The Humanistic Gap, Part 3: So, We Created A Director Title
We are getting better at naming the problem.
We are not getting better at solving it.
We’ve Seen This Before
Think about DEIB. When it was done with integrity – and it was, in many organizations – it moved culture. It created belonging and it gave people language for experiences they’d carried silently for years. Juneteenth is now recognized in workplaces across the country because people in those organizations took that work seriously and didn’t stop at the statement. That is what systemic change looks like and it deserves to be named.
I have also sat across from leaders in organizations who had the title, the statement and the initiative – and whose people were still experiencing racism and bullying behind closed doors. The external language changed but the internal lived experience did not. Naming something without applying systemic change is not progress. It’s performance and optics. The people inside those organizations know the difference – even when they’re too polite or too tired to say so out loud.
The Humanistic Gap is following the same pattern.
Why Is AI And Organizational Strategy So Secret?
I want to ask this as an honest question, not as an indictment.
Why do so many organizations keep their AI and other operational strategy behind closed doors until it becomes a crisis or a rollout without notice? There are legitimate reasons: legal caution, numbers still being worked out, fear of feeding the rumor mill before plans are solid. I understand that.
But I also want to name other possibilities: sometimes AI is used as cover for decisions that were already being made. Sometimes it is leaders who don’t want to share strategy because they don’t want push back by stakeholders. Sometimes the avoided push back is from employees doing the work and know better what is needed. It could be restructuring that was coming anyway or reductions that had nothing to do with technology. The uncertainty that employees feel in those situations isn’t paranoia. It’s pattern recognition built from experience.
What would it look like to share more and share earlier – not as a promise, but as a conversation?
What Silence Actually Costs
When people don’t have information, remember, they don’t sit in a neutral state of waiting. The human brain is built to reduce uncertainty, constantly constructing a story that creates a manageable model of reality before all the facts are available. In the absence of information, those stories can quickly become experienced as truth that will expand and sometimes turn into catastrophizing. The less information people have, the more they rely on past experiences to fill in the gaps.
I hear the same complaint consistently across organizations, across industries, across decades of coaching: I wish leaders would come see how the work is actually done before they make decisions about it. Come down here before you decide up there. The people doing the work have information leadership often doesn’t have – and that they aren’t asking for.
This is not a resilience problem. This is a respect problem and it predates every disruption we’ve discussed.
What Real Transparency Could Look Like
People want to know what is happening in their organization. Not every detail. Not premature commitments. But enough to think, to plan, to decide what the information means for them personally.
Leaders have time to sit with discomfort, work through the numbers and arrive at a plan. The workforce often gets the outcome without the process. That gap – in time, in information, in basic dignity – is where trust erodes quietly and consistently.
Transparency doesn’t require certainty. It requires honesty about what you know, what you don’t, and when you expect to know more. Leaders can share direction without sharing every detail. High-level communication is different from full disclosure. It’s the difference between breaking the silence and dismantling the wall.
Tips:
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Consider This:
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Final Thoughts:
Leading forward,
Michelle
Bridging The Gap - where insight leads to impact.
A monthly reminder that thinking requires space.
Signal vs. Noise
If there is one thing today’s workforce is not lacking, it’s input.
Emails.
Meetings.
News alerts.
Strategic priorities.
Budget pressures.
Technology updates.
Constant change.
The human brain was designed to notice signals. Yet when the volume of input becomes relentless, everything begins to feel equally important. Signal becomes noise.
This month, consider a different question: What am I treating as urgent that is simply loud?
Notice what immediately comes to mind.
Then ask: What actually deserves my attention right now?
Not next month, not next quarter, not someday.
Right now.
Clarity often doesn’t emerge from gathering more information.
Sometimes it emerges from reducing the noise long enough to hear what matters.
Be curious.
Because The Heart Of Every Great Organization Still Beats Human.®
-Michelle Ogle, Bridge Executive Coaching
ADVANCED COACHING PROGRAM
Leadership Under Pressure
• Navigating conflict without sacrificing relationships
• Understanding the human dynamics driving performance and resistance
• Strengthen influence and decision-making when the stakes are high
• Build trust, alignment and influence in complex environments
Michelle C. Ogle, M.A., Executive Coach, Organizational Consultant
Human behavior drives every organization.
For more than 30 years, Michelle has studied what captures attention, creates engagement, builds trust, influences decisions and drives behavior. As an executive coach, organizational consultant, and Possibility Strategist, she helps leaders apply those insights to strengthen relationships, align teams, and lead with greater impact.
Because The Heart Of Every Great Organization Still Beats Human.®
-Michelle Ogle, Bridge Executive Coaching