Until you make the unconscious conscious it will direct your life and you will call it fate.

I heard this quote [by Carl Jung] for the first time at a recent conference and it epitomised for me what The Academy for Chief Executives is all about.

Whether it is the insights from a steady stream of world-class experts that make us consciously aware of whats going on with Branding, Motivation, Team dynamics, Leadership, the World Economy, Communication Skills, Engagement, Alignment, Negotiation or a thousand other topics. They take us to a new, higher level of conscious competence [see below].

Working in peer groups with mutually trusted and respected owners of other businesses, bigger and smaller, and from an eclectic mix of industries, provides robust feed back on issues that will make it very clear if we are “in the groove, or just stuck in a rut”!

Mentoring 1-2-1 sessions provide time and space to explore our performance and our world; and a mirror is held up so that when we are thinking something is “fate”, our mentor may provide the reflection that allows us to see consciously. When a behaviour repeats unconsciously it’s usually a rut not a groove!

Retreats to focus on longer term life goals and dreams also bring the unconscious forward to the conscious level, providing a context for more short-term decision-making, while the groups hold members to account on specific actions to move towards their dreams.

Conscious Competence Matrix [http://www.businessballs.com/consciouscompetencelearningmodel.htm]

competence

incompetence

conscious

3 – conscious competence

the person achieves ‘conscious competence’ in a skill when they can perform it reliably at will
the person will need to concentrate and think in order to perform the skill
the person can perform the skill without assistance
the person will not reliably perform the skill unless thinking about it – the skill is not yet ‘second nature’ or ‘automatic’
the person should be able to demonstrate the skill to another, but is unlikely to be able to teach it well to another person
the person should ideally continue to practise the new skill, and if appropriate commit to becoming ‘unconsciously competent’ at the new skill
practise is the singlemost effective way to move from stage 3 to 4

2 – conscious incompetence

the person becomes aware of the existence and relevance of the skill
the person is therefore also aware of their deficiency in this area, ideally by attempting or trying to use the skill
the person realises that by improving their skill or ability in this area their effectiveness will improve
ideally the person has a measure of the extent of their deficiency in the relevant skill, and a measure of what level of skill is required for their own competence
the person ideally makes a commitment to learn and practice the new skill, and to move to the ‘conscious competence’ stage

unconscious

4 – unconscious competence

the skill becomes so practised that it enters the unconscious parts of the brain – it becomes ‘second nature’
common examples are driving, sports activities, typing, manual dexterity tasks, listening and communicating
it becomes possible for certain skills to be performed while doing something else, for example, knitting while reading a book
the person might now be able to teach others in the skill concerned, although after some time of being unconsciously competent the person might actually have difficulty in explaining exactly how they do it – the skill has become largely instinctual
this arguably gives rise to the need for long-standing unconscious competence to be checked periodically against new standards

1 – unconscious incompetence

the person is not aware of the existence or relevance of the skill area
the person is not aware that they have a particular deficiency in the area concerned
the person might deny the relevance or usefulness of the new skill
the person must become conscious of their incompetence before development of the new skill or learning can begin
the aim of the trainee or learner and the trainer or teacher is to move the person into the ‘conscious competence’ stage, by demonstrating the skill or ability and the benefit that it will bring to the person’s effectiveness