How unconsciously competent are you?

As we progress through our careers as wealth advisors, we hit targets, hire team members, add capabilities, learn concepts, and get better through sheer experience. While this is great, growth has been random and, for the most part, out of your control. At best, growth has been reactionary, adding a capability or resource when essential. As a point of reference, think about something you are undoubtedly excellent at.  Then, remember when you thought that skill was undaunting and would have had difficulty mastering.

Over the last few months, I’ve been reviewing concepts and theories that apply to our wealth industry to pass them on to clients and those interested in improving how they serve clients and become better employers and business owners.  I rediscovered “The Four Stages of Competence,” credited to Gordon Training International by its employee Noel Burch in the 1970s. Have a look at a summary of the four stages:

Four stages of competency

Unconscious incompetence (Ignorance)

The individual does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the gap. They may deny the usefulness of the skill. The individual must recognize their incompetence and the value of the new skill before moving on to the next stage. The length of time an individual spends in this stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to learn. This is, to me, the most challenging part of becoming unconsciously competent in a skill.

Conscious incompetence (Awareness)

Though the individual does not understand or know how to do something, they recognize the gap and the value of the new skill in addressing it. Taking a course, informing your team that you’re intentionally trying to improve, and making mistakes can be integral to the learning process at this stage.

Conscious competence (Learning)

The individual understands and has the knowledge to improve and/or knows how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration and focus. The individual may have developed a step-by-step process to accomplishing mastery, but there is a heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill.

Unconscious competence (Mastery)

The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become "second nature" and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task. Depending on how and when it was learned, the individual may be able to teach it to others.

Knowing or recalling this model can be effective for your business plans for 2025. Rather than experiencing random growth, no more! Be intentional about your growth or business model. This begins with examining your business processes, leadership skills, communication style, team’s capabilities, and technology, to name a few, and asking a few questions:

1. In the context of the four stages, let’s use leadership skills as a gap as an example. So, you look up an Executive course on leadership at a local university and run yourself through the curriculum. You may find that most of the topics covered by the course are not familiar to you.  Quickly, you see gaps or areas for improvement.  This will help you be less unconsciously incompetent.  This is a step out of ignorance towards awareness.
2. In keeping with the Leadership theme, you may sign up for a course in Leadership at the local university to take a further step from awareness to the learning stage. Using what you’ve learned in the course, you can now apply it in your daily business. As you practice, you become more consciously competent.
3. Now that you have the essential leadership nuggets and are applying them, you can ask, “Where can I do better?” more objectively and consciously. Maybe you can start passing your new skills on to your team so you can create a culture of leadership throughout your team. Now, you’re onto becoming unconsciously competent.

In trying this model and applying it to my business and small team, I found that as I learned new skills, I experienced different emotions at different stages of the learning process.

In the beginning, for example, sometimes, I didn’t realize how much I needed to learn. In hindsight, I had some significant gaps! Sometimes, when I discovered what I didn't know about a subject, I was discouraged and thought I might give up and continue like I had for 25 years. Once I had a few wins, I tackled the significant gaps.  After a few months of working on this model, I can say that I have mastered a few new skills, and I realize that a number may take years.

So, we must recognize how we feel at each learning stage. This can help us "stay the course" and manage the ups and downs as we progress through the four stages.

The more you tackle skill gaps in your business management, the more conscious you’ll be about running operations, growing, leading, and serving.

Over the next few weeks, ask a colleague or two where you have blind spots.  Ask your team! Ask family members or your coach. Then, assess each skill/gap using the above framework. If you want to discuss the four stages of competency, call Jeff Thorsteinson for a free, no-obligation discussion.  You never know where your next best idea will come from.

Jeff Thorsteinson is a partner in Advisor Practice Management, an organization that helps financial advisors build world-class practices through innovative concepts, tools, and systems. Jeff works with individual advisors, investment dealers, insurance firms, and fund companies. For more information about Advisor Practice Management, contact [email protected] or 1-800-223-9332, or visit the website at www.advisorpracticemanagement.com.