Supporting · Corrective
Bad News Reaches Power
Systems learn and correct only when uncomfortable evidence can reach people with the authority and capacity to act.
Hierarchy, success, identity, fear, and incentives filter bad news as it moves upward. - Correction requires uncomfortable evidence - Hierarchy filters what reaches authority Systems learn and correct only when uncomfortable evidence can reach people with the authority and capacity to act.
Problem
Hierarchy, success, identity, fear, and incentives filter bad news as it moves upward.
Forces
- Correction requires uncomfortable evidence
- Hierarchy filters what reaches authority
Observation
Systems learn and correct only when uncomfortable evidence can reach people with the authority and capacity to act.
Pattern language
- Supporting pattern
- Corrective dynamic — tends to restore contact with reality
- Organizing force: Contact
- Master pattern: Reality Answers Back
At a glance
What it does
Systems learn and correct only when uncomfortable evidence can reach people with the authority and capacity to act.
Why it matters
Hierarchy, success, identity, fear, and incentives filter bad news as it moves upward.
Counterbalance
Create short, safe, protected routes through which failures, exceptions, dissent, and unintended effects reach decision-makers
Counterbalances
- Create short, safe, protected routes through which failures, exceptions, dissent, and unintended effects reach decision-makers
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Outgoing dynamics2 relationships
expresses
Corrective dynamic: how systems remain open to reality answering back.
weakens
Bad news reaching power counteracts distance that conceals consequence.
Incoming dynamics6 relationships
enables
Participation Creates Legitimacy
Legitimate participation strengthens routes for bad news to reach power.
weakens
Relocated judgment can weaken routes for bad news to reach power.
enables
Keeping the read open strengthens routes for bad news to reach power.
weakens
Suppressed disagreement weakens the necessary condition that bad news reaches power.
distorts
Blame can substitute for bad news reaching power by producing a simpler but less useful explanation.