Louder, for the people in the back ✅

Happy Monday!

A Monday newsletter? Crazy. I write my newsletters fresh the day I send them. None of that pre-packaged stuff for you all.

My normal Friday routine was replaced with playing my first ever 18 holes of golf, followed by a very short trip to my bees, and then getting my family out to a Cub Scout campout. I just didn't have time.

Something happened both at golf and at the campout that I want to write about for this newsletter: The cost of information.

I don't golf, and when I went to the course, I was struck by how many expectations there were with no explanation of them. There were expectations about pacing, the carts, raking, divots, and more, all coded in language and phrases that were not obvious to me.

What they did make obvious was that I could buy beer and drink on the course.

At the campout, the organizers provided a map of the campground, a list of activities, and then a slip of paper for each scout rank for what badges or belt loops they could earn. These three things were supposed to ensure that parents, packs, and dens could navigate easily while also ensuring the kids all got the most out of the experience.

The problem is that the map, activity list, and badge list were all inconsistent or wrong. For example, the activity list showed shooting sports as being at the range. If you went to where the range was on the map, you'd find nothing because the map was wrong and the range wasn't there at all. If you asked where it was, it would be a half mile away, and even then, you'd learn that there were multiple ranges depending on what sport you wanted.

When I would find staff, to ask about what to do, they were confused since they were given a completely different set of information from us, and often just the smallest bit they needed. The range master for archery, for example, only knew they were supposed to run their station and had no idea about the badges or where other stations were or even who to ask.

I was struck by how this kid camped out, and the golfing was exactly like most of my clients. Everyone is operating on small bits of information that have been filtered and translated in a way where nobody has the whole picture, but everyone is expected to operate as though they do.

This pattern contributes to a lot of folks disengaging from offering options, ideas, and risks. From what they see and know, their idea is obvious, but to someone else with a different slice of information, it seems ridiculous, and that judgment isn't worth it.

A big part of what I do as a consultant is to fill in these information gaps. They always exist. Sometimes they're intentionally created as folks mistakenly believe that too much information is a distraction. Sometimes they're unintentional, as information accidentally gets left out. There is a third category, which is much more insidious, where leaders believe they are being clear when their reports are misinterpreted.

If you're a leader, you've experienced that last one. It can make you feel crazy when you find out your teams have taken one comment to become law when that was never intended.

So what can you do?

As silly as this sounds, periodically reconfirm what you know with your peers. I can assure you that what seems obvious to you is a revelation to someone else.

If you're a leader, you can do this too, but it will be harder, as people often don't want to look like they don't know in front of you. You can leverage a trusted proxy to uncover what folks know and report back, but again, this introduces the possibility of mistranslation and filtering.

I have worked with plenty of teams and groups that operated for months off of incomplete information, and their misaligned judgments compounded. Everyone thought they knew what they were doing until a key milestone forced people to check. Only then did the realization that folks had been building based on wrong assumptions for months. Architecture was based on those assumptions, the tradeoffs in scope and design all built around it. These are expensive problems.

Live with the question, "What do each of us know that the other doesn't, and how might I surface it?"

Sincerely,

Ryan

PS: I want to talk to you about the challenges in your organization! Set up a call, and we'll talk. If you know someone in your company who would benefit from a chat like that, introduce me.