Four stages of competence

Eventually, the skill can be utilized without it being consciously thought through: the individual is said to have then acquired unconscious competence.

[2] Management trainer Martin M. Broadwell called the model "the four levels of teaching" in an article published in February 1969.

[3] Paul R. Curtiss and Phillip W. Warren mentioned the model in their 1973 book The Dynamics of Life Skills Coaching.

[4] The model was used at Gordon Training International by its employee Noel Burch in the 1970s; there it was called the "four stages for learning any new skill".

[6] Several elements, including helping someone "know what they don't know" or recognize a blind spot, can be compared to elements of a Johari window, which was created in 1955, although Johari deals with self-awareness, while the four stages of competence deal with learning stages.