Stages of Competence
A colleague of mine, Bob Shukraft, suggested many years ago that during the first half of life we develop by expanding and extending the use of new skills and knowledge. This concept of development focuses on deficits. Furthermore, this focus is quite appropriate given that deficits are inevitably associated with youth and the processes of maturation. However, Shukraft suggests that a different meaning should be assigned to the term development during the second half of life. Development now refers to shifting priorities and perspectives. We don’t so much develop by gaining new knowledge and skill. Rather, we develop by seeing the world in new ways and shifting our personal values, needs and ways of engaging other people.
I find it instructive to bring the insights together that have been offered by Robert White and Bob Shukraft. If Shukraft is correct, then the competencies of greatest importance at any one time during our life might be shifting. Early in our life, we are concerned about skill and knowledge-based competence. We want to be able to achieve something of importance making use of the skills and knowledge we have acquired. Playful behaviors might be considered the learning of, testing out or “auditioning” of specific competencies. Some children “played house” as a child so that they can gain a sense of what it would be like to be an adult who takes care of a family. Other children “played” the role of police officer or fireman so that they could not only try out a specific role, but also learn how to engage more general skills (such as assisting another person or lifting something that is heavy) that they will need later in life.
As I grow older, the desired competencies turn more inward. I am playful and exploratory in my behavior so that I can expand my perspectives and explore new priorities. I travel to new lands not only for the excitement of meeting new people and viewing new and beautiful vistas but also because I can learn more about myself and my own society. I wish to become emotional competent (Goleman, 1995). New experiences enable me to become cognitively more mature and competent (Kegan, 1982 Kegan, 1994). I reflect on my own perspectives and practices in a more competent manner (Schön, 1983).
And my dreams change . . .
I Dream I am Climbing: Learning About Achievement
While my early dreams were about flying, my later dreams (in my 30s and 40s) were often about climbing mountains. I have always been inspired by the song “Climb Every Mountain” and the last scene in Rogers and Hammerstein’s Sound of Music where the Trapp family is in fact climbing a mountain to escape from Nazi repression (a revision of what really happened in the life of the Trapp family). I also often dreamed of climbing a mountain during the middle of my life. I dreamt of arriving near the peak of a very high mountain. I was more than 14,000 feet above sea level. This was higher than the elevation I did reach when climbing the highest peaks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I had done much hiking and camping in this magnificent mountain range as a much younger man. I also had vivid memories of hiking up to alpine pastures with my two children when living for several years in Boulder Colorado.
I had repeated dreams of struggling past large boulders and slowly making it to the top of the mountain. In my dreams, I could gaze out over many lower mountain peaks all around me. I suspect this is what it would look like if I had ever climbed to the top of Mt. Whitney (the tallest peak in the Sierras) or to one of the peaks in Colorado. I recently listened to Richard Strauss’ Alpine Symphony and was reminded of my mid-life dreams about climbing (like Strauss did) toward the top of a mountain. My old dreams were elicited as I listened to this symphony. Near the end of the symphony (when Strauss had reached the peak), there are not only the broad sweeping and triumphant sounds of the brass (Strauss loved the horns – which his father had played) but also the softer tremolo sounds of the strings. Triumph was mixed with the tentative, anxious feelings of being not fully grounded when standing at the peak. I felt this way in my dreams.
