What usually happens is something like this:

WHAT?!?!? Performance actually goes down?

Yup! It is perfectly normal for your performance on a competency to actually decrease at first when you try using something new or doing something in a new way.

Why is that? Simply because it's new! Your skill level is not yet honed and polished as was your former level of skill. Also, your confidence in doing this thing is not yet as high as it was in doing it the old way, even though this way is better. 

So-o-o... while you're practicing the new behavior and getting used to it, you slow down a bit. It takes more time, effort, and concentration than doing it the old way. We all do it. It's natural, it's normal, it's called being human.

"Okay," you say, "but why doesn't the curve then arch upward to full potential? Why does it flatten out with little or no overall improvement in performance?"

Excellent question! And THAT, dear learner, brings us to the main point of this entire exercise! Click Continue to discover just what the heck is going on here.