Awareness can be described as a self-reflective process of inquiry that results in knowledge or understanding of yourself, of a situation or of what you know. The process of becoming aware can be divided into several states. A coach who understands them can use different strategies to support the client most effectively in reaching results.

J. S. Atherton (2013) describes four “states of knowing”, which fall into two categories of awareness: unconscious or conscious. The unconscious category contains unconscious not-knowing (I do not know that I am incompetent) and unconscious knowing (I do not know that I am competent). The conscious category contains a conscious lack of knowledge (I am aware of my incompetence) and conscious understanding (I am aware of my competence).

The process of becoming aware begins with unconscious incompetence and ends with unconscious competence. At first I do not know that there is something I do not know. I am unaware of a gap in my knowledge, so this area does not concern me. Then I begin to realise that I lack knowledge in some area and, if it matters to me, I actively start to acquire it. In the third stage I have acquired the knowledge and I am aware that I am competent in this area: I can apply it or pass it on to others. Finally, in the last stage (mastery), I have fully integrated the knowledge or skill into my behaviour, and I no longer need to give this area attention and energy, because I can apply it automatically.

Let me illustrate this with an example. Until the moment I heard about coaching, I was unconsciously incompetent in it: I had no information, knowledge or experience in this field. After an introductory lecture I had formed a picture of coaching and understood that I was incompetent: I lacked the knowledge, the skills and the experience. Having completed my coach training and working with clients, I am aware of my competence: I have certain knowledge and skills in this field and I apply them consciously in practice. Coaches who have delivered more than a thousand hours of coaching sessions reach the stage of unconscious knowing. They have polished their skills and reached such a level of mastery that they can do their work intuitively, improvising. Yet when necessary a master can also switch back to conscious competence and explain what they did, and why, to achieve an excellent result.

When working on a client’s topic, the coach can use different approaches to evoke awareness and progress towards the coaching results, depending on which state of knowing the client is in:

a) the client lacks information about an area of knowledge or a competency: educational input will be useful, such as examples from life, learning materials or gaining new experience in everyday life;

b) the client is aware that their knowledge or competence is insufficient: it will be valuable for the client to generate ideas and to look more deeply at values, attitudes and desired results, in order to understand how far it is worth developing this competency;

c) the client has sufficient knowledge and competence: it will be valuable for the client to explore as many options as possible and to arrive at a concrete action plan for reaching the desired result;

d) the client has reached unconscious mastery: it will be valuable for the client to understand how to apply their existing resources, strengths and positive experience in new situations or in new ways.

Atherton, J. S. (2013). Knowing and not knowing. Link: doceo.co.uk/tools/knowing.htm

In preparing this article I used material from the Psychology Today article “How Can Coaches Evoke Awareness?” by Dawn C. Reid (16 February 2021). Link: psychologytoday.com

Evokes Awareness is the seventh ICF Core Competency. In short, the coach helps the client gain insight and learn, using tools and techniques such as powerful questioning, silence, metaphor or analogy.

In practice this means drawing on the client’s experience when deciding what could be most useful; challenging the client in a way that evokes awareness or insight; asking about the client’s way of thinking, values, needs, wants and beliefs; asking questions that take the client beyond their current thinking; noticing what is working and adapting the coaching to the client’s needs; helping the client see what shapes their current and future patterns of behaviour, thinking or emotion; inviting ideas about how to move forward; supporting the client in reframing their perspectives; and sharing observations without being attached to them.

The 2025 review changed only the wording of the last of these points.


This article is based on my Latvian article “Kouča kompetence – veicina apzināšanos”, published on 1 November 2021. It was translated into English and its facts were updated in October 2026. In place of the full ICF text quoted in the original, it gives a short summary and a link to the official version.