Corporate Survivor with Mei Phing : Career Growth In The Corporate World - Ep249: 4 stages of competence (overcome imposter syndrome)

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

✅ (free) Career Growth Guide & Training → http://www.meiphing.com ✅ Join Corporate Survivor™ → https://www.thecorporatesurvivor.co 📌 Mei Phing Lim is a Professional Career Coach and former Corporate Leader in the banking, FinTech and consulting industries. She led multimillion-dollar projects with teams from over 43 countries as the Senior Director at Standard Chartered, while only in her 20s. Mei Phing had worked closely with business CEOs and C-suite level management. Nowadays, Mei Phing teaches 9-5 professionals how to grow their careers with clarity, confidence and opportunities in her career program, Corporate Survivor™. 📌 Corporate Survivor™ is a 12-month career program where you will master everything on how to add value at work, level-up your career & grow your salary. Get recognised for your hard work & sell your value for new opportunities using Mei Phing's 3-Step Framework [Get Clear, Get Confident, Get Visible]. Monthly mentorship calls with Mei Phing where you'll get practical feedback and become more confident as you climb the career ladder. 📌 Corporate Survivor "the podcast" is the best place to start learning from Mei Phing's corporate world insights, experiences and wisdom so you can grow your 9-5 career with clarity, confidence and opportunities. Mini episodes where you'll get a bit of a taster of what you can expect when working with Mei Phing inside the Corporate Survivor™. ✅ FREE CAREER GUIDES ⮕ http://www.meiphing.com ✅ Subscribe Weekly Newsletter ⮕ http://www.meiphing.com ✅ Join Corporate Survivor™ ⮕ https://www.thecorporatesurvivor.co

I want to share with you a very simple framework that actually is a pretty popular model. It's called the four stages of competence, but today we're not going to focus so much on like the nitty gritty of the model, but I want to share with you how I see the model and I want you to be able to put yourself and tell me which stage of this four stages of competence where you are and hopefully this will give you something to strive towards, knowing that there is a brighter future at the end of whatever confusion and stage that you feel right now. So now let's continue. So here is the model.

So this is the four stages of competence. So as you can see here, we're starting with unconscious incompetence. So don't worry, I'll explain everything. So that's the unconscious incompetence, then moving to conscious incompetence, then conscious competence, then unconscious competence. Now at this point, you might be thinking, maybe what the heck is this? No worries. Like I said, we're not going to focus so much on the nitty-gritties of the model itself. So now let's actually get into how I personally use this model and how you can also use this. Now, one thing I want to achieve in this mentoring sessions and as part of the Corporate Survivor

Program, is to teach you how to think, not just tell you what to do. Because again, as you all saw in the chat box, sometimes it's not that you don't know what to do, but there is procrastination, there's overthinking, there's a lot of worries and mindset blocks in your mind. So I'd say that if you're in this program, more or less you have an idea of what you need to do, but what's stopping you? And this is something that let's kind of like discuss right now. So stage one is what I call unconscious incompetence. So in simpler words, it means that you don't know what you don't know. It means that you don't know what you don't know. It means that

you don't know what you don't know. Now as I go through these stages, if you feel like you can relate and this is the stage that you are right now, you can put in like you know, yes this is me, I agree, I think this will give me a rough idea of many of you here where you are sort of at. Now so first step is, first stage is unconscious incompetence. So basically it means that you don't know what you don't know. And even in simpler words is that if you think about your behavior, it's kind of like a happy-go-lucky sort of mindset. I would say that most people, if it's your first job,

if it's a new job, right, or you're a fresh graduate, this is usually how you feel the first week or the first month. I'll say that the first seven to 30 days, this is kind of how it feels. Awesome, I got a new job, I got a salary increment, this is going to be great, it's a new team, new company, I got more money, la la la. Right, it's a happy-go-lucky stage, whereby you don't really know what you don't know. So in your mind, it's like you know everything. You are good enough, you feel like, oh, I have experience, I have competence,

I know what I'm doing, that's how I got hired. Okay. So it's a pretty happy stage. So in my own interpretation, I call this the beginner stage, right? When you begin something, whether it's your career, it's a new job with a new team, there's always that feeling of like happy go lucky. It's a great start, adventure. You're so excited. Now, next stage. This is the conscious incompetent stage. Now this is the stage where you know that you don't know something. Can I repeat? It's a stage where it's like you know you don't know something. So this is actually how you would feel. Lost, confused, not good enough. It feels like something is missing. You know you're not doing that great at work. You know that you're not doing something right. But you

don't really know what you're doing wrong. You don't really know what's missing. And you don't really know why your boss is not happy with you. You're also not really sure why. You feel that you have put in a lot of effort, but things seems to be stuck. You feel stagnant, you feel like things are not moving despite your best effort. Right, so this is what I call the learner stage. The learner stage. So how many of you feel this way, you can feel free to put, you know,

this is me agree in the chat box, right? So this is the you, you know, you don't know something, right, so at least you're, you're always seeing the gap. You're like, okay, something is missing. I can't quite pinpoint it, but I know that I't know something, right? So at least you're already seeing the gap. You're like, okay, something is missing. I can't quite pinpoint it, but I know that I'm doing something wrong. Okay, but I don't really know what's going on, but I just know that I feel uncomfortable at work.

I feel something is wrong. I feel like my boss is angry with me. My boss is not happy with me, but it's like something's missing, right? So maybe at this point is where maybe you found the corporate survivor or this is also the stage where you may find yourself scrolling on social media a lot trying to find some tips here and there, right? This is where it's like you kind of want

to know what's wrong and at the same time you also don't really know like what's going on. So it's a really a huge stage of confusion and you start to maybe doubt yourself. Am I really good enough? It's like, oh I thought I could do it. I thought this is the right job for me but like what the heck's going on right now? Okay, this is kind of like the feeling. So I would say that a better mindset to have at this stage is to, it's more like the aha mindset, meaning I call it the insights, meaning that, okay, at first you thought you knew everything and turns out you don't know anything. So instead of like continuing on the feelings of confusion and loss, it's better to remind yourself, okay, this is an aha, this is an insight for me, because now I can identify the gap.

Now I know that, okay, something is missing, so now I can start looking for the solution. If not, what's going to happen is that you continue to feel lost and confused, and this is how most people eventually give up. Okay, so I just want to make sure that you don't fall into this kind of like give up trap. Now, moving on to the next stage. So the next stage is about conscious competence. So here, you know what you don't know. Meaning that this is also the stage that you are then,

I would consider it the upskill stage. So this is where you're going to focus on career development. It's like now you're very aware. At first you're happy, go lucky, right? And then you feel that, okay, I don't know. I know something's wrong, but I don't know what is it. But in this stage, it's like you're aware of your gaps and how to fix it.

Meaning that you are actively practicing work organization. You're actively practicing communication. You're actively practicing giving your boss updates. You're actively practicing communication. You're actively practicing giving your boss updates. You're actively practicing speaking up at meetings. You're actively practicing to sell yourself doing performance review. Right? So this is the stage where you are actually taking action. So this is where I would say that you are focused on applying the lessons that is in the corporate survival program.

It's like, okay, now at least, you know, from I don't know into, okay, I know that these are things I need to fix. So now I'm taking step by step. I'm actually learning, problem solving. I'm learning to observe. I'm learning to better understand my boss. So it's like, you know what you don't know. So therefore you are actively addressing the gaps.

So from a movement stage, I would say that most people actually fail in this part. Most people find it very difficult to accept that there are things that you just don't know. Right? And I think this is a, in my opinion, it's a very Asian, it's a problem with the Asian education system. Because when you are in school,

you're taught that there's a right answer and there's a wrong answer. And when you don't know something, means you're wrong, means you're school, you're taught that there's a right answer and there's a wrong answer. And when you don't know something, means you're wrong, means you're stupid, you're naive. So that is a natural mindset, where, like I said, moving from the learner to upskill stage, most people, the initial instinct is to feel, oh, no. It's like, how come I'm so insert negative feeling here?

So the better mindset here is that, OK, now that I know the gap, then what can I do to fix it? And the lessons in corporate survival, I would say that is actually more focused around the upscale stage, even in our mentoring sessions as well. Okay, now next thing is that the next stage, which is ultimately the final stage that I want everybody to get to, is the unconscious competence stage. And this is a stage whereby you just know. You just know. So this is a feeling of it just doesn't feel like a problem and you're always focused on the next step. So maybe someone comes to you, maybe it's your peer or someone very junior

or manager comes to you and say, hey, this is a problem. But in your mind, it's not really a problem. It's like, oh, okay, just do this. Oh, you can actually do that. So you find yourself giving suggestions, you find yourself giving solutions, and you find yourself focusing on the next step. Because in your mind, it's not really a problem. It's like, okay, you can just do this, like, you know, no worries. And you're actually quite chill about it. And in my context, it's kind of like how I feel when, you know,

you guys, corporate survival members, submit questions for our monthly Q&A call. For me, I don't really see it as a problem. I'm like, okay, I don't know how to solve this. So, you know, you just need to do this, this, this, this, this. Right, this is the problem, and then this is kind of like how you fix it, and then this is the next thing that you need to do. So it becomes very natural. So how do you know that you are in this stage now? Obviously, in the corporate world, right, there are many things going on. So you may be very good at one particular thing, but maybe not so good at the other thing. So how do you know is that when someone comes to you and complain, and when you're

listening to whether it's your boss or your peer or someone junior to you, and this person's like complaining to you and just say, oh what do I do? You know, so stressed out. In your mind, you're totally not stressed. You'll be like, I don't know why you're so stressed out. Don't worry. And then you'll be the one super confident and say, oh don't worry. You can just do this. Oh, don't worry. I know what to do. No, just look at this document. Just do this and do that. That's how you know that at least in that particular area, actually, you are very good at it. You're actually very good at this thing. Now, this is actually really important to recognize because sometimes, right,

when you don't know one thing, it feels like, like, I don't know everything. That's not true. OK, everything's like jigsaw puzzle. You may be good at this few pieces, but maybe there are some other pieces and you don't know one thing, it feels like, I don't know everything, that's not true. Okay, everything's like Jigsaw puzzle. You may be good at these few pieces, but maybe there are some other pieces that you need to fix. So you need to start giving yourself some recognition that there are certain things that you're doing well. So I want you to take note on the things

that you're doing well, because like I said, back to the Asian education system, we are always being told that, oh, this thing you're doing wrong, you must focus on the things that you're doing wrong, which obviously is important, but I think it's also important to see things that you're doing right,

and things that actually comes very natural to you, that you are actually really, really good at. And personally for me, you know, the corporate survivor, it's not, you know, making set down for like three years, try to create this program. It's something that I realized over time, coaching you guys, right, even before, talking to my team members and working with different people

and usually people tell me, oh, maybe actually you're really good at this. I was like, how did you know this? How could you read my mind? I'm like, oh, is it? That's really how I felt. I was like, oh, okay. So actually this is something I'm really good at.

It's not really something I realized. I would say people helped me to realize. So hopefully when you're here with the other Corporate Soraya members and with me as well, it kind of like helps prompt you and help you realise there may be things that you're actually really good at but you never really pay attention to. So hopefully you use these sessions as some reflection sessions as well. Not just career development but hopefully self-development also. Okay, now the feeling that you want to face the feel here is, oh right, so that's how you feel when you have moved from the upskilling stage into expert, meaning you just know the thing. So you'd be like, oh okay right, just do this, just do that. Okay, so I saw everyone shared, it sounds to me that everybody is a pretty equal split between all the stages.

So I just want you to take note of like the stage that you're at, but regardless, there's always something that you can do about it. So I don't want you to give up. So for the four stages, the part that I wanted to take note is that you'll notice that actually I would say that a lot of people are in the learner stage or maybe a little bit of the upscale stage. So now I want to talk a little bit about when you face imposter syndrome, meaning you feel like you're not good enough. I don't know what the heck am I doing, right?

I don't feel I deserve to be promoted. All that nonsense that you're thinking in your head. So here are some suggestions for you to turn your negative feelings into positive actions. So just looking through, as I go through, you can actually put into the chat box, which are the negative feelings that you feel right now, just put in a quick number then for me to just more like an FYI and for you to take note as well, because these are probably the negative feelings and the negative mindset and feelings that you want to move away from this year.

So the first one you tell yourself, I'm not good enough. Okay, now I want you to ask, I want you to turn it into a question because when you make a statement, right, it's kind of like a sentence, it's like a finality already, which means that you accept this is who you are. No. So first one, I'm not good enough. Now you're going to turn it into, can I learn a skill? Okay, not good enough. Like in what? So can I learn a skill? Next one, you tell yourself,

ah, I think I just got lucky. No, no, no. Now you're going to ask yourself, which skills help me get that result? Next one, I feel like a fraud. Okay, But what are the examples? Why do you say that? Give tangible examples. It's not just a feeling. It's like, okay, what's the evidence that you're concluding that you're actually feeling this way? Next one. I feel like someone will find out that I'm not good enough. It's like, okay, but who will be affected? How is your work affecting other people? Like who actually told you this? Next one. It's like, you know, I don't know. Let me see. I don't know what I did to get that good feedback

or I don't know what I did to achieve this success. Some people, you know, they can do very well. And then you ask them, actually, what did you do? They're like, I don't know. So now maybe what you can do is that to find a way to get feedback, right? You can get feedback from your boss, can get feedback from me,

but doing some self-assessment will help a lot. The next one, imposter syndrome as well. You tell yourself, I don't deserve a promotion. Now the better question to ask is, have I communicated my value? Have I learned how to communicate my value to my boss, to my manager, and to ask for a promotion? To at least get feedback to know whether I deserve to be promoted or not based on the company's KPI.

Okay, now final one. Before I move on, I just want to see quickly in the chat box, 123456, which is the one that you feel that you could relate with. And these are the things that you're going to focus on, to focus on moving away from that negative feelings into more positive actions and questions this year.