What is the competence hierarchy?

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Accepted Answer

The competence hierarchy attempts to explain the stages we go through as we learn new skills. At the bottom of a triangle, when you first set out to learn a new skill, you have an "Unconscious Incompetence." At the top of the triangle, once you have learned the skills, you have "Unconscious Competence."

A manager, educator, or even learner needs to understand how competence develops when learning new skills.

During the first stage of learning something new, we know nothing. We know so little that we don't even understand how little we know, which is why this stage is called "Unconscious Incompetence." It's a state of ignorance.

This is similar to the experience of first learning how to drive. Sure, it seems easy enough but when you sit behind the wheel for the first time you may realize how much you still have to learn. The learner in this stage needs patience and simple explanations in plain, straightforward language.

The next stage is "Conscious Incompetence." Here, we realize just how much we do not know. This is the infamous "knowing just enough to be dangerous" stage - we've gotten our hands dirty and we have a loose grasp of the basics, but we're just not good at it yet. We know enough about how it's supposed to work to know that we're not doing it right.

The next stage is "Conscious Competence." Learners in this stage have mastered the basics and can execute higher-level exercises with time, effort, and occasionally a little help.

If you were learning to drive, at this point you would have passed the exam and received your license! You feel comfortable on the road, but driving still takes a fair amount of concentration and effort.

The final stage of competence is called "Unconscious Competence." In this stage, we've learned a task so well that it's become completely natural. The longer we practice this skill, the more automatic it becomes. Yet usually, at this point, we'll be ready to seek out something new to challenge ourselves and the process will begin again.

Returning to the driving analogy, at this point driving has become second nature. You don't have to think about signaling before changing lanes, you just do so automatically. Changing the music or holding a conversation while you drive is no longer challenging. You feel like you make your daily commute on autopilot most of the time.