The Visibility Funnel

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞... 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫?

One pattern we've noticed in organizations is that information doesn't usually disappear all at once.

𝘐𝘵 𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘴.

The people closest to the work often have the richest understanding of what's happening. But as observations move through conversations, interpretation, prioritization, and reporting, they become shorter, cleaner, and easier to communicate.

Sometimes that's exactly what's needed.

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺.

The result is that leadership may receive information that's accurate, yet still incomplete.

That raises an interesting question...

𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘶𝘱𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭?

Or are we unintentionally helping compress them into something that's easier to report, but harder to fully understand?

Where do you see the greatest loss of context inside organizations during team discussions, management interpretation, formal reporting, or somewhere else?