Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 20 | Page 44

FEATURE: TRAINING data centre facility could have dramatic and potentially costly consequences. Research shows that 29% of data centre technicians pose a risk to the organisation, they have misunderstanding and misplaced confidence, and 50% have knowledge gaps in some areas where they demonstrate a lack of understanding within subjects. Sarah Parks, Director of Marketing, CNet Training In psychology, there are four stages of competence, called the hierarchy of competence. This is where the learning model relates to the psychological states involved in the process of progressing from incompetence to competence in a skill. Unconscious incompetent. This is the most dangerous, or risky. This individual does not understand or know how 44 INTELLIGENTCIO to do something and does not necessarily recognise the deficit. They may deny the usefulness of the skill. The individual must recognise their own incompetence, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next stage. This usually applies to new staff who are unaware of what they don’t know. However, as an organisation you usually know who they are and where they are, so it can be managed. Conscious incompetence. Individuals realise that they don’t know. This is less risky, as these people will not carry out a task as they realise they do not know how to do it. Conscious competence. These are good people. They are capable and know what they are capable of. An example being those that have recently passed their driving test. Unconscious competent. The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become ‘second nature’ and can be performed easily and without thinking about it. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task. “It is a fact that when people perform the same role for a period of time, initially they are highly confident and highly competent (the conscious competent) but over time they sway into the unconscious competent zone as the role becomes easy for them.” www.intelligentcio.com