We need to talk

"We can't solve the problems we don't talk about." This was a favorite quote from one of my former managers and something I call out to the team time and time again. It's a basic idea that goes back thousands of years. In the Iliad we see Achilles say to his cousin Patroclus "Speak, Patroclus, then we will both know what is on your mind."

The concept is simple but the impact can is broad and deep. By speaking clearly about what we are struggling with, we can better solve for its outcomes. This occurs in a few ways:

• The psychologist Jordan Peterson suggests that people are not good at thinking through complex arguments and can more effectively articulate points if they assign different personas to different sides and then talk the points out loud, rather than mulling them over in their head.
• By speaking the thoughts and problems out loud we can identify differences in expectations between our idea of the task and our managers ideas of the task. This lets us realign where we're off.
• We often have blind spots in our understanding or are missing context. Clearly laying out our understanding can help others to fill in the blanks.

While simple, it's not always easy. It's easy to feel like you risk being "dumb" by not knowing what's going on. Or that you might be too direct or mean in telling your manager why certain behaviors are making your life harder. Bold steps are often worth it. You can always step into it with someone you feel more comfortable with. But do it.