The Knowing-Doing Gap

JEFFREY PFEFFER AND ROBERT I. SUTTON

Reviewed by Todd

“Hear one, see one, do one.”

That’s how surgical residents learn new procedures. The final step of performing the operation proves that knowledge has been acquired and transferred. This training construct matches one used by the U.S. military during simulated drills and live-fire exercises to prepare soldiers for combat. Airline pilots, ocean freighter captains, and professional athletes follow the same strategy, but business practitioners seem to favor theory over practice.

Knowing what to do is not the problem. Over 11,000 business books, 80,000 MBAs, and $60 billion worth of corporate training each year show the wide avenues by which knowledge is dispensed and acquired. But Jeff Pfeffer and Bob Sutton, authors of The Knowing-Doing Gap, describe an intellectual divide, saying, “[T]here are fewer and smaller differences in what firms know than in their ability to act on that knowledge.” They call that divide the “Knowing-Doing Gap.”

With knowledge widely accessible, the authors’ next query was “Does a Knowing-Doing gap really exist?” They cite numerous academic and industry studies to show substantial performance differences within and between companies because of the failure to adopt superior business practices within an industry, or due to the lack of sharing of best practices among plants within a single company. Rather than putting these strategies into action, organizations and their leaders choose from an array of hollow alternatives.

Pointless communication leads the list, say Pfeffer and Sutton. Talking about innovative strategy and organizational realignments with PowerPoint decks and spiral-bound planning documents resembles action in effort alone. Mission-statement development retreats consume equivalent brainpower but generate little more than frequent flier miles for the participants. Another barrier between knowing and doing are naysayers. These individuals sound smart to their coworkers and are quick to dismiss anything new as “been done before,” killing action before any momentum is reached. Naysayers are not the only impediment; strong culture, a quality of success held up by Jim Collins in Good to Great, can also stop action and smother needed change. History and tradition act as decision-making shorthand and can either keep the ship on course or lead it astray.

The authors further suggest that the “Knowing-Doing Gap” originates from fear. A primary by-product of action is failure, and mavericks willing to take chances fear losing their jobs, or, worse, suffering the humiliation of their peers’ reactions. As Deming has famously advised, drive out fear. Pfeffer and Sutton agree. Surgeons have done this by building a culture where mistakes are shared with colleagues. Business leaders should follow the example, sharing their failures and what they learned, and bring that habit to employees. Reward the risk takers with second and third chances.

“[T]here are fewer and smaller differences in what firms know than in their ability to act on that knowledge.”

The authors end the book by recounting the story of a workshop given for retail executives. A manager from Macy’s came up afterward to offer thanks and to describe how none of this would work at her company. In the parking lot was a small group from Trader Joe’s who also approached with thanks for the talk. They said that many of the lessons offered were already in place at their company, but there were some things they could do better. One of them was already on the phone with corporate headquarters sharing what was learned and was assured that those changes would “be implemented by Monday.” The group was inspired to take action rather than consider the authors’ advice as only theory. At the very least, they were willing to give it a try. As Pfeffer and Sutton say, “If you know by doing, there is no gap between what you know and what you do.” TS

The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action, Harvard Business School Press, Hardcover 2000, ISBN 9781578511242

WHERE TO NEXT? Here for doing more personally Here for doing more organizationally Here for more sales | EVEN MORE: Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton; The No-Asshole Rule by Robert I. Sutton