3.4 Leadership Communication Protocols

The Feedback Protocol: Private Correction, Public Praise

To maintain morale while enforcing standards, feedback must be delivered in the correct setting.

The Rule: "Correct in Private." Performance issues, behavioral corrections, or critical feedback regarding an individual's error must never be delivered in a group setting.
The Method: Schedule a 1-on-1 session immediately. State the observation (data/fact), the impact (cost/delay), and the required change.
Why: Public criticism creates defensiveness and destroys psychological safety, leading to hidden failures in the future.

The Rule: "Praise in Public." Recognition for successful problem solving, high effort, or innovation should be shared with the wider team or organization.
The Method: Highlight the specific behavior and outcome during Standups, Townhalls, or team syncs.
Why: Public recognition reinforces positive behavior and aligns the team on what "good" looks like.

When a process failure occurs (e.g., a line stoppage, a defect escape), the investigation must be rigorously blameless.

The Principle: All failure analyses must focus on systemic faults, process deficiencies, and environmental causes—never on individual incompetence or error.
Root Cause Reality: If an operator makes a mistake, the root cause is almost always a failure of the system (poor training, ambiguous Work Instruction, lack of error-proofing). Blaming the operator ignores the system flaw that allowed the error to happen.
The Goal: To identify the mechanical or procedural weakness and fix it permanently. Fear of punishment leads to silence, which hides defects and compounds risk.

Clear communication regarding problem ownership prevents issues from stalling between departments.

"Disagree and Commit": During decision-making, rigorous debate is encouraged. Once a decision is made by the leader, all team members must commit to executing it fully, regardless of their initial position. Passive resistance is a performance failure.
The "No Surprises" Rule: Leaders must be informed of critical risks (timeline slips, cost overruns) immediately. Waiting for a scheduled meeting to report a known crisis is prohibited. Bad news must travel fast.

In a complex technical environment, ambiguity is a source of waste.

Actionable Language: Communication must be directive and specific. Avoid vague phrases like "we should look into this." Use specific assignments: "Engineer A will investigate X and report by [Time]."
Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): Written updates and executive summaries should state the conclusion, decision, or request in the first sentence. Supporting data follows.

Mandate	Criteria	Verification Action
Feedback Setting	Critical feedback delivered 1-on-1; recognition delivered publicly.	HR and management audit confirms adherence to privacy protocols for performance correction.
Systemic Focus	Failure investigations (RCA) focus on process/system root causes.	Review of CAPA reports confirms no "operator error" is accepted as a root cause.
Rapid Escalation	Critical risks are reported immediately ("Bad news travels fast").	Incident timelines show minimal delay between event detection and leadership notification.
Decision Commitment	Teams adhere to the "Disagree and Commit" principle after a final decision.	Project execution audits verify unified team direction post-decision.