4 Ways to End Unconscious Incompetence and Manage Effectively

27.07.2012
Have you ever given a team member an assignment and told him or her to come see you if they needed any help with it... then been surprised a few days or weeks later, when they were in trouble but hadn't come to you for that help?

If so--which happens far too often to many of us--you and your staff may be suffering from a condition known as 'Unconscious Incompetence'--theirs and yours.

Whether it's managing a small project, designing a UI or creating use cases, all too often we send team members off to do a job and then don't find out they need help until it's too late to avoid delays.

There is a simple explanation for this frequently occurring situation. Once we understand it, it's pretty simple to avoid the situation and its painful and costly consequences. So here is a look at what causes this problem and four simple ways to put an end to it.

In the 1970s, a psychologist named Noel Burch, working at Gordon Training International, defined a behavioral model of learning that identified four stages that we go through when learning a new skill.

The names of the four stages create a bit of a tongue twister, but they form a pretty simple model that is not hard to understand. The good news is that there are simple differences in how managers and leaders can effectively support their team members, based upon which of the four learning stages they are in for any skill set.