(You Don't Know that You Don't Know)
At this level you are blissfully ignorant: You have a complete lack of knowledge and skills in the subject in question. On top of this, you are unaware of this lack of skill, and your confidence may therefore far exceed your abilities. At the beginning of the process, they may be unaware of their own lack of competence, and may need to be made gently aware of how much they need to learn.
Level 2 - Conscious Incompetence
(You Know that You Don't Know)
At this level you find that there are skills you need to learn, and you may be shocked to discover that there are others who are much more competent than you. As you realize that your ability is limited, your confidence drops. You go through an uncomfortable period as you learn these new skills when others are much more competent and successful than you are. During this stage, you'll need to provide plenty of encouragement, tolerate mistakes appropriately, and do what you can to help people improve.
Level 3 - Conscious Competence
(You Know that You Know)
At this level you acquire the new skills and knowledge. You put your learning into practice and you gain confidence in carrying out the tasks or jobs involved. You are aware of your new skills and work on refining them.
You are still concentrating on the performance of these activities, but as you get ever-more practice and experience, these become increasingly automatic. At this stage you need to keep people focused on effective performance of the task, and give plenty of opportunities for them to get practice.
