Exceptions teach the organization too.

There are moments in organizations that seem too small to change anything.

A difficult conversation gets postponed. A behavior everyone noticed goes unaddressed. An exception is made because, this time, there is a good reason for it.

On their own, none of these decisions seem particularly important.

But I’ve started to wonder whether people experience them quite as individually as the people making them do.

What looks like an exception from one perspective can look like information from another.

Organizations say a lot about what matters. Collaboration matters. People should speak openly. We want ownership. We value quality.

Most of these things are genuinely meant.

But people don’t learn how an organization works only from what is said. They also watch what happens when those principles become inconvenient.

A strong performer makes collaboration harder for everyone around them, but continues to be rewarded because the results are good. Someone raises a concern at the wrong moment and is treated as an obstacle to getting the work done.