We all develop abilities that eventually feel effortless, but the path to that ease is anything but accidental. The Four Stages of Competency reveal how we move from unawareness to mastery, and how, along the way, our most valuable strengths often become the ones we stop noticing. In blog, we review witnessing unconscious competence in real time, to uncover what true preparedness looks like.

Operational empathy is not sympathy. It is the act of listening and understanding the operations. It is the constant reminder that manufacturers manufacture. It is the act of staying close enough to the floor to sense things such as fatigue, complacency, and momentum.