At KnowledgeSmart, we spend a lot of time speaking to firms about performance improvement. So what happens when, in the pursuit of advanced learning, we experience a slow-down in our development? We hit what is sometimes referred to as a 'learning plateau'.
A learning plateau occurs when forward progress seems to have stopped
while engaged in learning a new skill. These
plateaus are normal and commonly experienced periodically when learning to play
a musical instrument, speak a new language, or learn some other complex
discipline.
Dutch author, Lodewijk van den Broek, describes hitting the plateau as, ‘the
experience where you feel that no matter how hard you try, there is no progress
in learning. And even though this is not entirely true, the feeling is very
real’.
According to van den Broek, there are two major things
happening here. The first is that you have progressed past the bend in the 'learning curve'. There are different stages in the learning curve:
- Beginner stage (0% to 60%)
The curve is very steep and
you learn very fast.
- Intermediate stage (60% to 80%)
This is past the bend in
the total curve. Learning speed declines and this phase takes longer than the
beginner stage.
- Advanced stage (80% to 95%)
Learning speed declines
even further and the length of the stage increases as again.
- Expert or Master stage (95% to 100%)
Learning speed drops to slow progress and the length of the stage
stretches into eternity.
So once you hit
Intermediate level, your progress slows down. And at the same time it gets
increasingly difficult to measure that progress. These effects combined result
in the feeling that you have hit a plateau in learning.
US authors, Brett & Kate McKay, describe a road map for overcoming
Performance Plateaus. Back in the 1960’s, two
psychologists, Paul Fitts and Michael Posner, set out to uncover why we
plateau. They discovered that when we acquire a skill, we go through three
stages.
The first stage of skill
acquisition is called the cognitive phase. In this phase, we must concentrate
intently on what we’re doing as we figure out strategies on how to accomplish
the skill more efficiently and effectively. The cognitive phase is riddled with
mistakes as we learn the ins and outs of our new pursuit.
The second phase of skill
acquisition is the associative phase. During the associative phase, we make
fewer mistakes. Consequently, we feel more comfortable with the skill and begin
to concentrate less on what we’re doing.
The final stage is the autonomous phase, or what Joshua Foer,
author of ‘Moonwalking with Einstein’, calls the “OK plateau.” We reach a skill
level where we’re able to capably do the task without having to really think
about it at all. Remember about how much you thought about what you were doing
when you first got your driver’s license? Now driving is fairly automatic, like
brushing your teeth.
People used to think that
you couldn't break past these plateaus because a plateau represented the limit
of your genetic ability. No amount of exertion or education would help you
overcome this wall. But Fitts, Posner, and other psychologists discovered
that with the right approach and a few attitude adjustments, all of us can bust
through our plateaus and reach even higher.
How to Overcome Plateaus
Take risks. Growth comes
when we stretch past our comfort zone. The big reason many people (especially high-achievers)
plateau is because they don’t like to fail. Instead of taking on challenges
that will help us grow, we stick with routines that we know we can successfully
do. To protect our ego, we’d rather do the wrong things correctly, than do the
right things wrongly. This aversion to risk is a recipe for plateauing.
Embrace your failure. To
overcome your aversion to risk, you have to give yourself permission to fail
and be mediocre. Instead of avoiding the things that are hardest for them, the
greats of the world specifically focus on those things; they purposefully
concentrate on the areas in which they make the most mistakes. This keeps them
from getting stuck in the autonomous phase and propels their progress. So
instead of seeing failure as a negative thing, think of your failures as steps
to success. If you choose to learn from your failures, they can bring you
closer to your goal.
Another reason we plateau is because everyone around us is telling us
everything is fine. We often confide in people who tell us what we want to
hear, not what we need to hear. For example, we finish a
project and take it to somebody for some “constructive criticism,” when really we just want some positive affirmation on what we did. If you feel stuck in an
area of your life, seek out mentors who won’t pull any punches and will give
you the honest criticism you need to improve. Yes, your ego will get bruised,
but that’s the price one must pay for personal and professional growth.
Practice deliberately. Fitts and Posner discovered three keys to
breaking through your plateau:
1) focus on technique, 2) stay goal oriented,
and 3) and get immediate feedback on the performance. In other words, you need
to practice deliberately to break through plateaus.
Get back to basics. Even
when you’re advanced at something, delving back into the basics can actually
give you fresh insights that help you progress even further.
Think long term. When we
think short-term, we have a tendency to feel that plateaus are permanent. But
when we take the big picture view of things, we start to see plateaus as
temporary way-stations that we’ll eventually get past with a bit of hard work.
Moreover, by thinking long term, we give ourselves more latitude to take risks
and fail because we see that missteps are just momentary setbacks in the long
journey of life.
To cultivate this attitude,
reflect on a time where you felt you had reached the end of your development in
some area, only to later bust through the plateau. If it was possible then,
it’s possible now.
Psychology author, Russell A. Dewey, PhD, describes
what happens with a typical learning curve.
With repetition of almost any motor task, learning
occurs, and a person becomes more efficient or effective at carrying out a
task. Progress in skill learning commonly follows an S-shaped curve, with some
measure of skill on the Y axis and number of trials on the X-axis. Progress is
slow at first, then a subject may experience a burst of learning that produces
a rapid rise on the graph.
The S-shaped "learning curve" typical of complex learning
Why does an S-curve of growth eventually level off?
What people call a plateau may be a
period of stability after a skill is learned as well as it can be learned. Most
growth processes follow the same S-shaped curve as motor learning. In general,
an S-shaped curve of growth levels off because stability is attained, a resource
needed for growth is limited, or a ceiling of performance is reached.
What phases of learning a complex skill cause the
"S-curve" pattern?
The S-shaped learning curve is most
obvious when someone learns a highly complex task. The initial part of the
curve rises slowly as a person becomes familiar with basic components of a
skill. The steep ascending phase occurs when there is enough experience with
rudiments or simple components to start "putting it all together."
Rapid progress follows until the skill "hits a ceiling" or stabilizes
at a high level.
To put this in the context of AEC-related skills monitoring, KnowledgeSmart analyzed the results of several thousand test results, covering basic 2D CAD skills (using AutoCAD and MicroStation software).
The results were as follows:
0-1 years' experience: 53% in 87 mins
4-5 year's experience: 60% in 77 mins
8-10 years' experience: 61% in 79 mins
Many times, we hear people say, I don't need skills testing or training, because I've been using (XYZ software) for many years. Could it be that, even in the case of experienced users, a learning plateau might have been reached, and a fresh approach to learning could prove beneficial in helping to further improve performance?
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