I’ve had cause to looked into research and ideas about the ways information flows within organizations. Discussions about transparency, decision making, empowering teams, and trust seem to intersect at organizational communication and information flows.
One of my favorite people to follow in this space is Gene Kim (Phoenix Project, DevOps Handbook, Accelerate, and DORA Reports). He has done a few podcasts that focused on relevant topics and concluded that you can predict whether an organization is a high performer or a low performer, just by looking at the communication paths of an organization, as well as their frequency and intensity. (Episode 16, @54 min)
Some of these ideas might resonate with you. There are generally two forms of information flows:
- Slow flows where we need detailed granularity and accuracy of information. Leadership usually needs to be involved in these discussions so communication tends to escalate up and down hierarchies.
- Fast flows where frequency and speed tend to be more important. These flows occur in the operational realm, where work is executed, and happen directly between teams using existing interfaces.
In the ideal case, a majority of the communication is happening within and between teams using fast flows. Forcing escalation up and down the hierarchy means getting people involved who probably don’t have a solid grasp of the details. Interactions are slow and likely lead to poor decisions. On the other hand, when teammates talk to each other or where there are sanctioned ways for teams to work with each other with a shared goal, integrated problem solving is very fast.
This doesn’t mean all information flows should be fast. There are two phases where slow flows are critical: Upfront planning and Retrospective assessment. Planning and preparation are the activities where we need leaders to be thoughtful about defining the goals and then defining responsibilities and the structures to support them. Later, slow communications come back when we assess and improve our performance and outcomes.
Thinking, Fast and Slow
I want to be clear that fast and slow information flows are different concepts than the fast and slow modes of thinking explored in Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking, Fast and Slow. The book explores two systems of thinking that drive the way humans make decisions.
- System 1 (Fast Thinking): This system is intuitive, automatic, and operates quickly with little effort or voluntary control. It’s responsible for quick decisions, habits, and reactions.
- System 2 (Slow Thinking): This system is deliberate, analytical, and requires effortful mental activity. It’s used for complex computations, learning new information, and solving difficult problems.
Kahneman discusses how these two systems can work together, but sometimes lead to biases and errors in judgment. He talks about how these modes can affect decision-making and offers suggestions into how we can become more aware of these biases to make better decisions.
Obviously another area worth exploring to help understand how organizations can support people to create better outcomes.