Let’s Talk About The Four Stages of Competency.

Unique Perspectives: Let’s Talk About The Four Stages of Competency.

By Kim Stevens

Let me start by saying this: The four stages of competency are cool. Understanding them is in and of itself a kind of empowering knowledge because it gives me the confidence to know I can get to the other side of whatever skill it is I need to learn. Here’s how it works:

• Stage 1: Unconscious incompetence. There are times when I just don’t know what I don’t know. And there’s a distinction between this initial stage and the idea that I know I don’t know. For instance, I know I don’t know how to fly a plane, but I don’t know I’ve been holding the pickleball racket wrong since I started playing. Or, I don’t know that when I thought I was being nice to people, I was actually enabling them by doing for them what they were fully capable of doing for themselves. 

  
  

• Stage 2: Conscious incompetence. At this stage, I start to realize I don’t know something and begin to understand the importance of learning this new skill. I still can’t do it, but I am consciously aware of the knowledge gap or skill I need to acquire. 

  
  

• Stage 3: Conscious competence. I’m becoming more capable but things are (as I like to say) “chunky.” There’s a lot of practice, learning and hard work required before the new skill can flow easily or naturally. 

  
  

• Stage 4: Unconscious competence. At this fourth and final stage, I don’t even have to think about the skill anymore. It is now a habit, a routine, a part of me like any piece of innate knowledge. It’s Michael Jordan taking a shot without thinking about the specific way to move his wrist or position his feet. It’s unconsciously letting go of my previous tendency to enable those around me. 

The four stages of competency serve as a beautiful reminder that there will always be opportunities to grow. I will forever find myself back at being unconsciously incompetent, unaware of what I don’t know. With the four stages of competency, I can always leave room for limitless change, confident in the knowledge that there’s a process for me to become a natural at anything.