The Curse of a Poor Working Memory
How we can build work environments that support weak debaters
I have a poor working memory. When I was in high school, my mom would remark that she didn’t understand how I could excel at calculus while simultaneously struggle with mental math. If someone asked me who my favorite band was, I would rack my brain to find the answer — but once I did I could tell you everything you could ever want to know about the members, meanings behind their albums, and what it was like to see them live in concert.
My workaround for this has been to create cues, or “traps”, to systematically trigger my memory. For example, if I need to donate some items to charity, I’ll make a pile of items by my front door to serve as a visual reminder that I need to schedule a pickup time. I leave a planner open on my desk with written to-do’s to remember that there’s even a to-do list in the first place. Mnemonics are the only technique that got me through Spanish — I still remember the definition of “poder” from these mental gymnastics: poder → peas in a pod → peas come in cans → can.
I see myself like Leonard from Memento, who suffers from a brain injury preventing him from forming new long-term memories, and frantically writes information down before it disappears from his short-term memory. Entirely dependent on the reminder systems I’ve built for myself to solve problems, form compelling arguments, and simply be a functional adult.
This system works well when I’m working in an isolated environment. However, when working with others (especially those who are skilled spoken debaters), it’s incredibly challenging for me to articulate my thoughts. My brain will go blank — every argument for my idea flying out the window — and I’m easily persuaded to go along with someone else’s strategy because they can articulate supporting evidence on the fly.
Once I have the space to be with my thoughts, organize them on paper, and then present them to others, I instantly feel like a smarter version of myself. I know what I’m talking about, and I actually have some good ideas! This is usually followed up with feelings of frustration — why weren’t others willing to listen to me in the moment? Are they trying to manipulate me? Is this just imposter syndrome?
Most likely the answer is somewhere in the grey area. Of course others are less willing to listen to me in the moment if I’m drawing blanks, and they probably do care about affirming their own ideas. And I do feel significant imposter syndrome in the moment because it appears even to myself that I don’t know what I’m talking about, which is quickly replaced with a feeling of being undermined once I have mental clarity.
Supporting Different Types of Thinkers at Work
Meeting Memos
Jeff Bezos notoriously developed the idea of the six-page memo, requiring executives to write memos before meetings to discuss a new product or idea. The memo is then reviewed by the team for the first 20 minutes of the meeting before being discussed.
Similarly, in The Great CEO Within, Matt Mochary outlines a lite version of the six-page memo. Anyone who wants to discuss an issue in a meeting writes up a memo describing a problem and desired solution, and circulates the document for comments before the meeting. Then the meeting time can be focussed on discussing comments and coming to a decision.
A memo-based strategy enables people with weaker in-person debate skills to both organize their thoughts through writing and provide feedback in written comments. At the same time the in-person meeting provides the opportunity for spoken communicators to expand on their thoughts and come to a better collective understanding. The key here is intentionally creating space for both styles to flourish to develop the best solution, which is often a synthesis of various perspectives.
Hybrid Work
Expanding on the memo method, hybrid work creates more opportunity for written communicators to develop their ideas while also supporting the spontaneous idea generation that’s only possible with in-person work. The definition of hybrid varies a lot — a larger enterprise might prescribe 2-3 days of being in the office per week while a startup might adopt a remote model with regular retreats to optimize for idea generation in short bursts. While the jury is out on what hybrid work structure is the best (and quite frankly, it depends on the company, people, and product) the ability to have periods of time working alone and around others is a win-win for all types of communicators.
Asking for Space
Lastly, if you’re a written communicator being pummeled with questions or requests for a decision by a spoken communicator, it can often feel overwhelming and like you should just agree to whatever their recommendation is (they are the one who is thinking more clearly in this moment, right?). While that urge may be strong in the moment, a better strategy — especially for important decisions that don’t need an immediate response — is to ask for some time to think on your own, perhaps to write and clarify your thoughts. You’ll want to put a deadline on this process (e.g. I’ll get back to you by 2pm today) so that you don’t end up bottlenecking all decisions, and also be intentional about what you spend your time mulling over versus outsourcing decision-making to someone else.
Conclusion
We must intentionally develop systems in our workplaces that can serve the variety of different thinkers that we collaborate with, so that the loudest voice in the room doesn’t always get final say. Not only does this help written communicators to better clarify their thoughts, but it also means that organizations will be able to assess the wide array of solutions that their teammates come up with and choose the best ones.
To answer my mom’s question, the reason I loved calculus was because it was all about learning systems. Systems are much easier for me to commit to long-term memory than vocabulary or factoids, and could be solved on paper without much working memory. Sure, you needed to know a handful of formulas to start, but once I understood the theory and derivation of the formulas I needed, I was successful.