Does the top brass at any company really know what’s going on? Endless examples of memes, movies, and cartoon characters poke fun at questioning how someone so seemingly inept could lead a business. Too often, business leaders become trapped by an iceberg of ignorance.
Icebergs can be deceiving. You can only see a small portion above the surface, yet they can block even the most productive team’s floe (whether it’s a sheet of floating ice or your team’s production “flow.”) However, you can use technology to avoid facing an iceberg of ignorance by increasing your leadership team’s line of sight to the most important parts of the business.
Anatomy of an Iceberg of Ignorance
Sidney Yoshida, a quality control expert, introduced the concept of the iceberg of ignorance in the 1980s. It describes the increasing lack of awareness the higher up the chain of command one goes in an organization.
Yoshida posited that top management is only aware of 4% of a company’s problems, while middle management knows about 9%. Meanwhile, supervisors understand 70% of the problems, and front-line workers are all well aware of the issues.
According to this somewhat debated viewpoint, most of an organization’s problems are hidden from those capable of making changes and improvements. With limited visibility to these issues, the leadership team cannot make informed decisions to serve the greater good of the organization.
This lack of awareness can manifest in all-too-familiar ways.
1. Employee Attrition
When unhappy employees leave a company, it negatively impacts team morale (especially when people watch the “right people” leave.) While the reasons may not be apparent to leaders without direct interaction with individual contributors, failing to understand and address the issue only exacerbates the problem. It can result in even higher employee turnover and lower productivity from those who stay. For the business itself, continually replacing employees is expensive.
2. Inconsistent or Ineffective Processes
When leaders don’t know about faulty core processes, they indirectly contribute to minor annoyances in workers’ daily tasks. Without a system to identify and solve operational issues, leaders allow bigger issues like wasted material, inconsistencies, or frequent rework to impact the bottom line. In turn, this can also impact the ability to upgrade equipment or onboard new hires.
3. Reputation Damage From Dissatisfied Customers
In the social media age, a seriously disgruntled customer can destroy a company’s reputation. Unhappy customers may simply not use a business’s services again or tell others about their negative experiences. Leadership’s failure to address the root cause of customer complaints can result in widespread revenue loss. Depending on the industry, even a minor loss in reputation can give a competitor the advantage they need to overtake the market.
4. Safety Issues
Of all the issues hidden in the iceberg of ignorance, safety issues are the most serious. Top management must be aware of problems that directly affect the health and safety of their employees. Operating faulty equipment or requiring unrealistic workloads can have permanent consequences. One inattentive moment when a tricky gear fails can result in serious injury or fatalities. Likewise, the cumulative impact on mental health from a toxic work environment or unrealistic workloads can have equally devastating results. No one wants any of that to happen.
See the Whole Iceberg
So how do leaders increase their ability to see more of the iceberg and avoid the potential consequences of what they don’t know? Leaders need a pulse on the toughest issues facing their people and a system for cascading those messages up and down.
There’s a delicate balance between seeing “enough” and getting overwhelmed with too much information to be effective. Using the right tools and a software platform that prioritizes what’s most important (the 80/20 rule) can keep leaders focused.
Technology helps simplify the process and make response time faster.
Much of that begins with building an intentional team culture of open and honest transparency. Here is where EOS® can help!
For example, the Level 10 Meeting™ Agenda has team trust baked right into it. Running these weekly meetings on EOS One® puts issues front and center so no one misses them. Things like headlines and cascaded messages become intentional parts of the meeting rhythm. That way things don’t get swept under the rug.
Plus, the EOS animals encourage people attending the meeting to challenge the way an issue is being discussed (like when people miss the point) in a fun way that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Technology to Melt the Iceberg of Ignorance
With a business operating system in place to see all the problems impacting their organization, leaders have the information necessary to solve them. A regular Meeting Pulse for everyone in the company creates a structure for sharing communications both up and down the chain while solving the most important problems. Reviewing team Scorecards during weekly meetings also offers the opportunity to visualize the health of the organization more clearly.
When the entire company uses the same software, sharing information becomes seamless. It supports the viability of major projects and goals that run across departments and at different levels. Everyone stays on the same page and is accountable for Quarterly Rocks to achieve the company vision.
Knowledge is power, and the quickest way to melt that iceberg is to allow teams to floe freely again.
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