We Don’t Know What We Know
I can’t tell you how many times I’m in a conversation or strategy presentation with the senior management team of a major corporation and one of the first topics which comes up is their frustration with the lack of effective internal communication and information sharing in their own company. I’m not talking about mushy mission statements or internal HR “touchy-feely” messaging; I’m talking about the hard core, operational data which you need to drive the business and – even more crucial – the kind of anecdotal material and other market inputs which often get talked about at the water cooler, but never make it upstream to the people who can react to the information and change things. Information has no value unless it’s successfully communicated.
These execs literally say that they (as well as other critical in-house decision makers) don’t know what their own organization knows and – try as they might – they haven’t been able to devise an effective solution to make the current situation better. They acknowledge that - even in the best of businesses - the quality of information deteriorates as it rises in the organization. And again, this covers every kind of information that’s important to the company – we’re not just talking about critical research or new discoveries; it can be as mundane as meeting menus or engineers needing more microwaves in the café – it’s anything that bears on and impacts the overall productivity and success of the business.
This system-wide breakdown results in: (a) missed opportunities, duplicative efforts and misdirected expenditures; (b) inappropriate communications, false starts and other initiatives which eventually need to be walked back from the brink; and (c) the old standby where “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing”. It’s inefficient, it’s unprofessional and beyond embarrassing, and frankly it’s a growing competitive disadvantage for any business. Data is the oil of the digital age and, if you’re behind the curve or only seeing part of the story, you’re in serious trouble which is only likely to get worse. Data alone won’t do it of course because more data isn’t the same as better information. You need a system that turns data into information and information into knowledge. Knowledge only becomes power when it’s used and – unlike every other part of the creation and production process in any business – growing knowledge isn’t subject to the law of diminishing returns.
As the information flow in the outside world becomes more and more streamlined and comprehensive, not having timely and accurate data about your own internal operations, issues and activities is an enormous information gap which consistently results in wastes of time, resources and energy. It can demoralize your people; anger your customers; confuse your partners and vendors; and give aid and comfort to the competition. I tell our member companies at 1871 that only two words matter today – transparency and efficacy. A fair assumption is that everyone everywhere will know what you’re doing and how well you’re doing it and, if you don’t, shame on you. You’d think that addressing this kind of shortcoming would be a priority, but the lack of existing tools or technologies to help address the problem has pretty much remitted it to being a known concern with no known solution. Apologies for the slightly Rumsfeld-esque reference.
There are several reasons for this persistent problem (which I would note is by no means restricted to “big” businesses) and this seems to be a recurring issue for millions of businesses regardless of how “open” a business claims to be. Some of the practical impediments to timely sharing are structural and logistical issues including cases where surveys may be manual, where the respondents are multi-lingual or where employees are widely distributed, in different time zones and/or in distant locations. Others are procedural or hierarchical where there may be a reluctance to confront more senior managers, sensitivities around relationships with other groups or departments, a culture that prefers peace to progress and quiet to confrontation, etc. And then there are the “kill the messenger” concerns where no one wants to be the one to deliver the bad news. Last, but not least, are managers who don’t want to know. Even though confusion is a higher state of knowledge than ignorance, these are the folks who say: “don’t confuse me with the facts”. (See http://www.inc.com/howard-tullman/3-things-you-need-to-know-about-advertising.html .)
But there’s good news on the horizon. An 1871 company, Baloonr (www.baloonr.com), has built a simple, self-serve, system that enables rapid-fire, company-wide, anonymous (but trackable) information, idea and feedback gathering from sources inside the company (as well as outside if desired) on a prioritized and confidential basis. Any group of any size can be accommodated at any time. Talk about a “right now” solution. It’s already being used by a variety of large organizations - ranging from startups to universities to Fortune 50 companies - and the results have been impressive. My favorite quote from one of the early users was “it was like putting on glasses for the first time”.
As proposals move through the system, advancing and being enhanced at the same time, they gain support and weight from various quarters and eventually they can be claimed and properly attributed to their authors. Credit ultimately goes to those to whom it is due and no one is penalized or stigmatized for suggesting ideas that didn’t make the consensus cut.
As you might expect, the most immediate organizational advantage of the Baloonr system is actually the simplest. It’s like a “secret ballot” on steroids. The initial cloak of anonymity makes it possible for everything to be shared without reservations (or personal consequences) and for the best suggestions and thoughts – regardless of origin or authorship – to be floated up to the top of the pile. (Pun intended.)
In addition, while we keep hearing about how the introverts are a great untapped resource at many companies, this system permits even the most reticent to participate and contribute for the greater good. All of the constraints relating to status, authority, gender, position, etc. are effectively removed and true collaboration is possible.
And finally, and even more importantly, high-speed iteration and building on the best ideas is enabled (again without positively or negatively “considering the source”) with participants from across the entire enterprise joining and adding to the conversation.
If knowledge is power, Baloonr may hold the keys to the kingdom. Because today it’s what you don’t know that you don’t know that can kill your business in no time at all.
PS: “You Get What You Work for, Not What You Wish for”
