The Myth Behind "Everyone Knows"
Why one simple assumption quietly creates inconsistency throughout an organization.
One of the phrases I hear when working with leadership teams is, "Everyone knows that."
- Everyone knows where the form is.
- Everyone knows the process.
- Everyone knows to follow up.
- Everyone knows that's not how we do things.
Maybe they do, but maybe they don't.
The challenge with the word everyone isn't that it's always wrong. It's that it's almost never verified. It becomes a shortcut that allows us to move past the conversation instead of having it.
Sometimes people were never told. Sometimes they were told once, years ago. Sometimes they were trained by someone who did it differently. Sometimes they learned from another leader with another set of expectations. And most times, they genuinely believe they're doing exactly what they've been asked to do.
And even when everyone does know, processes have a way of drifting over time. People naturally find shortcuts, eliminate steps they don't see as valuable, or adjust the work to make it easier for themselves. Rarely is it done with bad intentions. More often, they simply don't realize the impact those small changes have on the next department, the customer, or the business as a whole.
Yet when the outcome falls short, we often assume the problem is execution.
What if the problem is the assumption?
Experience doesn't create consistency. Continually reinforced expectations do.
Ten people can work for the same organization, attend the same orientation, and genuinely believe they're following the process. If expectations have been interpreted differently, reinforced differently, or modeled differently, you'll get ten slightly different versions of success.
From a distance, it looks like people aren't following the process. In reality, they may all be following the process they believe they're supposed to follow. That's a very different problem. It's also why I become cautious every time I hear the word everyone.
- "Everyone knows..."
- "Everyone understands..."
- "Everyone has access..."
- "Everyone does it this way..."
Those statements may be true, but they're also assumptions until they're verified.
Before concluding that people aren't meeting expectations, take a moment to ask a different question:
How do we know everyone knows?
The answer may reveal that the issue isn't effort. It isn't attitude. It isn't accountability.
It may simply be that everyone has never shared the same understanding in the first place.
The cost of that assumption isn't just confusion. It's inconsistency. And inconsistency has a way of showing up where leaders least expect it: in the customer experience, in cross-functional relationships, and ultimately, in business results.
