Levels of Competency

In any journey of skill acquisition and personal growth, individuals traverse through distinct stages of learning and mastery. These stages are commonly categorized into four levels of competency: Each level represents a different phase in the process of developing expertise and understanding, offering valuable insights into how we learn and improve.

Level 1 - Unconscious Incompetence marks the beginning of this journey. At this stage, individuals are unaware of their own lack of knowledge or skill.

Examples like people joining the main carriageway without checking blind spots, people driving at 50kmph on the overtaking lane and forcing everyone to overtake them, Driving on the road shoulder etc.

They’re not aware that they’re making a mistake and create a lot of close calls,crashes etc.

From here, if the driver recongises the problem, he or she will try to take an action to minimise risks. This is where a good learning platform is essential.

If the drivers are not making an effort or not advised to recongise the risk, there’s a risk of developing wilful ignorance or wilful incompetence and develop optimism bias. This is dangerous for everyone around and for them as well.

Level 2 - Conscious Incompetence This is where the driver recognises the problem and makes an effort to reduce risks. To become a safer, smarter driver, we have to identify that we are doing wrong and makes an effort to learn.

Here, there is a growing awareness of our deficiencies and the recognition that there is much to learn. This realization is crucial, as it often sparks the motivation and drive needed to seek out knowledge and improve.

This is where we need to learn the safer techniques like CAS etc and start implementing them in our daily driving. Once we start implementing, we help ourselves to move to the next stage.

Level 3 - Conscious Competence As we start implementing the low risk driving techniques, we enter the Conscious competence phase.

In this phase, we have developed the skills or knowledge and can apply them effectively. However, performing these tasks requires deliberate thought and concentration.

The process is not automatic but is performed with conscious effort. As long as we make an effort to apply the knowledge, we are on track to move to the next stage.

Level 4 - Unconscious Competence - This is where we don’t even think of maintaining CAS as it happens involuntarily out of habit. We accurately sense the traffic patterns and make low risk moves which are safer for everyone around.

Here, the skills and knowledge become second nature. We can perform driving tasks like maintaining CAS etc, effortlessly and automatically, having internalized the skills to such an extent that they no longer need to think about them actively.

At this stage, we automatically will maintain required CAS without conscious effort,it will become like a reflex.

To conclude, identify which level you are in and start improvising and implementing CAS techniques as we drive, which in turn becomes into a habit where we need not put huge effort.

We cannot develop safe habits and master them without actually implementing them.