By George, I think I've got it! I know to what to attribute many of the insane business decisions I witness: the unintended consequences of unconscious incompetence! I know this is a mouthful, but sometimes there is no other way to make a point. The point here is that there are lots of decisions being made at every level of leadership in almost every company by folks who have every reason to believe they know what they are doing. But because they actually don't unconscious incompetence emerges, leading to the inevitable - unintended consequences.

If you have difficulty understanding what I mean, a real world example of this is teenage pregnancy ... the ultimate unintended consequence of unconscious incompetence. (Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you really understand what you're doing!)

From a leadership and business perspective where does this wreak havoc? The most chilling examples of unconscious incompetence are present at the most senior levels and accompany companywide dictates that do serious damage to brand, Customer Experience, market share, etc. Think Toyota. None of us knows what decisions actually led to the demise of the brand, but I'm willing to bet there were MBAs involved! Or perhaps there were others that simply believed what they were suggesting would save money or time, but certainly not result in the ultimate unintended consequence ... death! Death of customers and the near death of a brand built up over decades and brought to near ruination because somebody somewhere along the line did not ask enough questions or listen to those warnings that may have been voiced.

Think the space shuttle Columbia and the O rings. Engineers that knew the product recommended a "no-go." Others, exhibiting unconscious incompetence, called a "go." The unintended consequence was a disaster of the most profound proportion. Fortunately for most of us death and disaster will not be the unintended consequence of our unconscious incompetence.

Look at Starbucks. Decisions were set forth over the past several years that seriously damaged its brand; these were made at the most senior levels to provide faster service, sell more coffee more quickly, and gain efficiencies. These decisions were characterized by CEO Howard Schultz in an internal memo: "We have had to make a series of decisions that, in retrospect, have lead to the watering down of the Starbucks' experience, and, what some might call the commoditization of our brand." Schultz went on to point out several decisions, all intended to meet the immediate needs of the business, that actually contributed to the downward spiral of the brand: (Schultz) "The need for fresh roasted coffee in every North America city and every international market, moved us toward the decision and the need for flavor locked packaging ... I believe we overlooked the cause and the affect of flavor lock in our stores. We achieved fresh roasted bagged coffee, but at what cost? The loss of aroma -- perhaps the most powerful non-verbal signal we had in our stores,the loss of our people scooping fresh coffee from the bins and grinding it fresh in front of the customer, and once again stripping the store of tradition and our heritage."
 
The sad fact is that Howard Schultz and his leadership team were a bit late to the discovery of this commoditization ... an unintended consequence. While Starbucks was diluting its brand and experience, McDonald's was realizing how much revenue could be generated by selling really good coffee ("premium"). It moved into the coffee business full tilt with the deployment of the McCafe where one can enjoy a latte, a cappuccino, etc., etc., made by a "barista." The fact is that while Starbucks was becoming more fast food-like, McDonald's was becoming more Starbucks-like. And since customers can't be in two places at once, McDonald's has been tugging at the Starbucks' customer. The real evidence of all this activity is reflected in their stock prices; in 2006 both companies stocks were at around $35 a share. Starbucks is now trying to stay in the $25 range, while McDonald's is $60+ a share. The unintended consequences of unconscious incompetence!

I hope you get what I'm saying here. What I want to suggest is that we learn to STOP, to ask questions, to understand that unconscious incompetence is facilitated by moving at a pace so fast as to allow decisions to be influenced by assumption, distortion, deletion, and generalization. The only way to really address this is to consider the possibility when making decisions at work that perhaps there are things you don't know! Move closer to what is known as conscious incompetence - I need help with this ... I have unanswered questions, etc.

What is really interesting to me is that some of the most successful people I know - the most mature and savvy managers and executives - are the most uncertain. They are the folks that always ask questions and always look to make sure they have enough information to make a judgment! They have long left behind feeling uncomfortable about asking questions.
The unintended consequences of unconscious incompetence can be seen all around us. One of the most interesting is when a culture of blame emerges. Those folks making their way in the world on the ship of unconscious incompetence naturally have difficulty taking responsibility when unintended consequences emerge. So they look to blame, to accuse, and to find fault in others which of course just leads to more of the same ... only worse!

The fact is that in this world we live in it is impossible to "know everything," so we are best served by acknowledging that "we don't know what we don't know." So we seek, we include, we test, we discuss, we work with others, we encourage our ideas to be challenged, and we look for new and different ways to do things. We demand from ourselves that we look at negative outcomes - high turnover, poor customer satisfaction, low quality, systems purchased that don't meet needs, etc., - through the prism of possibility. In this case, the possibility is that decisions made by leadership have contributed to the condition and that is where improvements must be made for the long term. The blame culture often looks to the lowest level contributor as the responsible party, when in reality decisions made about speed, systems, training, process, etc., made by LEADERS are most likely the real culprit. Until leaders consider the possibility that they suffer from unconscious incompetence at some level, unintended consequences will continue to be thought of in isolation and "blame" assigned to the wrong driver. And that prevents long term change and improvement.

Let me conclude with another example - of a personal nature. Unconscious incompetence is not only the bastion of business; it also is able to wreak havoc in our personal lives. Personally, I have discovered my area of unconscious incompetence and that is appreciation - of others, myself, my accomplishments, and the simple beauty that surrounds us every day. As for the unintended consequences, well those will remain personal. Let's just say there have been many edges filed down since I morphed my unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence. I am anxiously looking forward to a time when my appreciation of all there is to be grateful for occurs as a result of my unconscious competence!

(Just for the record, from Wikipedia: The conscious competence theory is another name for the "Four Stages of Learning," a theory posited by 1940's psychologist Abraham Maslow. The Four Stages of Learning are an explanation of how people learn something, progressing from 1. Unconscious Incompetence - you don't know that you don't know something, to 2. Conscious Incompetence - you are now aware that you are incompetent at something, to 3. Conscious Competence - you develop a skill in that area but have to think about it, to the final stage 4. Unconscious Competence - you are good at it and it now comes naturally.)

Anyway, let's face it. It's good to know that we don't know all there is to know ... and that is all I have to say about this ... for now. Your comments are welcome.

"Tell the truth // Tell me who's been fooling you // Tell the truth // Now who's been fooling who?" Eric Clapton

My Best,

Kathleen

PowerHouse Consulting
360 Route 101, Suite 6
Bedford, NH 03110
www.powerhouse1.com
1-800-449-9904

(#37, The Unintended Consequences of Unconscious Incompetence, May 2010)