Skilled Unawareness

Definition

Skilled behavior that produces counterproductive outcomes creates a unique form of blindness. We are most skilled when we no longer need to pay conscious attention to what we learned that led to the skillfulness—we simply perform it automatically and effortlessly. This automatic quality is the very condition that makes skillfulness possible. Yet the prime evidence of being skillful is a kind of "designed ignorance": we literally cannot and will not pay conscious attention to the behavior we've mastered, because doing so disrupts the skill. The irony is that when this skilled behavior regularly produces counterproductive outcomes, we remain unaware of the failure because we are unaware of what we are doing.

In the Book

Argyris illustrates skilled unawareness with the example of Model I behavior. A leader who has spent decades suppressing feelings, advocating unilaterally, and making untested attributions is exceptionally skilled at these behaviors. The leader performs them smoothly, naturally, without visible effort. Colleagues cannot perceive the deliberateness because the behavior appears spontaneous. Yet because it is so skilled and automatic, the leader becomes unaware of it. When the leader says "I am telling you what I believe without hesitation or defensiveness," they are not lying—from their subjective experience, they simply are being authentic and rational. They are unaware of the gap between their espoused authenticity and their actual suppression of doubts.

The same applies to consultants and change professionals. Those who have skillfully learned to cover up their doubts, shift blame to others, and defend their diagnoses against challenge will perform these behaviors flawlessly while remaining unaware they are doing so. They will insist they are being open and learning-oriented because they have no access to how their skilled behavior appears to others.

Why It Matters

Skilled unawareness is more difficult to address than ignorance. You cannot fix what you refuse to see; you can only see what you become aware you are not seeing. With ignorance, the solution is education. With skilled unawareness, education is not enough—the person must first become aware of the behavior they have mastered to the point of invisibility. This requires external feedback, specific examples of the behavior and its consequences, and willingness to break the automaticity long enough to see it. This explains why well-intentioned, capable people—even those who have read the same books about authentic leadership—continue to produce the same defensive outcomes: their skillfulness at counterproductive behavior makes the behavior invisible to themselves.