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Episode Overview
In this episode, Chris and Bill scrutinize the “Four Stages of Competence” model — a familiar framework in coaching and skill acquisition that assumes learners progress linearly from ignorance to mastery. They unpack its HR origins, explain why it lacks empirical grounding, and offer a counterpoint rooted in systems thinking. Rather than stages, they propose a lens of behavioral recognition: what you see is always a solution — it just may not be desirable. This discussion reframes learning as a dynamic reorganization of behavior in response to constraint, not a climb up a competence ladder.
Key Topics & Chapter Highlights
00:00 – Why We’re Talking About “Learning”
Chris introduces the episode theme — learning models, coaching cues, and why it’s time to re-evaluate default assumptions.
04:00 – The “Four Stages” Origin Story
Bill describes how the popular learning stages (unconscious incompetence → unconscious competence) emerged from 1970s HR training — not research.
07:00 – Linearity vs. Complexity
The central critique: human learning is not linear. The model imposes artificial order on what is fundamentally a dynamic, complex adaptive system.
10:00 – “Incompetence” Isn’t Incompetent
Every observed behavior is a solution. Even inefficient movement solves a problem within a person’s constraints — structurally or contextually.
14:00 – Coaching Without Context Fails
Chris and Bill discuss how many coaching strategies fail when they don’t respect structure. You can’t cue someone out of constraint they don’t know they’re solving.
18:00 – Behavioral Recognition Over Labels
Bill emphasizes that his quadrants aren’t stages. They’re representations of observable behavior — which helps tailor tasks and constraints more effectively.
23:00 – You’re Not Coaching a Blank Slate
Chris makes the point that what you're seeing isn’t raw potential — it's a system using the only strategies it currently has access to.
28:00 – The Limits of Cueing
A coach’s words can’t override structural or energetic constraints. You have to meet the system where it is — and shape the conditions around it.
32:00 – Adaptive Behavior, Not Error
What’s often labeled "wrong" or "dysfunctional" may be adaptive. Recognizing this changes how we view interventions and outcomes.
36:00 – Evolving the Model (Again)
Bill recounts how his own quadrant framework evolved as he tested it — referencing influence from Dave Snowden’s Cynefin model of complexity.
41:00 – Interventions as Design, Not Correction
Once you understand what the system is solving for, you can build tasks that shift its strategy, rather than try to force behavior through coaching alone.
45:00 – Wrapping Up: The System Solves Itself
They close by reinforcing that learning is not about filling gaps — it’s about reorganizing behavior under constraint, and the coach’s job is to create the right container for that to happen.
Key Takeaways
The “Four Stages” Are a Mental Shortcut
They may feel intuitive, but they describe neither how humans behave nor how systems adapt. Their linearity oversimplifies learning.
Every Behavior Is a Solution
Movement — even if awkward or compensatory — reflects the best available solution to the system’s current constraints. That’s competence, just not your preferred version.
Learning Is Emergent, Not Staged
Adaptation doesn’t follow steps. It unfolds in response to pressure, structure, and context. That process is inherently non-linear.
Observations Over Classifications
Labels like “incompetent” blind us to what's actually happening. Watch what people do. Understand what it's solving for.
Models Should Breathe
Even the quadrant model evolved through testing. If your model isn’t helping you see clearly, evolve it — or discard it.
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Podcast audio:
https://open.spotify.com/show/7cJM6v5S38RLroac6BQjrd?si=eca3b211dafc4202
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reconsider-with-bill-hartman/id1662268221
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