Walk the Week - Unconscious Competence

I was fortunate enough to be able to go to Wimbledon last week with No 1 Court tickets to see some of the most amazing tennis. Only when you are actually there can you appreciate the speed and finesse with which the top players, men and women alike, hit the ball. I also learnt for the first time (it’s amazing what you don’t know), actually from my Tai Chi instructor again, of this great learning sequence.

·?????? Unconscious incompetence – where we don’t even have sufficient awareness to even recognise our lack of ability or knowledge - ignorance

·?????? Conscious incompetence – here at least know we don’t know as it were and that there is a lot more to learn – my Tai Chi probably falls into this category - awareness

·?????? Conscious competence – where we get things right thinking carefully about it - learning

·?????? Unconscious competence – where we just do something really well without really thinking about it – the best professional tennis players definitely fall into this category – mastery.

See this Wikipedia article Four stages of competence which calls this the "conscious competence" learning model which “relates to the psychological states involved in the process of progressing from incompetence to competence in a skill”.? It sums this psychology theory up as follows:

“The four stages suggest that individuals are initially unaware of how little they know, or unconscious of their incompetence. As they recognize their incompetence, they consciously acquire a skill, then consciously use it. Eventually, the skill can be utilized without it being consciously thought through: the individual is said to have then acquired unconscious competence.”

So, whilst this is clearly applicable to sports and to martial arts, I found myself considering to what extent does this apply in business and specifically to our professional practices.

First if you think about business generally then this learning model is definitely relevant. See this article The four stages of competence and how they apply in business which proposes that in the context of business skills like “Communication, time management, critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, resilience, and integrity” then “this model can help managers and employees identify areas where skills are lacking and create strategies for improving performance and productivity.”

It then seems to me that a learning process like this is equally relevant to professional practice either in enhancing our existing knowledge or developing new skills. See this quite academic article in a medical context Contextualised reflective competence: a new learning model promoting reflective practice for clinical training which discusses this “conscious competency model” and takes it a stage further: “The contextualised reflective competence framework has its origins in the conscious competency framework, an established learning paradigm within healthcare professions education, and it has been developed to encompass some of the vital concepts that the conscious competency matrix was lacking: the promotion of ongoing reflection practice, accurate assumptions of the learner’s original mindset, variations in everyday performance, and erosion of skills.”

I think that one trap we fall into as professionals in this learning context is an assumption that as we get more skilled and practiced in our chosen career we “know it all”. I don’t think this is the right approach from my personal experience and observation. I recall another martial arts instructor some years ago in Washinkai Karate saying that one thing new black belts did was to go back to basics and for example really master basic punching – nothing fancy. To keep improving we need to be conscious of the need to be going round the same learning loop.

In any event never mind keeping up our established knowledge - we should all I suggest be constantly looking to learn new things to improve and extend our professional capabilities. I remember the founding father of the first law firm I worked in David Freeman coming back from a business opportunity meeting and saying in effect I know this is not an area we not particularly strong in, but let’s learn and see if we can competently meet this new client’s requirements.

As Richard Branson has written, “If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes — then learn how to do it later.” Of course, there are professional limits to this – a surgeon will not want to carry out a procedure he or she has no experience of. But then again, I recall my cousin who is a consultant surgeon explaining how he and his colleagues had engaged in extensive new training in order to come to grips with using robotics to enhance their skill sets.

How then do you move through the four stages? I have realised that in Tai Chi this means recognition of where you are and constant repetition, watching the teacher and others and understanding what they are doing and copying this. See this blog 4 Levels of Competence which proposes “How Can You Move Through the Stages of the Competence Model”:

·?????? Identify the skill or behavior you want to learn

·?????? Recognize your current level of competence – this in my view requires personal insight and honest self appraisal

·?????? Seek out learning opportunities

·?????? Practice, practice, practice

·?????? Refine your skills

·?????? Maintain your skills

In this context I like this article I found, The Mind Collection Model: How to Explore the Known Unknowns which proposes a mental model for exploring the unknown using metaphorical analogies:

Known knowns - any information, skill or experience we have acquired and are aware of – symbolised by an owl as representative of wisdom

Unknown knowns - information we already have but are unaware of – dark horses

Known unknowns - the knowledge we don’t possess and are aware of. They’re the unexplored territory at the frontier between the known and the unknown – the elephant in the room

Unknown unknowns – information we don’t even know exists – black swans

Some of this may seem quite simple and obvious, but as I know from personal experience as a lawyer for many years and latterly a student of Tai Chi for over a year now, this is far from the case. See this Forbes article Understanding Circle Of Competence And Knowing The Edge Of Your Competency? which suggests

Einstein said there are five ascending levels of intelligence: smart, intelligent, brilliant, genius and simple. The idea of circle of competence seems to be a rather simple one, which every person with an average intelligence level should be able to grasp. However, in life and in investing, it is very often the level of simplicity that separates the great from the average. Circle of competence, in its simplest form, offers such an opportunity for us to ponder.

As Isaac Newton shrewdly observed “What we know is a drop, what we don’t know is an ocean.”

While Pablo Picasso once said “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order to learn how to do it.”

And for a more humorous final thought from Douglas Adam the author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (which you need to read to understand the context) – “Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground – and miss”!