Ready to Level Up? Start by Facing Your Blind Spots
From Unconsciously Incompetent to Consciously Competent in Four Steps
Remember that quote, 'If you're comfortable, you aren't growing'?
It's especially true when it comes to learning and development.
The competence cycle is a model that describes the stages of learning.
It starts with unconscious incompetence, where we don't know what we don't know.
Sounds obvious when you say it. This is the space where you need trusted advisors to tell you your “blind spots”. The things you are doing that are shooting you in the foot and you don’t even realize it!
If no one will tell you your unconscious incompetence areas, ask your manager if you can have a 360 review provided by your company.
Then comes conscious incompetence, where we realize our lack of knowledge and start to learn.
You know when someone tells you something about yourself that you never realized, and slowly it dawns on you that they are correct.
That’s this phase when it’s an opportunity that dawns on you.
This is when you come to realize exactly how incompetent you are and that there is something you can do about it. It will last for a bit while you practice competence. Slowly though, it will merge with the next phase:
Conscious competence, where we understand the skill and can perform it with effort.
As you practice different methods for improving, you’ll find one that works. As you practice and work towards making this a habit, you will be in the consciously competent phase.
Finally, we reach unconscious competence, where the skill becomes second nature. We’ve practiced it enough that our muscle memory takes over and we can complete the task or handle the situation with ease.
When you are unconsciously competent … it’s time to uncover your next blind spot.
Are you currently in any of these stages? What are you doing to move forward in your learning journey?
=========
🙋♀️ Hi, I'm Meredith, the leadership coach.
My goal is to offer self-guided leadership lessons for you to try and adopt those that resonate with you.
Build your best self and the career that matters to you.
If you liked this post, please subscribe to my Substack.