nipponDAZE | Levels of Competence

Levels of Competence

Mastery of a skill or a subject can be measured with five levels of competence.

1. Unconscious Incompetence

The lowest level of competence is unconscious incompetence. At this point, you don't know that there's anything to learn. You can't understand people's answers because you haven't begun to ask the questions. You have no motivation to learn because you don't know how ignorant you are.

2. Conscious Incompetence

The next level of competence hits you like a brick because you become suddenly aware that you know nothing and that there's so much to learn. So you begin to study.

3. Conscious Competence

Study brings you to the next level, the level of theoretical knowledge. You understand the concepts, but to apply them, you have to think about them. In a lot of subjects or skills, you might never move beyond this level.

4. Unconscious Competence

When you can do something without thinking about it, you've become unconsciously competent. Riding a bike, driving a car, touch typing, speaking English are all skills in which I'm unconsciously competent. At this level, theoretical knowledge is transformed into practical knowledge. Study might get you to Level 3, but only practice will get you to Level 4.

5. Conscious Unconscious Competence

The highest level of competence is the ability to do something without thinking about it, yet retain a level of awareness of how you do it. This level of competence enables you to teach the skill to someone else. Most people who are very good at something cannot explain it to someone less skilled. They are so unconsciously competent, they don't know how they do it. They just do it.

Language is a skill like dancing, playing tennis, or playing a musical instrument. Studying a language will get you only to a theoretical understanding. But for skills, it's not enough to understand the concepts, you have to practice.

Right now I understand how to conjugate Japanese verbs and adjectives, but I can only do it with a lot of thought. I'm still at the level of conscious competence. And I get confused and flustered easily. If I'm going to be ready for that big test on Monday, I need to practice, practice, practice.

Posted by M Sinclair Stevens
March 19, 2003

Comments

Great post -- good labels, and true descriptions.There's a very nice passage on concscious unconscious awareness towards the end of "The Dharma Bums" by Jack Kerouac where he and the Gary Snyder character leap from rock to rock on a climbing expedition. The feet seem to know where they need to go, leaving the mind free to enjoy the spectacle. "A little satori..." he says. Good luck on Monday, although you won't need help. Eat right, sleep well, and relax. You'll be fine.

Comment by: jh. Posted March 20, 2003 09:28 AM.

i think i'm having the same problem too...

Comment by: pikey. Posted March 20, 2003 10:09 PM.

I can't take credit for the labels...they were in vogue in the 1990s in technical training seminars. (After I returned from Japan I was a technical trainer and course developer for a small software company.)

However I have given a lot of thought over the years to the difference between knowledge and ability. I just hadn't connected it to another thread I had on the difference between studying and learning, until Monday after a particularly bad Japanese class. I though I knew this stuff, but I apparently had only the most tenuous grasp.

Oddly, most of my work has depended on my NOT becoming unconsciously competent, but with using and directing others to specific references. I didn't have to know the information; I just had to know where to find it.

Comment by: M. Posted March 20, 2003 10:42 PM.

The taxonomy was originally developed by William Howell in is 1982 text "The Empathic Communicator" to describe competence in communications.