Recently, I tripped across the Iceberg of Ignorance in this post by the Corporate Rebels. I agree with their message of melting the iceberg with humility. However, I also think shared ownership would help with the iceberg.
The iceberg is the work of consultant Sydney Yoshida, who was working with Japanese car manufacturer Calsonic. Yoshida’s model suggests frontline workers know 100% of the problems in a company, 74% by supervisors, 9% by middle management, and 4% by executives.
I don’t know if Yoshida’s numbers are accurate, however I think they’re representative. The 4% and 9% numbers at the senior levels of the iceberg don’t strike me as unusual. I see this all the time in companies, and I see many good and bad reasons for it being this way.
Ideally, executive leaders are aware of 100% of the problems in their organization. The challenge is in knowing which problems to pay the closest attention to and whether they’re even visible to them. Too much information and you won’t see the problems. Too little information and it’s simply not available to you.
Making them visible
Let’s assume your company is a ship speeding across the Atlantic at night. The ship’s Captain is the executive leader, and the spotter watching for icebergs is the front-line worker.
