The Most Expensive Emotion in the Organisation? Embarrassment
They say no one ever died of embarrassment.
My GP disagrees. Patients who are too embarrassed to come forward with a lump, a rash or a discharge in an awkward place sometimes do die. Not because the condition was untreatable, but because early intervention never happened.
Organisations are not hospitals. But embarrassment can still prove surprisingly expensive. It delays questions, suppresses doubt and turns uncertainty into silence.
We often assume silence means agreement. In reality, it often means confusion.
Organisations have a hidden emotional economy. Every day people trade understanding for dignity. They would rather appear informed than admit confusion. Individually the compromises seem small. Collectively they can leave an organisation making important decisions on the basis of partial understanding.
The consequences can be costly.
I remember a presentation on a proposed commercial property investment. The figures suggested attractive returns. The risks appeared manageable. The financial modelling looked sophisticated. Around the table people nodded thoughtfully as the proposal was explained.
Afterwards, over coffee, one manager admitted they hadn't really understood how the projected returns were calculated. Another confessed they had been equally confused. A third said they had assumed everyone else understood it, so had kept quiet.
Nobody wanted to be the person who interrupted the meeting and asked the question that might expose what they didn't understand.
The investment went ahead. The returns did not.
The problem was not that nobody understood the figures. The problem was that several people didn't understand them and each assumed everyone else did.
The same dynamic is often present in major IT projects. Consultants arrive with specialist language, technical diagrams and promises of transformation. Senior managers listen carefully, ask a few questions and approve the proposal.
Months later the organisation discovers it has bought something it never fully understood. The system was not oversold because people were careless. It was oversold because too few people were willing to admit they were struggling to follow the sales pitch.
Board reports reveal another version of the same problem.
They are often criticised for being too long, too technical and full of jargon. The official explanation is that senior people are busy. My suspicion is that some reports are written to demonstrate expertise rather than improve understanding.
Many organisations insist that reports begin with a short summary and clear recommendations. This is sensible. But summaries have a weakness. By their nature they simplify the argument. The nuances disappear. Assumptions become less visible. Important questions are never asked.
In one organisation it was quietly accepted that some board members read little beyond the summary and recommendations. This was presented as efficiency. It may also have been a socially acceptable way of avoiding embarrassment.
Finance provides perhaps the clearest example.
Managers will happily spend hours debating operational issues. Yet financial reports often pass through meetings with surprisingly little challenge. Not because they are less important, but because managers know they are expected to understand them and don't want to risk exposing the limits of their understanding.
It is remarkable how much confidence managers display when challenging HR and how much caution they show when challenging Finance.
As a senior manager I came to believe that one of the most important management skills is asking the right question. Not because you are the least informed person in the room, but because there is usually more bluffing in the room than anyone is willing to admit.
Modern organisations make this harder. Structures are flatter. Responsibilities are broader. Managers routinely find themselves leading services they have never worked in and making decisions about subjects they barely encountered in their careers.
The pressure is not to understand everything.
The pressure is to appear as though you do.
We spend a lot of time talking about fear in organisations. Fear of failure. Fear of change. Fear of speaking truth to power.
But many costly mistakes have a simpler origin.
Someone did not understand.
They wanted to ask.
They looked around the room.
Everyone else was nodding.
So they nodded too.
And the organisation carried on, none the wiser.
blairmcpherson.co.uk
