In the first two parts of this four-part series, which explores how your team members’ competence could affect their performance, I’ve looked at those who fall into the Unconscious Incompetence (UI) and Conscious Incompetence (CI) categories.
Let’s take another step up the competence pyramid to look at the third competence level — namely, Conscious Competence (CC).
Conscious Competence (CC)
This level of competence describes someone who understands how to do a task or execute a skill, but who requires conscious focus and concentration to accomplish the task.
They might need to break down the work into linear steps and have conscious involvement to execute that skill. For this individual, there can be no daydreaming when working.
Being interrupted by coworkers, customers, emails or text messages — very common in our fast-paced, multi-tasking world — can seriously impair an individual in this category as they attempt to effectively perform a task. A conscious incompetence individual wants their work to be correct. But, on the negative side, their fellow workers or supervisors may complain that they work too slowly and hold up projects.
Those complaints might be true in the short run, but this provides an excellent opportunity for coaching and, yes, developing a worker’s skill stack.
The following suggestions may help you formulate your coaching plan:
- Engage in more practice opportunities for this individual.
- Observe how they perform the task in question.
- Suggest some coaching from peers who are excellent at that task.
- Let peers demonstrate how they approach the task, including tips and tricks for faster performance.
- Measure successful performance improvement in your onboarding process.
- Encourage the individual to self-monitor their performance and challenge themselves to improve.
- Hold monthly meetings with your high performers and have them “teach” a class, including giving out some “homework.”
- The key goal is to build confidence in their new skills and move their competence level closer to muscle memory.
The Advantage of Conscious Competence Associates
The advantage of having conscious competence associates is that, now, you have a “farm system” to develop a team of superstars. The key to great performance is not just more practice; it’s actually perfectly planned practice coupled with individual motivation.
Often, this motivation is tied to achieving personal goals, such as earning company recognition, peer acknowledgement, greater financial success and career goal attainment. So, what’s the catch for you, as a supervisor? Well, it’s on you to understand the goals and dreams of the people you’re charged with leading.
Framing skill increases or task mastery in terms of their own goals is the secret sauce to successful leadership at every level. To further clarify, consider the following example:
If you are introducing a new supplier and their complex systems to your customers, competence should be a major priority. Many suppliers demand that your technicians attend their training before you can sell their products. That’s always good business practice.
However, I suggest that you negotiate the timeframe for this training. Why? Well, if your technicians are initially certified, but then they have to wait six to nine months before installing a system, you might just end up with consciously incompetent (CI) technicians front and center with your customers every day.
That will also demotivate your technicians, who never want to be perceived by customers as not knowing what they’re doing! So, what to do?
Negotiate with the Supplier
Negotiate with the supplier to do technical training after a sale is made. The reasons for doing this are solid and include the following:
- Technicians who understand that they’ll soon have to apply new technical skills tend to pay closer attention during supplier training.
- Knowledge retention is much greater when a large, new task soon awaits them.
- They can ensure the right pieces and parts are correctly ordered the first time.
- They can help train your sales team in what a system can and cannot effectively do.
- Newer technicians who are eager, but who are underutilized, may surprise you and rise to the occasion.
- Training dollars spent onboarding a new product line have a shorter payback period.
Next month, we will explore elevating your conscious competence talent to the next level. Stay tuned!
Paul C. Boucherle, Certified Protection Professional (CPP) and Certified Sherpa Coach (CSC), is Security Sales & Integration’s “Business Fitness” columnist.
