Becoming Unconsiously Skilled: Understanding progressive learning

I have taught NLP for 23 years. I consider the designations of NLP to delineate and distinguish different levels of NLP. When a person reaches a masters level I think of that level as mastery of oneself. Skill integration takes time and practice as with other disciplines. The Master designation needs to be defined.

I have a Masters Degree in Information Science. What this designates is I have completed a certain amount of course work at a certain level. It qualifies me to get certain positions which other people without that degree would not be eligible for. This does not (or did not) mean I have all the tacit knowlegde I need to run an organization. The only way to get the knowledge is to work in the field. I've done several NLP Master tracts and assisted in several Master tracts. The knowledge and know-how I have today is gained from working and teahcing in the NLP field for so long. It is knowlegde you cannot get from another individual or classroom.

Richard Bolstad wrote an article in 1997 in Anchor Point called Teaching NLP: How to be consciously unconsciously skilled. It was based on research that Stuart and Hubert Dreyfus did at the University of California with chess players and airline pilots. Patricia Benner researched nursing graduates along the same line. Richard mapped it over to NLP students. Here is a brief synopsis
There are 5 stages of development of unconscious skill from conscious skill:
Novice: must have context free rules to guide what they do; do not know what rule takes precedent. (early in practitioner class)

Advanced beginner: given guidelines instead of rules; not black or white. (at the end of a successful practitioner)

Competent: Manage complexities of actual situations; combine processes and design interventions as a part of longer range goals; apply a vast array of guidelines. (AFTER SEVERAL WEEKS OF NLP PRACTICAL WORK and/or after a Master practitioner class)

Proficient: Unconsciously skilled at things the Competent only manages, accesses vast array of EXPERIENCES instead of guidelines. Deciding what to do with a client comes as a response to hundreds of accesses sensory based memories rather than Ad principles.

Expert: Intuitive grasp of the stiuation and zeros in on the issues that need attention without wasted time in problem solving, challenge rules and guidelines, says things like, "it just felt right.", practice becomes holistic rather than step-by-step.

Notice that a person is only half way through the process of developing unconscous skill when finishing a Master tract. And of course, this article was written in the days when people actually took real NLP courses that lasted long enough for them to actually develop some skill in class. When my master students leave my class, my goal is for them to be Competent. Some of them reach beyond that but nothing takes the place of field work. (We call that in the dance world, Floor Time. You do not learn to dance in class, you learn to dance on the floor).