for most of us this probably not a bad place to be – ‘second nature’, finding this effortless and able to teach others. Yet in leadership, personal growth and development – it’s not going to be testing the limits of your own potential and giving you the joy and growth that comes with it.
Those that question their value and contribution. The skills/ competencies/behaviours that were yesterday's fears about tomorrow. How many of those have you unconsciously absorbed and are now taking for granted in the way you practice your leadership and see the value in your interactions with others.
Unconscious incompetence is the thing everyone fears yet so rarely where anyone is at – you can rest assured your organisation and peers will let you know if that is where you are at, and you certainly won’t have been hired in to a role if that is where you are at.
I’m hanging out most of the time between conscious incompetence and conscious competence. I’d love to know where you prefer to be so feel free to share.
