Donato BlandolinoYou rarely get the most important information in a plant in a meeting. You get it at the coffee machine. Not because people lie in meetings, but because a meeting is a place where you say what you are allowed to say. Understanding this also explains why status reports stay green until it is too late, and what can be changed.
Why are the decisive statements not made in the meeting?
Because the meeting has consequences and the coffee machine does not.
A meeting has minutes, a status, a boss at the table and a consequence for every statement. Anyone who says the deadline will not hold has to explain why, and is then remembered as the person who said it. The coffee machine has none of that. There are no minutes, no traffic lights, no assigned responsibility. People say what is happening.
Three statements heard at the coffee machine in almost every plant, and in almost no meeting:
- ‘The line will be down again tomorrow. Everyone knows that.’
- ‘Officially, the intermediate storage area does not exist.’
- ‘The deadline will not hold, but nobody says so while it is green.’
Each of these statements is information that could save a project. None appears in a status report. Not because they are secret, but because saying them comes at a price in the meeting and at none at the coffee machine.
What the difference costs
The gap between what is known at the coffee machine and what is said in the meeting is the most expensive gap in a plant. It can be measured in time.
| What is known at the coffee machine | What the status report says | What the gap costs |
|---|---|---|
| The line will be down again tomorrow | Availability on plan | Shifts planned as if the line were running |
| The intermediate storage area does not officially existIntermediate storage as a symptom | Stock levels according to the system | Capital and space nobody sees until the stocktake |
| The deadline will not hold | Status green | Weeks when countermeasures could still have been taken |
| The new process is being bypassed | Process introduced, training completed | A system that no longer reflects reality |
We repeatedly have the same experience in our assignments: what we hear at the coffee machine in the first few days appears in none of the status reports from the last three months. That is why we initially spend more time there than in the project room. Not because we love coffee, but because that is where the accurate version of the plant's story is told.
How to discover the unofficial version in the first few days
The coffee machine stands for any place without minutes: the smoking area, the corridor after a shift, the conversation at the line while the machine is running. What works there can be described.
- Ask, do not inspect. Arrive with a clipboard and you get the meeting version. Ask how the day went and what got stuck today, and you get the other version.
- Do not take notes, at least not visibly. The information comes because it has no consequences. As soon as it does, the source dries up.
- Ask about ‘everyone knows that’. When you hear this phrase, it is worth asking: who knows, since when, and who told whom? The answer reveals where information gets lost on its way up the organisation.
- Listen before interpreting. The unofficial version is not always complete, but it is almost always closer to reality than the report. Qualify it immediately and you will not hear it a second time.
How to make the meeting more like the coffee machine
The real point is not the coffee. It is why these statements are not made in the meeting, and whether that can change. It can, with three interventions.
- Report amber without repercussions. An amber status triggers help, not questions about blame. This must not just be stated; it must be demonstrated the first time amber is reported. Ask who is responsible at the first honest amber report, and you will never get another one.
- Ask questions rather than requesting status updates. ‘Where are we?’ produces percentages. ‘Where are you stuck, and who can resolve it?’ produces information. The difference sounds small, but changes what people talk about in the room.
- Use ‘everyone knows that’ as an invitation. When the phrase comes up, that is the moment to take it up: let us say it out loud now and write it down. Not as a reproach, but as permission. From the second time onwards, people say it in the meeting themselves.
None of these three interventions costs money. All three cost something else: leadership's willingness to allow the truth without repercussions. That is harder than any action plan, and it is why most plants stick with the coffee machine.
What this means for leadership
A plant where the truth is only told at the coffee machine does not have a communication problem. It has a problem with consequences. The workforce knows everything. It has simply learnt where it is allowed to say it and where it is not.
Anyone who wants to change this does not need to drink more coffee. They need to design meetings to be more like the coffee machine. Until then: anyone who wants to understand their plant should know where the coffee machine is.
What did you last learn at the coffee machine that was never said in a meeting?
Frequently asked questions
Why do employees not share what they know in meetings?
Because meetings have consequences: minutes, status reports and managers at the table. Anyone who raises a problem has to explain it and becomes associated with it. Those consequences do not exist at the coffee machine, so people say what is really happening. This is not a breach of trust, but the logical response to a culture in which honesty comes at a price.
How can a leader or interim manager discover a plant's unofficial version of events?
By asking rather than inspecting, in places without minutes, without visibly taking notes and without immediately qualifying the answers. The phrase ‘everyone knows that’ is the most important signal: it shows where information gets lost on its way up the organisation.
How do you make meetings more honest?
With three interventions: allow amber reporting without repercussions and act accordingly the first time; ask about obstacles rather than status; and use ‘everyone knows that’ as an invitation to say it out loud. None costs money. All require a willingness to allow the truth without repercussions.
Why do status reports stay green until the project tips into crisis?
Because amber means trouble in most organisations. Anyone reporting amber has to explain themselves. So the status stays green until it can no longer be sustained and jumps straight to red. The fact that the deadline would not hold was usually known weeks beforehand, just not in the meeting.
About SMART iNTERIM
SMART iNTERIM Management is a transformation partner for manufacturing: Operational Transformation, SAP and Enterprise Transformation, Program & Project Management, as well as Interim Management and Executive Search. We bring hands-on experience, not a detached perspective. Headquartered in Switzerland, with an office in Dubai.
