Accidentally Incompetent: Cycling Around the Four Stages of Competence
I've recently been reading about the four stages of competence, reflecting on how you move between one and the other, and thinking about how this process is not linear at all, but rather a circular path. To celebrate my new (off-brand) Apple pencil, I started doodling.
There's some ambiguity over the invention of the four stages, but they appear to have popped up in the 1960s in a book called "Management of Training Programs". There are similarities with the Johari Window (known unknowns etc) but these four stages are focused specifically on ability, not knowledge.
As mentioned before, this is a circular path, not a one-directional arrow. We’d like to think that we just get better and better with experience, like a fine wine ageing in its cask but, when it comes to competency, it's entirely possible to move between the stages in two directions.
Moving Positively Clockwise
From Unconscious Incompetence to Conscious Incompetence:
This involves diagnosing the status quo, evaluating expectations and doing some form of gap analysis to work out what someone doesn’t know. By definition, it’s incredibly difficult to self-identify something that’s unconscious, so this requires leadership and peer input. This can be followed by having an open conversation and building a coaching plan to ensure that the recipient knows where they’re headed, and how they’re going to get there.
From Conscious Incompetence to Conscious Competence:
Once the areas of development have been agreed upon and identified, the coaching continues, alongside focused training. This can either be extrinsic, through top-down initiatives, or intrinsic, through self-guided learning and exploration. According to learning theory, intrinsically motivated learning has a better chance of sticking, but you do need to point them in the right direction and check in to make sure that they’re not going off-track.
From Conscious Competence to Unconscious Competence:
Once you have the fundamental skills, it’s a case of getting the reps in. It’s about taking the learnings so far and using them again and again. You’re building muscle memory and getting so good at the things that you start being able to do them without even thinking about them anymore. This reminds me of the concept of Shuhari, a concept from Japanese martial arts, where you master a system so completely that you don’t need the system anymore.
Moving Negatively Anti-Clockwise
From Conscious Competence to Conscious Incompetence:
Basically, if you don't use it, you lose it. You developed some core competencies through thoughtful training, but you never got to apply them in real life. The learnings remained theoretical. Hypothetical. You didn’t get the reps in and, eventually, you forget most of what you learned. See also: Every mandatory training course you ever went on (I remember going on a SQL training course once, getting a fancy certificate that I was very proud of, and then having to learn SQL again 2 years later because I never got a chance to use it!)
From Unconscious Competence to Unconscious Incompetence:
You are the Chosen One! You mastered the game so utterly that everything is effortless and you are a veritable font of knowledge and someone who can probably start helping others on their own clockwise journey. But, this is an infinite game and it can’t be won. If you don’t pay attention, the game might change in ways that you aren’t well-equipped to handle. Therefore, you end up accidentally and unconsciously incompetent again.
Why is this important?
Well, because it’s important (and more fun) to be good at your job. These days it seems that there’s always something new to learn. Sometimes, it’s even worth learning it. But, in any case, as product managers and change makers in fast-moving organisations, we’re at the forefront of having to find out new things and never rest on our laurels. So, how to turn this into action?
Whatever your level, be honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses
When I was younger, I thought I was incredible (and invincible). To be sure, I was really good at some things, but I sometimes think back on conversations I had with my boss at the beginning of my career and cringe. There was so much I didn’t know how to do. It all worked out well in the end (cue eye twitch) but I often wonder what I could have learned sooner if I’d been more self-reflective. As a leader, I try to maintain humility at all times, and actively seek out my weaknesses.
There’s no one way to do this, but having open and honest conversations with your peers and more senior colleagues is a great start. You can also take some focus time out from time to time and just have some reflection time. Mind mapping, or even just doodling, can be an incredible way to just get your thoughts down.
If you’re a people manager, give constant feedback and support
Again, it’s not fair to expect people to know what they don’t know, so make sure you give constant feedback to anyone you manage. Of course, there’s a secondary problem here, in that many managers have themselves been undertrained and may be unable to do this effectively. That is yet another thing to reflect on, and try to improve. It’s not fair to expect people to improve if you don’t let them know what to improve.
Often, managers will leave feedback until the annual performance review (leading to potential recency bias), or when something has gone horribly wrong (so it’s always about firefighting and blame). Don’t be that kind of leader; weekly 1:1s are a key tool in any manager’s toolbox, and make sure you give positive as well as negative feedback throughout the year.
If you’re a company leader, ensure a psychologically safe workplace
People are very unlikely to admit what they don’t know how to do or even want to dig into what other people don’t know how to do if they feel that they’re going to get dragged over the coals for doing so. If you promote a culture of perceived invincibility, where any weakness is almost a disciplinary offence, don’t be surprised if you end up with a bunch of people just defending what they have rather than striving for something better.
Changing a culture can be hard, but it’s part of your job. There are plenty of frameworks out there, but you might start by assessing where your culture is today, as well as where you want it to be, ideally in collaboration with all of the teams rather than imposing top-down. You can then start planning to move in that direction. Leaders need to ensure that they exemplify psychologically safe behaviours like admitting their own mistakes so that the rest of the company can feel safe doing so.
Speed (K)Networking Event
I have run a handful of London pub-based social events over the last few months, to try to help people build relationships, make friends and benefit from engineered serendipity. Not everyone likes pubs though, and some people dare not to live in London. So, I’m trying Zoom-based speed networking! Sign up here and let’s see if it’s fun!
ICYMI
I’ve not put a newsletter out in a few weeks. This is partly due to illness (which required short-term hospitalisation!), but also has a lot to do with being pretty busy, and also a sneaking suspicion that I’m contributing to the difficulty of keeping on top of the 150,000 pieces of content that get published every day. That said, here’s even more content!
A few weeks back, I did a special live podcast recording (with an audience!) with Saagar Bains. Saagar is the former Head of Product for The Body Coach, a UK-based fitness app started by celebrity fitness guru Joe Wicks. We spoke all about the pros and cons of being Head of Product when one of the founders is the product. Check the episode out here: How to Build Products When the Founder IS the Product
I also had the pleasure of a returning guest, the amazing Eisha Armstrong, author of “Productize” and her new book “Fearless”. In “Productize”, she wrote about the hard skills needed to transform from a service mindset to a product mindset. In “Fearless”, she talks about the soft skills and company culture required to do the same. We spoke all about this and more. Check the episode out here: Fearlessly Defeating the Four Horsemen of a Product-Friendly Culture
Arnold Schwarzenegger is a fascinating and inspirational man who has had incredible success in 3 separate careers. I recently picked up his book, “Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life”, in which he sets out his philosophy on how to get ahead. I tweeted Arnold about his book, and got a grateful retweet but, as of yet, he (or, more likely, his publicist) hasn’t yet bitten on my offer of a podcast interview! The book is well worth a read, in any case.
And, in honour of Arnie, that is that. Thanks for reading, hope it was interesting, and I’ll Be Back (soon)!
Great reading! And I hope you feel much better now.