The more you know about a subject, the harder it becomes to communicate your knowledge to someone who knows nothing about the topic.

1. The more you know about a subject,
the harder it becomes to communicate
your knowledge to someone who
knows nothing about the topic.
Richard Randolph
randolr@scf.edu

2. Agenda
• Welcome and Introductions
• Why this matters (especially to Teachers!)
• Explain the model
• Specific applications
• Extended views / Similar Models
• Takeaways / Uses / Closure
• Attributions and Resources

5. Sometimes people or events
can present themselves as
optical illusions…

7. “Creativity requires the
courage to let go of
certainties”
~ Erich Fromm
Exercise:
Clasp your hands together, and notice which thumb is on top.
Now take them apart, and put them back together with the
other thumb on top. How does that feel? Why?

8. What prevented the dog from walking through the open door?
See in YouTube:
DOGS & IMAGINARY DOORS
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Ngg551t6MPM

9. If all you have
is a hammer,
everything looks
like a nail.
~ Abraham Maslow

10. Move any single line so that the
false mathematical equation becomes true.
IV = III + III

11. Move any single line so that the
false mathematical equation becomes true.
IV = III + III
VI = III + III

12. Instructions: With a single stroke of your pen, change this into 6.

13. What prevented you from seeing the answer? The Curse of Knowledge.
You ‘knew’ this was Roman Numerals…

14. The Curse of
• Experience =
“know how things work”
• Trapped in old patterns
The last thing
a fish discovers
is

15.  Everything that can be invented has been invented.
~ Charles H. Duell, Director of US Patent Office, 1899
 Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote.
~ Grover Cleveland (22nd President of the U.S.), 1905
 Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?
~ Harry M. Warner, Warner Bros Pictures, 1927
 Heavier than air flying machines are impossible.
~ Lord Kelvin, President, Royal Society, 1895
 The horse is here today, but the automobile is only a novelty – a fad.
~ President of Michigan Savings Bank advising against investing in the Ford Motor Company
 Video won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first
six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.
~ Daryl F. Zanuck, 20th Century Fox, commenting on television in 1946
 Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein.
~ Dick Rowe of Decca Records, on turning down The Beatles for a recording contract, 1962
 I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.
~ Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943

16. “TAPPERS” and “LISTENERS”
Each TAPPER picks a song
and taps out the rhythm to a
listener by knocking on a table
The LISTENER’s job is to
guess the song, based on
the rhythm being tapped
Predict the odds that the
listeners will guess correctly

17. “TAPPERS” and “LISTENERS”
Predict the odds that the
listeners will guess correctly
What Happened?

18. 4 Unconscious Competence
2 Conscious Incompetence
3 Conscious Competence
1 Unconscious Incompetence
FOUR STAGES OF
COMPETENCE
Learning and Practicing
Don’t know – and don’t care!
Don’t know – Starting to care…
Know it well – Mastery!Abraham Maslow’s
Stages of Learning

19. 1. Unconscious incompetence – Who Cares?
The individual does not understand or know how to do something
and does not necessarily recognize the deficit. They may deny
the usefulness of the skill.
The individual must recognize their own 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.
FOUR STAGES OF COMPETENCE

20. 2. Conscious incompetence –
It’s harder than I thought!
Though the individual does not understand or know how to do something,
he or she does recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill
in addressing the deficit.
Making mistakes can be integral to the learning process at this stage.
FOUR STAGES OF COMPETENCE

21. 3. Conscious competence –
I can do it when I concentrate on it…
The individual understands or knows how to do something.
However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires
concentration. It may be broken down into steps, and there
is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill.
FOUR STAGES OF COMPETENCE

22. 4. Unconscious competence – I know it so well
I could do it in my sleep!
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.
The individual may be able to teach it to others.
FOUR STAGES OF COMPETENCE

23. 70% of Learners give up
trying to learn at this stage.

24. Implications & Applications
• Where are most Instructors?
• Where are most Students?
• What are the implications?

25. Implications & Applications
• The model is Situation / Skill specific
• Typing; Driving; Accounting…

26. Implications & Applications
• Implications for Personal Growth
• Learning a new skill; renewal

27. Practice does NOT make perfect.
Practice makes permanent.
Perfect practice makes perfect.
Implications & Applications

28. Deliberate Practice
 Clarity
 Set a clear goal slightly beyond your current abilities,
but not too far beyond
 List specific actions that advance you toward your goal
 Feedback
 You need a source of objective feedback so that you can
improve on your next iteration
 Without frank, even harsh, feedback, your progress will likely
stall
 Unpleasant
 You have to stretch yourself beyond where you’re currently
comfortable
 Learn to seek it, like a bodybuilder seeks muscle burn

29. 4 Unconscious Competence
2 Conscious Incompetence
3 Conscious Competence
1 Unconscious Incompetence
FOUR STAGES OF
COMPETENCE
Learning and Practicing
Don’t know – and don’t care!
Don’t know – Starting to care…
Know it well – Mastery!
5 Flow
Abraham Maslow’s
Stages of Learning
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

30. Whenever you are tempted
to react in the same old way,
ask if you want to be
a prisoner of the past or
a pioneer of your future.
~ Deepak Chopra

31. OTHER SIMILAR MODELS
• Situational Leadership II® – Hersey-Blanchard
• Shu Ha Ri – Japanese

32. Situational Leadership II®
Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership model
Leaders adjust their styles depending on the readiness,
or task maturity, of their followers
Readiness — how able, willing and confident followers are
in performing tasks

33. The Leader
provides what the
Follower needs
but cannot
provide for
him/herself.

34. Japanese Model
Shu Ha Ri

35. A person passes through three
stages of gaining knowledge
Shu: In this beginning stage the student follows the teachings
of one master precisely. He concentrates on how to do the task
without worrying too much about the underlying theory.
Ha: The student begins to branch out. With the basic practices
working she now starts to learn the underlying principles and
theory behind the technique. She also starts learning from other
masters and integrates that learning into her practice.
Ri: Now the student isn't learning from other people, but from their
own practice. They create their own approaches and adapt what
they’ve learned to their own particular circumstances.
35

36. 36

37. Shu Ha Ri
In the martial arts you learn a concept called Shu Ha Ri, which points
to different levels of mastery.
In the Shu state you know all the rules and the forms. You repeat them,
like the steps in a dance, so your body absorbs them. You don’t deviate
at all.
In the Ha state, once you’ve mastered the forms, you can make
innovations. Put an extra swing in your step down the dance floor.
In the Ri state you’re able to discard the forms, you’ve truly mastered
the practice, and you’re able to be creative in an unhindered way,
because the knowledge of the meaning of aikido or the tango is so
deeply embedded in you, your every step expresses its essence.
Sutherland, Jeff; Sutherland, Jj (2014-09-30). Scrum: The Art of Doing
Twice the Work in Half the Time (p. 38). The Crown Publishing Group.
Kindle Edition.

38. Shuhari roughly translates to
“first learn, then detach, and finally transcend.”
shu 守 “protect”, “obey” — traditional wisdom — learning fundamentals, techniques, heuristics, proverbs
ha 破 “detach”, “digress” — breaking with tradition — detachment from the illusions of self
ri 離 “leave”, “separate” — transcendence — there are no techniques or proverbs, all moves are natural,
becoming one with spirit alone without clinging to forms; transcending the physical

39. SUMMARY
• Why this matters (especially to Teachers!)
• The Conscious Competence Model
• Specific Applications
• Extended Views / Similar Models

40. Your Takeaways ???
•
•
•
•
•

41. Attributions
• Initially described as “Four Stages for Learning
Any New Skill”, the theory was developed
at Gordon Training International by its
employee Noel Burch in the 1970s.
• It has since been frequently attributed
to Abraham Maslow, although the model
does not appear in his major works.

42. Attributions
Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive
and Others Die
Random House;
1st edition (January 2, 2007)

43. Tappers and Listeners game
In 1990, Elizabeth Newton earned a Ph.D. in psychology at Stanford by studying a simple game where she assigned people to one of two roles: “tappers” or
“listeners.”
Tappers received a list of 25 well-known songs, such as “Happy Birthday to You” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Each tapper was asked to pick a song and
tap out the rhythm to a listener (by knocking on a table). The listener’s job was to guess the song, based on the rhythm being tapped. (By the way, this
experiment is fun to try at home if there is a good “listener” candidate nearby.)
The listener’s job in this game is quite difficult. Over the course of Newton’s experiment, 120 songs were tapped out.
Listeners guessed only 2.5% of the songs—3 songs out of 120.
But here’s what made the result worthy of a dissertation in psychology. Before the listeners guessed the name of the song, Newton asked the tappers to
predict the odds that the listeners would guess correctly. They predicted that the odds were 50%.
The tappers got their message across 1 time in 40, but they thought they were getting their message across 1 time in 2. Why?
When a tapper taps, she is hearing the song in her head. Go ahead and try it for yourself—tap out “The Star Spangled Banner.” It is impossible to avoid
hearing the tune playing along in your head. Meanwhile, the listeners can’t hear that tune—all they can hear are a bunch of disconnected taps like a kind of
bizarre Morse Code.
In the experiment, tappers are flabbergasted at how hard the listeners seem to be working to pick up the tune. Isn’t the song obvious? The tappers’
expressions, when a listener guesses “Happy Birthday to You” for “The Star-Spangled Banner,” are priceless. How could you be so stupid?
It’s hard to be a tapper. The problem is that tappers have been given knowledge (the song title) that makes it impossible for them to imagine what it is like
to lack that knowledge. When they are tapping, they can’t imagine what it is like for the listeners to hear isolated taps rather than a song. This is the Curse
of Knowledge. Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know it. Our knowledge has “cursed” us. And it becomes
difficult for us to share our knowledge with others, because we can’t readily re-create the state of mind of our listeners.

44. Attributions
Sutherland, Jeff
Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work
in Half the Time (p. 38)
The Crown Publishing Group.
Kindle Edition.

45. Sources

46. Attributions
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
(Harper Perennial Modern Classics)
Harper & Row, Publishers
Book of the Month Club Edition (1990)