The model
A message passes through leaders, managers and local teams. At each point, ask what a recipient thinks they need to do. Repeated phrasing can indicate consistency, but it can also indicate that nobody has translated the announcement into an instruction.
- 01Announce
- 02Interpret
- 03Apply
- 04Listen
In practice
A policy message is forwarded twelve times. Every copy says further guidance will follow. The echo test asks one team how it will handle tomorrow's request and discovers that the launch has not yet reached operational meaning.
