The Curse of Knowledge

One of the first things I had to overcome when I started working with clients 5 years ago was the curse of knowledge: the assumption that people had roughly the same level of knowledge on a given topic as I did (and vice-versa). This was especially true as I was entering a new sector (not-for-profits) and bringing experience from digital-first startups to long-established organisations. It’s been one of the most rewarding things I’ve learned. Simplify, go down to the essentials, check whether people are following, and find the right level of detail to keep everyone engaged and growing.

This week, though, I read about the flip side to the curse of knowledge, and it resonated deeply with me:

At one point, this knowledge was new to me, but now that I've internalised it, it's become obvious to me. That means that I struggle to appreciate that it can be mind-blowing to others.

Remembering this might just be the antidote to constantly wondering if the guidance I’m giving our clients, the insights we bring to them, and the solutions we come to as a group are enough.

Quick decision-making

When working with a new team and conducting a digital skills audit, one of the first things I look for is their speed at making decisions in their day-to-day work.

How much ownership does each person have over the small decisions they make? How much autonomy? Do they have a well-honed instinct for what will work, what’s risky, what’s reversible?

There’s a stereotype that not-for-profit teams are very consultative, and I’ve found that to be true. That can be a strength: we know that diverse viewpoints help us make better decisions. But when it leads to daily decision paralysis, it slows us down dramatically.

At one extreme, some teams rely on their all-in meetings to make simple, reversible decisions. At the other extreme, I’ve seen individual contributors who skirt around very clear regulatory risk, when they really need a second set of eyes.

And in my day-to-day, it means calibrating between autonomous work and consulting others, both in the projects I lead and the projects I contribute to.

I’d used the language for a long time, but found this decision matrix and short blog post to be a great explanation of the concept, and illustration of where we should be spending our time.