To suddenly realize that I have been walking around in a stupor hits hard. To realize that I have been so insular and absolutely blind to what’s going around me is humbling.

To realize that I could have been so much more intentional and present to people around me – to add value to their lives. All wasted opportunities. Yet this is how I feel now – after reading some excellent self-development books and receiving guidance from the two people who have oriented me into the world of coaching.

Consciously incompetent. This means I now know that I don’t know a lot of things. It’s the feeling I got when I started to learn how to drive and, more recently, deep-sea diving. However, being consciously incompetent is an opportunity for me to learn and grow, so I welcome it. That’s all well and good – but how do you manage the trade-offs of learning in a results-oriented world? How do you say “I don’t know, I am learning at the moment” in the workplace? How do you balance your desire to learn with your responsibilities of outputs at work?

Perhaps we can help ourselves by doing the following:

1. Being Consciously Incompetent Is Not An Excuse To Say No

I think this is the first distinction we need to make for ourselves. Just because we realize we don’t know something should not give us the license to say “I don’t know, so I can’t help”. We could instead say “I don’t know, but we could find out together”. I think this places us in a willing learner’s frame and we probably will, indeed, end up learning something valuable. Plus, it shows our genuine desire to help make the workplace better.

2. Keep Learning Everyday

Even if it’s just the meaning of a new word. And, more importantly, share your learnings where appropriate. This will show others your desire to learn and improve yourself. And you may genuinely be helping someone with your sharing.

3. Think ‘Whole Systems’ And ‘Transferability’

Where else can you learn? Who can you engage on your learning journey? Who will be impacted by your learning? What skills/knowledge are transferable between domains/industries? Ask these questions and put some thoughts into practice. Who knows, you might stumble upon a gap in an area of work that no one has noticed.

4. Accept It

Last but not least, be happy being consciously incompetent. It can only get better from there!

 Visit Anuradha’s page to find out more about his work.

_{This post was first published on Anu Shroff blog and has been reposted on Executive Lifestyle with the permission of the author.
Edited by Nedda Chaplin
Image Credit: Shutterstock}

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