Learning Takes Time

By Rockie Blunt

Think back to the last time you learned a new skill. Did you get it right away, or did you struggle, only gradually coming to understand what you were doing? And how long did it take before you felt totally comfortable doing it? Chances are, it didn’t happen overnight.

It’s exciting and very gratifying to learn new skills, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Learning can be a slow process in which we travel from discovering what has to be learned, to taking some first tentative steps, to feeling more confident as we get more practice, to finally mastering the task so thoroughly that we can do it "with our eyes closed."

There’s actually a term to describe this process—the "learning stages model"—and it consists of four stages:

1. The unconscious incompetent stage. First of all, "incompetent" does not mean stupid; it means unskilled, or not able to do something. In this first stage, in fact, you are not even aware (that is, unconscious) of what you don’t know about the task. Think of learning to drive a car. Before you start taking lessons, you’re not even aware of what you don’t know about driving.

2. The conscious incompetent stage. When you do get behind the wheel, you become acutely aware of how much you don’t know. In fact, all the new things can overwhelm you, or at least make you go very slowly as you try to figure them out. In this stage you realize how unskilled you are.

3. As you gain more experience driving, you eventually enter the conscious competent stage. You know how to drive, but you still have to practice because there is still so much to learn. You are concentrating on driving as you drive. The good news is that in this stage you begin to feel more comfortable.

4. Finally, as a result of investing a considerable amount of time and effort on the skill, you eventually reach the final stage: you become an unconscious competent. You have driven so often that you can do it without concentrating on it. The skill has become habitual, or second nature to you, and you are on "automatic pilot."

How does the "learning stages model" relate to you on the job? First, don’t feel bad if it takes you a while to perform a new skill effortlessly. And second, keep the model in mind the next time you teach something to someone. Be patient. Build in time for the person to try the task, make mistakes and try again. Because you have already mastered that skill—and are therefore a unconscious competent at it—you are able to do it quickly. But if it is the first time for your employee, who may be an unconscious incompetent or a conscious incompetent at the time of your training, it will take longer. Let them travel through the four stages.