The Anatomy of a Breakthrough

In Search of A Breakthrough Experience

We’ve all, at some point in our lives, experienced a breakthrough. Whether at school, work or play, breakthroughs are defining moments in our understanding (i.e. knowledge base) or skill (i.e. technical ability to perform a task). By breakthrough, I mean “an important discovery or event that helps us improve our situation or provide an answer to a problem” (Cambridge Dictionary) . 

Against the Advice of Skiers

Approximately 14 days ago, I decided to acquire a new skill, snowboarding. I have never skied, nor surfed and have no realistic transferable skillset that would make learning this skill any easier. In fact, I persevered with learning to snowboard against the counsel of many colleagues who suggested, “learn to ski, it’s much easier for a beginner like yourself to pick up.” In preparation for snowboarding, I thought a lot about skill acquisition and read fairly extensively on the topic. I also took this opportunity to collect data including my perceptions after each snowboarding session on a scale from 0-100 points in the following categories: my confidence, my knowledge, and my skill progression. 

What Happens As We Learn A New Skill?

Just over 50 years ago today, Martin Broadwell, a management trainer, described the stages in skill acquisition as a model having “four levels of teaching". Adapted by Noel Burch (1970), it was later referred to as the 4 stages for "learning any new skill". It’s been popularized over the last five decades as a “Competency Ladder “. 

Stage 1: Unconscious Incompetence- Most of us are initially unaware of how little we know. We are quite literally unconscious of our own incompetence. Sometimes, we are buoyed by a false sense of knowledge about a particular skill rendering us ‘over confident’ (Dunning-Kruger Effect). However, we are doomed to stay in this stage until we realize that we need to embrace learning. 

Stage 2: Conscious Incompetence- Once we adopt a mindset that learning is needed, and key to our eventual skill acquisition, really progress begins. Som Bathla author of “The Intelligent Thinking” writes, “ In this stage of conscious incompetence, though the individual does not understand or know how to do something, he does recognize the deficit in his learning, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit”.

Stage 3: Conscious Competence- Through a paradigm of deliberate practice, we can consciously acquire a skill, then consciously use it. This is no easy task. Psychologist K. Anders Ericsson, posits that expertise in a particular skill has more to do with how one practices. For instance, swinging a golf club on a driving range for days on end is unlikely lead to expertise. Why not? The answer is pretty intuitive and grounded in research. Simply put, practice alone doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.  Ericsson points out that “an expert breaks down the skills that are required to be expert and focuses on improving those skill chunks during practice or day-to-day activities, often paired with immediate coaching feedback”. Further, once each “chunk” is mastered, deliberate practice requires that we take on a more challenging “chunk” towards the road to full mastery. 

Stage 4: Unconscious Competence- Eventually, we get to a point where our level of expertise is high enough that we no longer have to think about what we are doing. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi would characterize this as a state of “flow” with an appropriate “challenge-skill” balance. Som Bathla, writes, “the skill can be performed while executing another task. This is because skill has become a part of the sub-conscious mind, and it doesn’t require active involvement of your brain.”

Lessons Learned (or more accurately, Lessons I Keep Learning)

 I’ve been diligently charting my progress (see the figure above) and had my first breakthrough on my 22nd hour on the slopes. On this hour, I was finally able to enjoy a green run, control speed, control direction and traverse the hill with confidence on both snowboard edges. Although I’m not even close to “unconscious competence”, I’m now enjoying the experience of snowboarding in contradistinction to my earlier high anxiety and high stress experiences on the slopes. There are several factors which I believe influenced my learning curve I’ve simplified them by the acronym: S-T-R-AT-E-G-Y 

·      Self Directed Online Learning: Having spent approximately 40 hours carefully watching, re-watching and making notes on snowboard principles has been immensely important in transitioning from ‘not knowing what I don’t know’ to realizing quickly what I don’t know. Prior to my first time on the slope, I had consumed about 10 hours of online video fundamentals.

·      Trained Instructors: I found tremendous value to formal instruction focusing on principles and a careful graduated advancement. Over the first 22 hours on the slopes, 11 hours were with a certified instructor, 7 hours with skilled snowboarders, and 4 hours with skiers. The point. I never went to the slopes alone in my first 22 hours. Having somebody present to provide feedback and insight was critical to me.

·      Recovering from the First Bad Fall: I was warned, at the onset, that the falls with snowboarding are brutal. I experienced many falls but had my first ‘hard fall’ on my 14th hour on the slope. I lost my heel edge and fell hard on my left sacroiliac joint region and head (thank you, helmut!) on hard packed snow. It took me back to the 1980s—the same ringing in my ears I recall following an AC/DC concert (at the Molson Amphitheatre, Toronto, Ontario), followed by a pain that lasted several days. This was the type of fall that I’m sure has ended the aspirations of many learners before me. This was a clear low point (see figure above); After a weekend off, I got back to the fundamentals again, and ultimately had a breakthrough after 8 more hours on the slopes. 

·      Advancement and Timing: I stayed on learning hills (or bunny hills) for what some felt was overkill. They would say, "Mo, you are ready for the harder runs now!" However, it was glaringly apparent what happens when learners advanced beyond their skills on runs that were either too technical or too steep. I watched many a learner come torpedoing down a hill with absolute terror in their faces. So, against all instincts, I stayed (maybe too long) on the bunny hills practising fundamentals, over and over again.

·      Ego management: If you aren’t comfortable with failure, you will unfortunately never risk trying new things. Skill acquisition requires a modicum of humility. The best learners, I’ve found, are those who embrace what they don’t know with a steadfast goal to learn from those who do know. Ego rarely factors into the learner's equation--and if it does, things are unlikely going in the right direction.

·      Growth Mindset: Carol Dweck has written extensively on what a growth mindset is, and what it isn’t. For our purposes, having a growth mindset presumes we believe that our talents can be developed (through hard work, deliberate strategies, and feedback from others). I found it absolutely essential to remind myself that hard work will pay off.

·      Y aren’t you Videotaping?: At every lesson, I ensured my instructor recorded me. I watched the videos over and over (including my bad fall to imprint what went wrong). I think video is a grossly under-utilized technique for learners and often found myself to be one of the few learners on the slopes having their falls and their posture recorded. 

The First of Many Breakthroughs

It’s an exhilarating feeling to learn a new skill. Learning how to snowboard has given me immense respect for those who have mastered it and provided even greater benefits in introducing me to many new friends. As I reflect in writing this short piece, I’ve realized that my biggest breakthrough may have nothing to do with snowboarding at all; rather, becoming a student again has offered me first hand experience in how to learn, how to accept setbacks, how to keep going when you feel like giving up, and ultimately the importance of relying on others for help.

I’m using these insights to optimally help those graduate students with whom I work with on a daily basis. I am increasingly more comfortable taking on greater work-related challenges with optimism-- and the expectation that I will likely learn more than I teach!