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Competence Building for Career Success
The world is changing at a rapid pace, and the skills needed to succeed in the global economy are evolving just as quickly. To stay competitive in the job market, individuals need to continually develop their competences and acquire new skills. However, the process of learning and mastering a new skill can be complex, and understanding the stages of competence building is essential in career planning.
Developed in the 1970s by Noel Burch, an employee of Gordon Training International, the four stages of competences can help individuals build competences and achieve their professional goal. The four stages are: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and unconscious competence. Understanding this framework helps to understand the process of learning and mastering a new skill.
✨ Unconscious Incompetence: You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
At this stage, individuals lack awareness of a particular skill or area of knowledge. They may not recognize that they lack the skills or knowledge needed to complete a task successfully. For example, someone who has never worked with a particular software may not realize how much they need to learn to use it effectively.
✨ Conscious Incompetence: You Know What You Don’t Know
At this stage, individuals become aware of their lack of knowledge or skill in a particular area. They may be overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge they need to acquire or the number of skills they need to develop. However, this awareness is essential to moving forward in the learning process.
✨ Conscious Competence: You Know What You Know
At this stage, individuals have developed the knowledge or skill needed to complete a task successfully, but it requires conscious effort and concentration. For example, someone who has learned how to code may need to refer to coding manuals or online resources to write code successfully.
✨ Unconscious Competence: You Don’t Know What You Know
At this stage, individuals have mastered the skill to the point that it becomes second nature, and they can perform it without conscious effort. For example, a skilled pianist can play a piece of music without thinking about the individual notes or finger movements.
The Importance of Competence Building in Career Planning
Understanding the stages of competence building is essential in career planning because it helps individuals identify areas where they need to develop their skills and knowledge to achieve their career goals. For example, if someone wants to become a successful software developer, they need to identify the skills required for the job and assess their current level of competence in those areas.
By understanding their current level of competence, individuals can identify the areas where they need to focus their learning efforts to achieve their career goals. Mapping out their current competencies and identifying the competencies required for their desired career path can help individuals create a plan for developing the necessary skills and knowledge.
How Can Micro-learning Help Build Competences and Achieve Professional Goals?
An approach to learning that involves breaking down complex topics into smaller, bite-sized pieces, micro-learning is an effective way to help individuals progress through the stages of competence building because it allows them to learn at their own pace, focus on specific areas where they need improvement, and reinforce learning through quizzes. This can also be a cost-effective way to learn because it is often delivered online, reducing the need for travel and accommodation expenses associated with traditional training methods.
On Adaptiv, you can chat with Ada, our AI-powered career mentor, and get a customised upskilling recipe to build your competences. Based on your career goals and current skill level the recipe will also contain micro-learning modules that can be easily accessed through the app.
