Levels of Understanding Within the Learning Process by Brad Fregger

Levels of Understanding Within the Learning Process

This essay revisits the concept of Levels of Understanding within the Learning Process. The objective is to provide a more complete understanding of these levels and their role in the Learning Process so that the learning facilitator (teacher, leader, mentor, etc.) can apply this knowledge as they attempt to move people from incompetence to Mastery.

Many years ago, when I was beginning the Training & Development Department at Mervyn's Department Stores, I became aware of this concept; essentially it says that everyone goes through four basic levels of understanding whenever they learn a new skill, task, or activity. These levels are:

Unconsciously Incompetent (don't know they don't know how to accomplish the skill, task or perform the activity
Consciously Incompetent (know they don't know how to accomplish the skill, task or perform the activity)
Consciously Competent (know how but need to concentrate to perform the skill, task or activity)
Unconsciously Competent (know how to accomplish the skill, task or activity without thinking about it)

Let's take learning to drive a car as an example; we could explain the process in this way:

If you walked into a first grade class and said, "I have a problem. I have two cars here at school, and I need to get them both home. I can only drive one of the cars. Is there someone here who can drive my car home for me?" You would probably get a few volunteers. Those who volunteered would most likely be unconsciously incompetent; they don't know they don't know how to drive. Those that didn't raise their hands would probably be consciously incompetent; they know they don't know how to drive. A few years later in driver's training, you'd have a bunch of students who could drive, but had to concentrate on every step of the process to be sure they got it right; they are consciously competent. And, finally, there are those of us who get into the car after a day on the job and a half-hour later arrive home without any memory of the trip, let alone driving the car; we're unconsciously competent.

Recently I spent days trying to determine who originally came up with this concept, but I was unsuccessful. What I have discovered, as I have searched the WWW, is lots of confusion around this issue, as well as little understanding of its full significance. This paper is my attempt; to explain the levels of understanding in detail so those who find the concept valuable will be able to take full advantage of its potential.

First, here's a quick summary of how some others have interpreted this concept.

The Front Sight Firearms Training Institute, Aptos, CA, added a fifth level, starting out with intentionally incompetent. These are people who know they don't know and aren't about to change the situation. This is an interesting concept; however, I would group these people in the consciously incompetent group and define them as those who do not have the motivation to learn the skill, accomplish the task, or perform the activity.

Flemming Funch of the Transformational Processing Institute also uses five levels; however, he adds a level at the end, meta-consciously competent.

Funch's fifth level, meta-consciously competent, differs from unconsciously competent in that the individual is not only capable of doing a skill, task or activity without thinking about it; he is also fully aware, at all times, of what he is doing and why he is doing it. The advantage, according to Funch, is that the individual is now capable of expressing oneself within the activity freely, without barriers, and is also capable of passing this knowledge onto others. This interesting concept touches on a like concept of my own that I believe explains more completely what is going on.

Richard E. Pierce, The Real Secret of Psychological Reciprocity, does something very interesting; he moves consciously competent beyond unconsciously competent and states that it is a higher level of learning. This is because we are not only able to accomplish the task, but we also understand clearly why we do the task. In other words, Pierce's conscious competence is very similar to Funch's meta-conscious competence. However, this particular change cripples the original intent of the basic concept by removing the third step and is, therefore, unacceptable.

Pierce also makes what is a relatively common mistake: underestimating the importance of the first level to an understanding to the entire process,

"They interact poorly with the activity and don't have a clue as to what's going on or why and don't even care."

The impact of the first level, unconscious incompetence, on our companies, communities, and society, is way beyond this simple explanation.

Finally, John Gookin, Defining and Developing Judgment, changes the fourth level to subconsciously competent. I like this change and believe that is an improvement over unconsciously competent. Gookin realized that while the first level was essentially an unconscious one, the fourth level was not an unconscious one, but rather a level of understanding controlled by the subconscious. For the balance of this paper, we will call the fourth level subconscious competence.

Now let's look at each of these levels of understanding, as I have observed and experienced them operating:

Unconsciously Incompetent

This is the first level and is concerned with the individual who is unaware they do not know the skill, how to accomplish the task, or perform the activity. While there may be times when a person is not aware that the skill, task, or activity even exists, that is of no concern for us here. If a person is not even aware of the existence of a skill, task, or activity, they have not yet begun the learning process; therefore they have not yet entered into the first level of understanding.

What is significant about level one is that the individual is well aware of the skill, task, or activity, but is NOT aware they are not capable of accomplishing it. In the driving example, the students who raised their hand knew full well what needed to be done, "drive my car home for me," but were not aware that they didn't know how to drive. It is critical the learning facilitator understands that the individual they are dealing with, doesn't know that they don't know. Handling this situation requires a different approach, than the individual who knows they don't know. In fact, before any training can take place, the individual must be moved to level two.

Level one individuals can be found in every profession and at every level within the profession. The world is full of people who don't know they don't know and, therefore, attempt blindly to forge ahead, often leaving disaster in their wake: counselors who don't know how to counsel, managers who don't know how to manage, executives who don't know how to lead, teachers who don't know how to teach, and on and on. The worst case scenario is that group of individuals who not only don't know they don't know, but are convinced that they know better than anyone else. This is the state of arrogant ignorance, and I pity anyone who has to deal with an individual suffering from this dramatic misconception of themselves and their capabilities.

The sad reality is there is nothing that can be done with a person in this condition; it's much like the alcoholic, who cannot be helped until they have acknowledged their addiction.

Consciously Incompetent

This level is a completely natural one on the way to Mastery. Most of the time when we set ourselves the goal of learning something new, we are well aware of the situation and only need to be convinced that it is a temporary level that we will ultimately move through. Of course, the time, energy, and commitment necessary to move through this level to the next depends on the difficulty of the task or activity; learning to ride a bicycle will most often prove to be much easier than learning to figure skate like an Olympic champion.

Consciously Competent

This level is much more critical than is normally understood. When one goes through this level properly, they come out the other end with good knowledge and understanding of the process and what's needed for the activity or task to be accomplished successfully. In a sense Pierce was right; this level is essential to a clear understanding of the task. Furthermore a clear understanding of the task and why it is necessary, is critical before one can pass this information onto others; before one can gain Mastery.

Subconsciously Competent

The original authors chose this as the final level of understanding within the learning process. I agree that this is the level that must be reached before an individual can really be considered to have become truly competent in the performance of a specific task or activity. However, achieving subconscious competence doesn't necessarily mean that the individual has achieved Mastery of the skill, task, or activity.

Mastery, involves more than just being able to perform the skill, task, or activity subconsciously and without observable effort. Mastery also involves, as both Funch and Pierce have hinted at, a deep understanding of the process itself, as well as its importance. With this knowledge the individual becomes much more flexible in their approach, and gains the ability to pass their skills and knowledge, the specific behaviors that make success possible, onto others.

It may seem that Mastery would be a natural result of reaching the fourth level. After all, didn't I just say that one of the major goals of level three was to gain just this understanding of the process, and its importance?

I did. However, it may not be necessary to go through level three in order to reach level four. In fact, some of the most important activities we are involved in on a day-to-day basis, activities in which we are subconsciously competent, did not involve our passing through the third level in order to reach the fourth. The most obvious example is communication. Do you remember a time that you couldn't talk, couldn't communicate with those around you? In this instance, you went directly from unconsciously incompetent to subconsciously competent. And, while some may believe they have attained Mastery in the skill of communication, listening to a true master will quickly show otherwise, as will an honest appraisal of the many times they may have "communicated" a message very different from the one intended.

There is no chance of attaining Mastery if one has not passed through level three, without conscious competence one cannot gain a deep understanding of the process, nor is one able to pass this information onto others. This is critical learning: one must go through level three in order to attain Mastery, therefore if they have skipped level three on their way to becoming subconsciously competent, they must return to that level and gain conscious competence.

It is interesting that people who have attained subconscious competence without going through level three, often have a fear that understanding what it is they are is doing, will somehow get in the way, make it difficult to continue being successful … there's a kind of, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude. A way must be found to convince these people that, in the long run, they, and those they mentor, will be much better off if they understand fully what it is they are doing that is working so well for them.

As a corporate trainer, one of my most important goals was to take those subconsciously competent individuals, who had attained level four without going through level three, back to level three. In other words, it was necessary for me to help these individuals gain conscious competence so that they could use their subconscious competency to attain Mastery. To the individual's themselves, this process doesn't seem to be learning as much as affirmation, the experience more of an "Aha" type than a new learning.

In my workshops I explain to the participants that they can expect two types of experiences during the time we will be together; first, they can expect to learn some new things they will be able to apply immediately; second, and even more important, they will be affirmed in knowledge they somehow knew but hadn't quite been able to wrap their arms around … they will experience the "Aha" experience. Discovering a deep understanding about an activity or task that you were already at the subconscious competence level with is an extremely affirming experience, one well beyond learning something brand new.