High-Viscosity Communication Environment
Bureaucratic or cultural barriers can slow communication even when information is useful. The source uses the Soviet Union as an example of a setting with barriers to information exchange.
THE IDEA
Slowing the flow
Everything that moves has to move through something, including information. Why does some information get disseminated quickly, whereas other times it gets bogged down and seems to go nowhere? The answer often has a lot less to do with the content of the information than with the environment it has to move through. To understand just how much a communications environment can be manipulated to affect the pace of information exchange, let’s take a look at Soviet Russia. By the 1980s the Soviets had created a high-viscosity communications environment that made it hard for information to flow through it. Like a goldfish trying to swim through honey, people had an unrelentingly difficult time trying to communicate information to those who might need it.
When to use it
Diagnosing organizational bottlenecks where decision-making is slow due to communication friction.
Analyzing political regimes where information control maintains power.
Designing internal communication systems to balance speed and accountability.
Improving cross-departmental collaboration by identifying and removing unnecessary process steps.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Soviet Information Bottleneck
As an illustrative 1980s Soviet-era scenario, imagine a factory manager sending a routine replacement request through several approval layers. Each adds delay and formatting requirements. The scenario illustrates the analogy; the excerpt does not document this particular case or its duration.
Corporate Email Overload
A modern company implements an excessive number of required CC’s, approval chains, and formal templates for internal communications, unintentionally creating a high-viscosity environment where critical project updates get buried and delayed.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
In what areas of your life or work do you experience a 'high-viscosity' communication environment? What are the specific barriers?
How might you redesign a communication process to reduce viscosity without sacrificing necessary oversight?
When have you seen information flow quickly despite a high-viscosity environment, and what made that possible?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- The Great Mental Models Volume 2 Physics, Chemistry and Biology