Home Leadership Turn Archives Me RampUp Solutions  
 

  • Categories

  • Archives
 

The four-level process of change

by Miki Saxon

To change any part of your MAP you need to progress through each of the four levels of competence:

  1. unconscious incompetence,
  2. conscious incompetence,
  3. conscious competence, and
  4. unconscious competence.

Along with the tenacity to follow through, you need the right catalyst: awareness, and how to use it correctly.

The Catalyst

There are many kinds of awareness; in this instance, awareness refers to the cultivated ability to see one’s own actions objectively. “Objectively” means seeing our actions unfiltered by “reasons,” (the mental explanations and rationalizations of which we may or may not be aware). In other words, seeing ourselves in third person context instead of first. Objective awareness is not a right brain/left brain function, (I’ve met too many over-the-edge left-brainers who have absolutely no objective view of themselves, their thoughts or their actions), it is an attitude that can be developed with effort.

You can start cultivating awareness at any point in your life and develop it to whatever level you want. One way to do this is to use the two-fold approach of reviewing something you did as if it were done by someone else and then combining your analysis with feedback from others involved. Include not only verbal feedback (if you’re the boss they may say what they think you want to hear), but how people responded and what actually happened. Additionally, feedback from trusted sources who will “tell it like it is” can be of great use.

Objective awareness is necessary or you’ll never even get to the first level; moreover, it is objective awareness that carries you through the next two levels, although it plays no part in the fourth. Truly competent people have become unaware of their competency as it has become automatic.

The Levels

The four levels are fairly self descriptive, but it’s the quality of the catalyst that keeps things from getting lost or minimized in the translation.

  1. Unconscious incompetence: Doing something automatically with no idea that we do it poorly.
  2. Conscious incompetence: Recognizing that we do it poorly, identifying why and setting out to change that.
  3. Conscious competence: Learning to do it correctly and, through constant mental vigilance, making it a habit to do it correctly.
  4. Unconscious competence: Doing it well without any conscious thought.

The Process

Once you start developing your objective awareness, you’ll start noticing your incompetencies (we all have them). Choose one to start working on. Your first effort should fit these criteria.

  • It should matter to you;
  • be of a manageable size with defined parameters, e.g., “improve communications with the people I manage” as opposed to “be a better manager”; and
  • have measurable results.

As you focus on your managerial communications you’ll probably notice at least some confusion, misunderstandings and the resulting mistakes; however, this time you’ll use objective awareness to determine what’s really going on. As you move to level two, objective awareness may show you that the misunderstanding was a result of unclear instructions or that the confusion stemmed from a shortage of needed information. By consciously monitoring what you say and soliciting feedback to make sure that what you meant to say is what you did say and that it was understood, you will slowly move to level three. The move from level three to level four is rarely noticed. It happens as specific objective awareness efforts become habit, i.e., automatic and are no longer thought about.

Which is why when you compliment a truly competent person on their skill you’ll usually get a blank look and a response something like, “Well, how else would you do it?”

10 Responses to “The four-level process of change”
  1. MAPping Company Success Says:

    […] For ways to combat it, try using the approaches in Building awareness to change your MAP and The four-level process of change. […]

  2. MAPping Company Success Says:

    […] Being hardwired merely means that we need to rewire our brains, starting with an awareness campaign, followed by the specific work needed to make changes in our MAP. […]

  3. MAPping Company Success Says:

    […] The four-level process of change […]

  4. MAPping Company Success Says:

    […] Jerry (not his real name) is a manager I worked with way back when I was first a headhunter. After hearing my Levels of Competency theory (May 4) Jerry decided to try it, I think mainly to prove that it was BS, and became a convert. As his awareness (May 9) increased, he told me that the biggest problem he was having was prioritizing what to work on out of the dozens of level one (incompetence) things he had found, and asked me how to proceed. […]

  5. MAPping Company Success Says:

    […] Then it’s time to change your actions, which means changing your […]

  6. What’s in a title? Says:

    […] like your own ‘nicktitle’ then it’s time to change your actions, which means changing your […]

  7. Pssst, want a leadership silver bullet? Says:

    […] the magic that turns the bullet from lead to silver is your ability to consciously choose to change your MAP through your own […]

  8. MAPping Company Success Says:

    […] the magic that turns the bullet from lead to silver is your ability to consciously choose to change your MAP through your own […]

  9. MAPping Company Success Says:

    […] Do it today, do it all the time; it may feel a bit awkward at first, but eventually it’ll become second nature. […]

  10. MAPping Company Success Says:

    […] Do it today, do it all the time and it will become second nature. […]

Leave a Reply

RSS2 Subscribe to
MAPping Company Success

Enter your Email
Powered by FeedBlitz
About Miki View Miki Saxon's profile on LinkedIn

Clarify your exec summary, website, etc.

Have a quick question or just want to chat? Feel free to write or call me at 360.335.8054

The 12 Ingredients of a Fillable Req

CheatSheet for InterviewERS

CheatSheet for InterviewEEs

Give your mind a rest. Here are 4 quick ways to get rid of kinks, break a logjam or juice your creativity!

Creative mousing

Bubblewrap!

Animal innovation

Brain teaser

The latest disaster is here at home; donate to the East Coast recovery efforts now!

Text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation or call 00.733.2767. $10 really really does make a difference and you'll never miss it.

And always donate what you can whenever you can

The following accept cash and in-kind donations: Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, Red Cross, World Food Program, Save the Children

*/ ?>

About Miki

About KG

Clarify your exec summary, website, marketing collateral, etc.

Have a question or just want to chat @ no cost? Feel free to write 

Download useful assistance now.

Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.

Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
while $10 a month has exponential power.
Always donate what you can whenever you can.

The following accept cash and in-kind donations:

Web site development: NTR Lab
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License.