How to use the 4 stages of competence tool to reduce Imposter Syndrome and perfectionism
You may have heard of this tool but may not be aware of it’s true power! It’s a great tool to refer to as a guide in stressful or overwhelming situations, or where you can feel Imposter Syndrome or perfectionism starting to define your behaviour.
Imposter Syndrome and perfectionism often go together with perfectionism leaving space for Imposter Syndrome to take root. Imposter Syndrome lives in from the gap we create between our perception of what we should be achieving and what we believe others expect from us. If you have perfectionist tendencies, they will lead you to raise (unnecessarily) these imagined expectations. The high standards we expect for ourselves very rarely match what others need from us. In the book ‘The Imposter Cure’ by Dr Jessamy Hibberd she challenges us to decrease our perfectionist standards from 100% to 80%, not an easy task!
How does this link to the 4 stages of competence model? Well, it’s a well-known tool used in education and business originally to measure teaching levels. If you wanted more information this is good site to check out. The model is simple to use and easy to plot our thinking and feelings on to which in turn can create a tangible way to remind yourself to lower your standards!
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Let’s breakdown the quadrants together and learn how to use each one.
Unconsciously Incompetent
When you are unconsciously incompetent you don’t know, you typically have zero idea that you aren’t doing what you need to be doing, you are totally oblivious. If you think hard you’ll probably be able to remember a situation where you were doing something believing it was the right choice and then suddenly and shockingly found out it was all wrong.
A good example of this is toddlers and their own personal safety. They have no clue, no idea just how many times they avoid a near death situation on the daily. Their intuition isn’t working yet, they have yet to generate the experience that starts to give them the clues that they aren’t safe.
Action - Think about examples where you’ve experienced a situation like this, maybe a new job or first time trying something so you can relive how that feels and understand just how far away you are from this. If you know you aren’t doing something the right or best way then you aren’t unconsciously incompetent!
Consciously Incompetent
This is the worst quadrant, you are aware you don’t know what you are doing. It’s stressful, frustrating, and often embarrassing, where you spend all of your time imagining that everyone else can see that you are struggling and out of your depth. Imposter Syndrome is ripe here because it exploits the gap between what you believe you should be able to do and your perception of what others think you should be able to do.
How do you move forward? It’s easy to use overworking or avoidance to cope however it’s important to remember that if you are new to something then this stage is to be expected! No one is born an expert of everything, and everyone must go through this uncomfortable stage whilst learning.
Action – It’s about learning to be comfortable with the discomfort. Continuing to learn WILL take you forward, and you will start to find it easier, it’s a matter of time.
Challenge yourself by asking if this is this something you need to learn? Can others help?
Ask, try to find out the best way to learn more, what is the easiest way of you moving forward, however be careful to retain life balance.
Delegate, if you are working in a team, who has this strength already? Is this part of your role that you need?
Consciously Competent
In this zone you are making good decisions based on great knowledge and the right analysis. Choices feel easy and simple to make, your confidence is flying high. At work this feeling might appear after you have been in your role for several months or years.
Action
Ask yourself do you need to move further forward to the next quadrant or is this state enough?
Are you the right person to have this knowledge level or could you train other people and hand over?
Unconsciously Competent
In this zone it’s easy to make decisions quickly because you understand all the context, your analysis of situations is instinctive and smooth. You give the appearance of being at the top of your game.
Action
Similarly, to the previous quadrant maybe it’s necessary to question if you are the right person to have this knowledge, could it be shared?
Also remember, don’t use this standard as a comparison with other more immature skills.
The interesting thing about this tool is that it moves! If a new element is added the skill will slip back! For instance, I feel like I have an unconsciously competent hold on my family’s laundry needs. We have a rough schedule, but I instinctively manage it based on my past experience, I know how many loads I need to do to keep on top of things. However, add in extra sporting events, some spillage disaster and suddenly my instincts aren’t enough, I’m back in the unconsciously incompetent quadrant, creating new processes, extending skills to manage an ever-growing washing basket!
In conclusion
It’s an ever-moving cycle, new information makes us re-assess and causes to move backwards a couple of quadrants.
It’s perfectly legitimate to stay in one of the quadrants if your job or life doesn’t require any change. For example, you hate football and don’t know the offside rule, maybe you don’t need to learn anything, it’s not knowledge you use or want.
When you feel a bit overwhelmed try using this tool to see where you are and make a list of what would move you from one quadrant to another, or if indeed it’s necessary.
Overwork and avoidance are two keyways we deal with not knowing, both are dangerous in their own way and open the door for Imposter Syndrome to pop in!
If you have perfectionist tendencies, then this tool is perfect for you (forgive the pun!) as perfectionists we expect ourselves to be unconsciously competent for everything which is unreasonable! By visually being able to move our success criteria from one quadrant to another we can help ourselves to down-grand our standards from 100%.
Imposter Syndrome resides in the gap between what we think we should be doing and what we perceive others think we should be doing so this tool allows us to have that visual representation. We can physically plot what level we need to achieve vs what we think others require us to do and look at the difference.
Finally, as with many things it’s about being kinder to yourself.