Ask yourself: Which stage are you?
- Unconscious incompetence
- The umpire does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the deficit. With other words: He is horseshit and even does not know it. He must recognize his own incompetence, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next stage. The length of time an umpire spends in this stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to learn.
- Conscious incompetence
- Though the umpire does not understand or know how to do something, he does recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit. Or to say: He is still horseshit but now he knows it and looks for help. The making of mistakes can be integral to the learning process at this stage. Climbing from stage one to stage two usually is the hardest step for many umpires.
- Conscious competence
- Now the umpire understands or knows how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration. It may be broken down into steps, and there is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill.
- Unconscious competence
- The umpire has had so much practice with a skill that it has become “second nature” and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task. He even may be able to teach it to others, depending upon how and when it was learned.