The Four Stages of Competence

by Mark S. Fulton

I recently began taking classical guitar lessons. Since I spend the majority of my time taxing my left brain with analytical, rational functions (e.g. writing this column), I thought it would be a good idea to do something artistic to keep the other half of my brain from turning to mush. Belting out “Born to Be Wild” while driving down the interstate didn’t seem to be quite enough.

My interest in the guitar actually surfaced when I was 14. I had visions of taking a few lessons and then becoming the next Eric Clapton (and also having to beat girls off with a stick). When my guitar teacher joined the Navy Band three months later, I decided that additional lessons were superfluous. I was ready.

Sadly, my dream of joining a rock band quickly fizzled. Even though I knew all of the chords to “Proud Mary,” my inability to read music and follow the tempo of anything other than the simplest songs proved to be obstacles that doomed my music career. Up until the day I faced the music about my instrumental ineptitude, you could say that I was blissfully ignorant of how much I didn’t know—I was unconsciously incompetent.

Thirty-plus years later, I am fully committed to learning to play classical guitar. However, the discernment that accompanies advancing years has a downside. Rather than being blinded by pubescent naiveté, I now realize how far I am from mastering this wonderful instrument. You could say that I am consciously incompetent.

I know that I will have to practice long and hard to reach a level of even passing proficiency as a guitarist. But that’s okay. I am satisfied with my current level of playing and I am devoted to improving. My goal is to play a relatively difficult piece of music without errors—to become consciously competent.

Naturally, I would love to play the guitar like the late Andrés Segovia, the greatest guitarist who ever lived. Segovia awed audiences with his virtuosity well into his 80s. When I listen to a CD of his music, my mouth tends to hang open. He played with a effortless mastery that was both technically brilliant and artistically spectacular. Segovia’s fingers were like brushes in the hands of Michelangelo. He was unconsciously competent.

These four stages of competence characterize much of what we do in life and at work. Acknowledging and working through these four phases of personal and professional development will lead you to: search for areas for improvement, set goals, plan your strategies, identify resources, measure your progress and appreciate your accomplishments.

Once again, the typical learning curve for any endeavor—acquiring a new skill, accepting a new responsibility or attempting a new enterprise—follows this pattern:

• Unconscious incompetence
• Conscious incompetence
• Conscious competence
• Unconscioius competence

The dictionary defines competence as the state or quality of being adequately or well qualified; a range of skill, knowledge, or ability. Some synonyms for competence are: effectiveness, efficiency, capability and resourcefulness.

We all commence most undertakings as unconsciously incompetent; we don’t know how much we don’t know. If we’re smart, we’ll recognize our ignorance and set out to discover just how extensive it is. That search may lead us to explore resources that will give us insight into the depth of the task we have set for ourselves.

When I bought my first Segovia CD, I realized how much I didn’t know about classical guitar. An accurate appraisal of the breadth of our ignorance gives us a clear picture of the challenge that stretches out ahead of us. That insight should lead us to set specific goals for improvement, develop an action plan for reaching those goals and identify resources such as books, tapes and seminars that can aid in the effort.

Conscious competence is the next milestone. By making an effort to learn and grow, we can identify certain indicators that measure our progress toward mastery. Perhaps you’d like to become a polished public speaker. Once you’ve acknowledged your need to learn how to write and deliver a powerful speech, you can set out to develop those skills, perhaps by joining a local Toastmasters chapter. Your first successful speech will indicate that you have become competent as a speaker—and set you on the path for even greater competence.

At a dinner for U.S. winners of the Nobel Prize in 1962, President John F. Kennedy remarked: “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the same White House - with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” We all have the potential to excel at something—to achieve unconscious competence.

Perhaps you’d like to become an entrepreneur like Benjamin Franklin; an innovator like Thomas Edision; a leader like Mahatma Ghandi. Each of those individuals and others who reached the stage of exemplary competence did so by beginning at the level of unconscious incompetence. They simply refused to stay there.

The first time I played a simple version of Malagueña without an error was a great thrill. Watch out Andrés Segovia!

Copyright 2001 © Mark S. Fulton