How can you be so good at something and so bad at explaining it or helping others to do it? I’ve been working with some folks recently who fall into this category. All of them are brilliant, incredible thinkers and achievers. I hope to achieve the kind of mastery they have. Each of them, however, aren’t that good at explaining what they do. Ironically, they’ve become too good!
The four steps of mastery according to science
I’ve been spending time with Susan Ambrose, et. al.’s awesome book, How Learning Works and they quote studies showing the four steps of mastery. In order, they are:
1 – Unconscious Incompetence
This one is pretty clear to me. We are so unskilled that we don’t know how bad we are. The 12% of men and 3% of women who filled out this UK poll believing they could win a point from Serena Williams in a game of tennis demonstrate unconscious incompetence.
2 – Conscious Incompetence
At this stage, we’re aware of the nuances of whatever it is we’re trying to learn. We now know there is a long path to mastery. The 81% of humans who believe they couldn’t win a point off of Serena Williams in a game of tennis demonstrate conscious incompetence. Most of us know we aren’t that good at the game of tennis.
3 – Conscious Competence
Someone who is performing at a high level, but still new enough where they understand the thinking/reasons behind their actions.
4 – Unconscious Competence
Someone who’s been doing it for so long, the habits and patterns are ingrained. They aren’t even conscious of the reasons they’re doing what they’re doing. They are now reacting subconsciously to patterns they’ve seen over the years of plying their trade.
We see this a lot in athletes who can’t tell you why they chose to do the unexpected thing in the one instance of the game where it made a giant difference. The patterns they’ve seen over the years playing the game, watching tape, playing against that particular opposing coach or athlete, etc., led them to it. Those patterns became ingrained in their subconscious and their somatic-self acted without conscious thought.
Unconscious competence is a trap for business owners
Falling into unconscious competence is a trap for business owners. Many of us start our businesses because we’re very good at solving a problem. Word travels by mouth, we get some great referrals and eventually need a support team to help us deliver. As we build our team around us, we use them for support but, frustratingly, can’t train them. Instead, we apply a “painter’s studio” approach and have them shadow us until they start to pick it up. This is especially true for sales. I’ve talked with countless business owners (and I’ve been one myself), who have failed repeatedly to onboard salespeople who can make an impact.
At some point in our progression of mastery, we can no longer explain what we do. It is still easy for us to have the conversation with a customer. Our instincts take over. But, to try to get someone else up to speed is impossibly frustrating. Of course, this is assuming we take the time to slow down enough to try to bring someone up – which we don’t. However, even if we did, many of us couldn’t explain what it is we do let alone how we do it!
Just like the sports stars, we lose track of why we’re making the decisions we’re making. The years and years of the examples we’ve lived have migrated from our conscious to our subconscious.
Getting conscious again
I feel like unconsciousness is a theme in my writing this year. First, I brought studies to the table showing we’re unconscious for over 40% of our day and now I’m warning us that once we get good at something, we can no longer explain it to anyone.
Brains are tricky things, indeed! But I still hold out that they are here to help us. We just can’t get lazy about it.
Brains are complicated! But there is hope.
As my buddy, Dan Rogers says, we need to make the time to think about our thinking. In fact, at my new company, Sales Sidekick, we have processes to help business owners break down their thinking about the problems they solve. However, you don’t need fancy consultants for this.
In fact, Susan Ambrose and team recommend going down in the org chart, not up or out. Because they are writing for professors, they recommend finding a graduate student to help break down the components and patterns of a problem. Grad students have attained mastery (or are at least close) but are still new enough to the field that they haven’t internalized the patterns.
For us business owners, it’s the up and comers, who are excelling but still learning. The ones who you find yourself saying will “run the business someday.” Grabbing a conference room and having them help you break down what you do can be both humbling and enlightening!
I’ve personally been stuck in this rut of unconsciousness for years. If you, like me, find yourself frustrated that no one else gets it, congratulations! You are unconsciously competent! And, sorry for the work you’re going to have to go through to unpack all those learnings so your team can catch up!
Hey future John
Don’t get lazy. Keep thinking about your thinking!
Thanks to the AI geniuses at Dall-E for giving me access to their beta. All of the images used in this blog post are an AI’s idea of steppingstones. I felt they were particularly useful to illustrate my point as each of the paths are missing stones. Just like an unconsciously competent person’s instructions, those paths are very hard to follow.