Podcast - Episode 0259 - Using The Stephen Covey Competence Model For Growth

In this podcast you’ll find:

• Sometimes, we assume we are much further along than we are.
• Or we put down others from the erroneous belief that we are more competent than they are.
• Sometimes we are so incompetent we don’t know how incompetent we are.
• Stephen Covey’s Competency Model
• Modesty is the ability not to overvalue or undervalue your abilities.
• The more complicated something is, the more likely we will start in Unconscious Incompetence.
• We don’t have enough familiarity with the thing to understand how truly complicated it is.
• We stay here even after we have consumed a large amount of theory.
• There is a vast difference between theory and experience.
• Podcast: DIKW – Data, Info, Knowledge, Wisdom
• Data and Info are theoretical
• Knowledge and Wisdom are experiential.
• We always start with theoretical knowledge because we begin with learning.
• It is easy when we are taking in theoretical info to project ourselves further along in the competency model than we are.
• We can convince ourselves we have knowledge and wisdom even though we have minimal real-world experience.
• Real World performance is very different from theoretical data
• Pieces of info/experience can be enough to make you feel confident, but it isn’t enough to translate to real competence.
• The more complicated the skill, the less transferable the skills.
• After many years we become a very competent driver, but you add a cell phone, and you go back to Unconscious Incompetence
• We all start with unconscious incompetence
• How does one get out of Unconscious Incompetence?
• First of all, you can’t skip steps.
• If you want to get to unconscious competence, you have to go through all the other quadrants.
• There is a moment of truth where you get thrown into the deep end, and you’re forced to perform
• And it becomes clear what you know and don’t know
• A lot of people assume leadership when they have no idea what is involved.
• The competency model gets us to where we want to be – and reminds us to be modest
• “Be careful what you wish for, you may get it.”
• Unconscious = thoughtless
• The right side of the quadrant puts you in a thoughtful place
• Conscious Incompetence is a good place to be
• It’s the first position of true learning
• Learning doesn’t happen in Unconscious Incompetence
• Unconscious Incompetence is the more presumptive and assumptive position of all 4 quadrants
• You are projecting your ideations and how you think things work.
• If things don’t pan out the way you think they should
• Victimhood lives in unconscious incompetence
• If you take failures personally, you are stuck in the unconscious incompetent quadrant
• If you are willing to admit you have some things you need to learn, you can move to conscious incompetence.
• Move into a student role
• We all go thru this cycle as we mature from young adults to adults.
• We overvalue what ready-made skills we bring with us.
• Insecurity doesn’t live in Unconscious Incompetence because you don’t know enough to be insecure
• Lots of Darwin Awards live there.
• Stupid decisions that put you or someone else in jeopardy live there.
• Conscious Incompetence feels the worse of all the quadrants.
• Conscious Incompetence = self-doubt, insecurity, ego hits, way out of comfort zones, etc.
• Conscious Incompetence is crucial but avoided by people who don’t want to feel insecure.
• Ego work is helpful here
• It tears down the resistances you have to acknowledge your incompetence
• Conscious competence lets go of insecurity and self-doubt, but you still have to apply thought to it.
• There’s a boost of self-esteem in conscious competence which feels good after leaving Conscious incompetence
• The best place to be a teacher
• The only way to build skill is by not doing the same thing over and over
• You have to get out of your comfort zone
• Too much teaching in conscious incompetence can keep you stuck there
• We spend the most time on Conscious Incompetence
• We tend to feel deficient when we don’t have skill around something
• We conflate lack of talent and competence with a power dynamic
• “I feel like I don’t know what is going on here. I feel incompetent because people have power over me and are intentionally making me feel incompetent.”
• Possible strategies to avoid competence:
• Abandon ship, topple the power structure, or move the goal post.
• “To be competent isn’t X it is actually Y.”
• Change the definition of what competent looks like.
• You can’t topple the power structure unless you are competent enough to fill it.
• Make a modest assessment of whether or not you are ready to fill the role you think you want.
• When infrastructure is corrupt, it is better than no infrastructure.
• Jordan Peterson: “If you want to change the world, go clean your room.”
• Put your own house in order, build competency, then make the change.
• Unconscious competence is a beautiful place to be
• Knowing, muscle memory, gut instinct. Everything becomes easier.
• It is hard to explain to others how to follow your path though.
• Marlon Brando may have the been the greatest actor of all time, but he was probably the worst acting teacher.
• How do you know you are unconsciously competent and not unconscious incompetent because they are both unconscious?
• Unconscious incompetence has the hubris to believe it is unconsciously competent.
• Ask yourself: Do I remember a time where I went through the phases of incompetence to competence?
• If you can map out the cycles, transitions, and failures of your journey you are moving up the competency model.
• The wind in the sails boost of self-confidence = competence
• If you don’t have a map like that in your head and you think you’ve got this, but you’ve never been truly tested, you are still at unconscious incompetence.
• Bravery is needed to move out of Unconscious Incompetence
• Surrender to the work you have to do to become consciously competent
• Let go of the data and trust your gut to move to conscious competence
• Honor those who are much older and more experienced than you. They have gained competence in areas you are still exploring.
• Book burning is the ultimate sign of unconscious incompetence – you don’t want to know what you don’t know.