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In a math class, a professor asked this question – Imagine you in the middle of an ocean and have a boat, you travel 500 km north, turn 90 degrees, go 500 km, then turn 90 degrees, go another 500 km, again turn 90 degrees, go another 500 km, where will you be. Immediately so many hands went up to answer the question that is too easy, but the professor identified a pupil thinking deeply but who did not raise hands. When asked why was the pupil not raising hands, the answer was – “I don’t know how to calculate”. The entire class left out a loud laughter, the professor waited patiently for the laughter to die down and asked the pupil to explain the thoughts on the board. The pupil explained that earth is curved so travelling huge distances and turning 90 degrees four times will not take you back to the same location but some kilometres short, but is not aware of how to calculate the exact distance away from the starting point. The professor explained to the class that the pupil is in right direction, this is non Euclidean geometry, how overconfidence blinds people into stagnating at a level.

A confident person taking a gorilla head on

The workplace is no different, but there are no professors to validate confidence vs competence. I was misled a few times and made mistakes in staffing, until I found a way to interview people and identify the indicators for competence. Dunning-Kruger effect explains that most of us will always pitch on better-than-average rating if we are asked to evaluate ourselves. The false confidence that it imparts to below average people and the hesitation it imparts on above average people will be presented and read as an indicator for competence.

Some indicators that helped identify competence and weed out false confidence

  • Humility – This is one of the biggest indicators for me, people who are humbled by experiences have learnt a lot.
  • Grit, Discipline, System – People who have a systems way of working, hanging out on to habits/practices/processes that are simple, yet effective and have a long term impact.
  • Team player – Very difficult to find out in first meetings, some points include openness to share knowledge, ability to receive feedback, challenge ideas but not the person etc.

Falsely confident people will walk in circles when lost, but will give the illusion of progress and that comfort feel of not stuck in a place. Competent people may need the – observe, orient, decide and act loop to work before they can act but will sure help progress.

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Kent Beck gives a good introduction to adoption of XP through an analogy of learning to drive. A brief extract can be found here. The learning to drive analogy is applicable to any discipline, where the instincts have to take over conscience in other words the motor/muscle memory will play a bigger part than a conscious effort, but when demanded we need to rewire our learnings. Music is also analogous to this.

The steps in becoming a good in something.

Start immediately

Procrastination affects a lot of us and one of the key catalyst for someone to procrastinate is the idea of perfection. This is because of the fear of failure and being judged, so people end up reading and studying about something instead of learning by doing. Unless we get into something mission critical or any action that will cause any irreversible consequence then we should not hesitate to start. By starting immediately, we will be forced to learn the absolute minimum that is required to start instead of getting equipped with a world of knowledge.

Be predictably slow at first

There is a sense of satisfaction in moving up the levels, so people immediately step up their levels without getting a good understanding of what they learnt. When I was learning to drive, I was never allowed to shift to the 3rd gear until I was able to drive the vehicle without getting stalled in the lower gears. Same goes to my piano tutor who never allowed me to step up the tempo until I never missed a note. This made sure that whatever I had got it into my head is done the right way, I was very angry with my tutors as they never allowed me to step up quickly but in hindsight it makes sense; unlearning something learnt wrong takes a long time than learning it to do the right way.

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When stepping up, change only one parameter at a time

We learn more and more faster and deeper when we are able to understand the effects of our actions. The more we are able to identify the cause and effects, the better is our ability to sense the patterns and apply learnings at a more abstract level. Stepping up the learning through one parameter a time allows us pinpoint the cause and effect, helping us to save energy. Someone shifting to 3rd gear and also driving in rain for the first time on a slippery road will not lead to effective learning.

Once comfortable, keep getting exposed to new conditions.

When we are comfortable in a new skill, chances are high that we get stagnant. Routinely exposing us to newer challenges helps to sharpen as well as prepare us for unknowns. The comfort zone is where the instincts take over the conscience, but when the situation demands we need to switch back to the conscience and make quick judgements from our experience. Good drivers are not usually worried about bad weather or poor visibility, instead they know when to stop driving and when to carry on.

Listen to others, over time we may pickup bad habits.

Habits change as soon as the feedback stops, I used to drive without co-passengers for an extended period of time and developed a tendency to jump over potholes and speed breakers. This annoyed my co-passengers and until I heard from them, I never realized that I had developed a bad habit. It is very difficult to sustain best practices or get a new one, getting a mentor or coach or even just plainly listening to other’s observation will help us a lot.

Never underestimate the power of a coach or a mentor

The coach in the operating room published by the New Yorker magazine tells about how an accomplished surgeon realised that even the best tennis players had coaches and decided to take a coach with him to the operating room. The doctor was doing a thyroid operation which he has done many times and the coach had never done that type of surgery so there was no expectation on useful feedback. At the end of the surgery the coach surprised with a lot of detailed observations which were overlooked and missed by the team. If we are to be professionally better at something then get coaches, does not matter who we are or how successful we are.

When learning stops, we regress

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As days progress, I get increasingly overwhelmed with the amount of catchup I need to do in terms of learning new things, it creates an imbalance between what we want to know and what we can do. What people do to bridge these gaps at work place is to create structured training programs to up skill people. Sugata Mitra explains in his ted talk how seemingly difficult things are grasped by people if we let the learning happen. This talk explains that people will find a way if there are enough knowledge resources available and curiosity generated at the right time.

The structured training programs barring a few are none other than comforters which provide a false sense of security. We build a training program and let people adapt to ‘get me trained & I will do what you ask’ mindset. Increasingly organisations are relying on self sufficient & self organising teams but the learning and development is still structured and top down push.

What is necessary for ‘learning to happen’?

  • Curiosity – People will learn at any cost if they want to know something.
  • Tools & Resources – Easy access means there is one less barrier.
  • Creative tension – Do not let people settle for the ‘status quo’.
  • Autonomy – Structured & classroom learnings are optimised for lesser load on the teacher, each individual is unique & should be allowes to pace their learnings.
  • Time & Environment to share – The more loaded we are, the more we tend to seek rest and if the environment is not conducive for sharing and collaboration then that impacts the speed at which knowledge can be acquired and shared in a group setting. It also creates peer pressure.

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea