Next level communicators allow the audience to determine how they teach.
Next level communicators allow the audience to determine how they teach.
Abraham Maslow was a psychologist who pointed out four levels of learning:
Unconscious incompetence. This is the beginning point of all learning, where everyone starts. What this means is a person lacks knowledge in a certain area and is not even aware of it.
Conscious incompetence. At this level, a person is ignorant to the subject, and they know they are ignorant.
Conscious competence. Picture a kid who has been riding a bicycle for a month or so. They know how to do it, and are constantly thinking about the process of riding a bicycle.
Unconscious competence. The best example I could give is a person who has been driving for years. They get in their car and go, not really aware of what they are doing because they have been at it for so long. Or it’s that kid who has been riding a bicycle now for years, and can just hop on one and ride without thinking at all about what they are doing.
These four levels of learning are critical for us as communicators, because they should determine how we approach our talks. For example, I have pastored all over the country, and speak to a wide range of audiences from the Bible. Even though I use the same content, the audience always dictates my approach. When I pastored in Memphis, the audience was steeped in religion, to the point where many assumed they were authentic followers of Jesus Christ, but were not. When it came to the gospel, many were unconsciously incompetent- they lacked knowledge in the difference between the gospel and religion, and weren’t even aware of it. Well, my job as a communicator was to go slow, and show them over and over how the two were different. The lights needed to be turned on for them so they could see what they did not even know they did not see.
I have also spent time as a pastor in the bay area, one of the most secular environments in the world. Broadly speaking, my audience in the bay was consciously incompetent. They knew they didn’t know much about church, the bible, the gospel and Jesus, so I didn’t need to spend a lot of time convincing them they didn’t know; I could just jump right in. I hope you are getting the picture: My approach in the south was to spend a lot of time showing my audience how many were operating under an illusion of Christianity, but in reality were not saved. Had I begun with the later stages, especially the last two, my long term effectiveness as a communicator would be blunted.
So what does this mean for us?
If you are a pastor, or an educator, or someone who has the privilege of talking to the same group of people over a long period of time, you want to move them to unconscious competence. Without even thinking about it, I can do simple addition. How did that happen? A teacher worked with me over a long period of time. So it should be for all of us who communicate to the same audience over and over.
Do speaking pre-work to figure out where the bulk of your audience is when it comes to the four stages and your topic. The reality is there will be people at different levels gathered to hear you. That’s understood. However, what is really gold for the communicator, and what will position us for maximum impact, is having our pulse on where the bulk of the audience is in regards to my topic.
The lower the level, the less you can assume. There’s a lot you can assume when someone is at level four (unconscious competence). In fact, I may not even take the engagement if I’m asked to speak on a topic where there is a high level of competence. But if the bulk of the audience is at level one (unconscious incompetence), then I’m going to have to take the cookies down to the lower shelves, so my audience can access and grasp the concepts. Side note: This is why I think the best place for communicators to begin is speaking to children and youth, because we are forced to simplify our presentations. It is always easier to add complexity, and infinitely harder to simplify.
What I’m Reading:
The Cross Before Me: Reimagining the Way of the Good Life, Rankin Wilbourne.
