Understanding the stages of competence

John Foust

Jun 17, 2026

We all discuss information with other people, whether it’s with an advertising client, a prospect or a coworker. And because people have different levels of understanding, it’s easier to get in step with some than with others.

According to the textbook, “Management of Training Programs,” which was researched at New York University, there are four stages of competence. It’s easy to visualize them as four steps on a staircase. Perhaps this personal story will help in visualizing them.

I remember attending an exhibition for small sailboats at a nearby lake. One boat, which was about the size of a Sunfish, was pulled up on the shore. Although I was completely clueless about the principles of sailing, I jumped aboard and pushed off. Stupidly thinking it was possible to learn that particular skill on the fly, I fumbled with the lines on the deck and sent the boat into a furious spin. A couple of people, who noticed the boat bouncing up and down like a cork, swam out, took control and guided the boat back to shore. A little later, they took me and a few others on a short sail on another boat — a Lightning — which was considerably larger. Along the way, they explained the basics of sailing.

A few months later, I took a couple of sailing courses, read some “how to” books and eventually got a small boat, which was about the size of the one I had almost destroyed. I never became anything close to an expert, but I learned enough to enjoy sailing around the lake for a couple of hours every now and them.

HERE'S HOW I WENT THROUGH THE FOUR STEPS

Step 1: Unconscious Incompetence (UI): When you learn a skill, you usually start at the UI level. When I attempted that first sail, I was completely incompetent, and I didn’t realize that I was incompetent.

Step 2: Conscious Incompetence (CI): When those folks took me out on their sailboat and explained the basics of sailing, I became a conscious incompetent. I still couldn’t have taken the tiller, but I realized what I needed to learn.

Step 3: Conscious Competence (CC): As I learned and practiced, I was able to get the boat to go where I wanted, but I had to think my way through each step. Although I was doing the basics correctly, it took an effort.

Step 4: Unconscious Competence (UC): This is where we all want to be, and it doesn’t happen overnight. After enough time working my way through the CC step, I didn’t have to think so much about the fundamentals. I began to do them naturally.

There are aspects of our job in which we are in different stages of competence. The same goes for the people around us. When we recognize those stages, we will be on our way to becoming more patient — and less frustrated — with ourselves and with others.

John Foust has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad departments are using his training DVDs to save time and get quick results from in-house training. Email for information: john@johnfoust.com