Shades of brilliance

When I need to properly think, I climb a mountain. It used to be a dive deep underwater but the sea in Scotland is a wonder to behold from outside for those with tropical blood. So a couple of days ago I took myself up Schiehallion, such a popular mountain they’ve named quite a good beer after it.

The first time I went up years back I was in mist the whole climb, and it was very much a labour of love. The lack of visibility made the way forward over the rocky terrain at the top so indistinct that I was constantly checking my GPS, my compass, my map, and my sanity too. This time I was bathed in sun all the way up and I didn’t find myself needing to mark out the way forward. The only downside was that I could see with every step how far I still had to go…

Out of the blue, it made me think of competence levels and the hoary old model below. In their different ways, the two climbs bridged all four sectors at various points.

The four levels always used to be presented as a progression, with learning to drive or ride a bike as the usual example. Reality, however, is far different. It’s not even a cyclical process but one that constantly bounces back and forward as new learning, the environment, and other factors intervene and inform.

Over the last few years, brain research has pooh-poohed a lot of the guff that used to circulate around learning styles and so on, but I think this particular concept still has a value. For me it has always talked most immediately and relevantly to self-awareness. In broadly surfacing known and unknown strengths and gaps, and more narrowly in highlighting current skill levels, we can develop and adapt further our applied behaviour as needed. But the model also talks by extension to learning agility and its companion curiosity, to perseverance and its partner positivity, to change attitude and the associated risk-taking, and more.

Recently, I’ve been working a lot with early stage leaders trying out new leadership styles and approaches. I’ve seen them struggling at times with their comfort and mastery at these various competence levels – and also celebrating progress.

It’s a process I’ve been going through myself with writing a novel this year. 65,000 words later, it’s now in the hands of a well-known and much-garlanded Scots author. Blessed as I am by this opportunity for feedback, the self-doubt is kicking in again. It was a leap to pass the book to him and it will be a leap to process whatever feedback I do get. As with my coachees, I go back and forth between the levels as my writing develops.

And so maybe the diagram above is most useful for the implied element of perseverance. It does get better and easier. Until something happens and it’s confusing and complicated and frustrating again. And then we reapply ourselves and work at it some more.

One step after another will get us there. The sun does and will shine.

Julian

I help leaders lead their own way forward