Photo by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash
Summer months are usually quiet and slow. Why not use them for some education?
But before you take another LinkedIn course or try to find a mentor. Think about how you learn. Why do you want to develop new skills?
People are motivated to learn if they see some clear benefit for their career or private lives. When there is a benefit (e.g., less manual work, better negotiation skills, a certificate), then you are interested in the idea.
Check this simple four-stage learning process described by Noël Burch:
First, you like the idea of learning a new skill. It could be helpful for your career and look good on your CV. OK, go for it. At this point, you don’t know what you don’t know - you are in the bliss of unconscious incompetence.
Next, you explore the topic, attempt, fail, and open the "magic window". Now you know what you don’t know. Panic! It’s not going to be as easy as it looks on paper.
By breaking it into steps and pieces, you believe you can learn it. That gives you the courage to continue.
You practice, fail, practice again, and finally, figure it out. Still, you are only consciously competent. You know what you know. But you don't have confidence in creating consistently successful results.
Time passes, you master details, and you don't even think about how you do it. You are completely in your comfort zone. Plus, you can teach others since you are a pro!
Voila!
When you know at which stage of learning you are, you know what the next steps are going to be.
Exploring, digging deeper, first trials, failures, experimenting, performing, and eventually training others.
Breaking learning into these four stages helps you be organized. Set realistic expectations for yourself and others.
Tip: Use it for evaluating your team and setting goals for the second half of the year.
Where are you now?
1. Unconscious Incompetent (happy phase, I don’t know what I don’t know)
2. Conscious Incompetent (panic phase, I know what I don’t know)
3. Conscious Competent (OK phase, I know I can do it but don’t trust myself)
4. Unconscious Competent (comfort phase, I can teach others)
If you can:
spare 17 min and listen to a brilliant talk by Barbara Oakley: Learning how to learn
read 3 min: Training Concept You Need to Know: The Magic Window