Your Leadership Doesn't Know What's Going On: Olivia Montgomery on why decisions belong lower in the org — The Coordination Tax
Leadership Insights

Your Leadership Doesn't Know What's Going On: Olivia Montgomery on why decisions belong lower in the org

Episode notes

The conversation, captured

Date
September 1, 2026
Participants
Kristian Luoma Olivia Montgomery

The Coordination Tax is a podcast by In Parallel about what actually breaks down when teams stop sharing the same reality. In this episode, host Kristian Luoma sits down with Olivia Montgomery — principal analyst at Data Frame and, before that, a Gartner researcher who spent more than a decade studying how project management, PMOs, and organizational design actually work. The conversation is about the instinct every organization over 20 people has: when things get harder, add layers, add meetings, add controls. Olivia's argument is that each layer up the org chart knows less about what is really going on, not more — and that the fix is not more visibility for leadership but pushing decisions down two or three levels, to a place that feels uncomfortable.

Summary

  • Meetings and tools are not the problem. Misuse is — the same meeting or tool does real work in one team and burns the week in another.
  • Every layer up the org chart knows less about what's really going on, not more. Leadership's sense of clarity is almost always wrong.
  • The fix isn't more visibility for leadership. It's pushing decisions down two or three levels — far enough that it feels uncomfortable.
  • The Monday-morning test: can each person say what they own this week without asking anyone? If not, the clarity leadership believes exists doesn't.
  • Mixing meeting types — status, brainstorm, decision — is one of the quietest destroyers of time in an organization. Each needs different people, different prep, different length.
  • The first test to apply to any meeting or process: is this alleviating uncertainty? If it isn't, it's coordination overhead.
  • Gartner-era research: formal PMOs measurably improve project delivery and success rates. The structure earns its keep when it removes uncertainty rather than adding reporting.
  • Ten years of data show emotional intelligence in project leaders correlates with better project outcomes. It is a measurable performance driver, not a soft skill.
  • A strict KPI focus creates dishonesty. People optimize for the number being reported rather than the reality it was meant to represent.
  • AI tools built for engagement are silently eating the productivity gains their vendors promise — they are designed to keep you talking.
  • Companies need a conscious AI vision of their own. Absent one, the vision gets set by whichever vendor sold in first.
  • The product-research problem: too many tools are built for the builder rather than researched with the people who have to use them.
  • The one thing to do this week: identify the decisions that require the most meetings, and ask honestly why the team doing the work can't make them.

What was discussed

Meetings and tools aren't the problem — misuse is

Key insight
  • The instinct in any organization over 20 people is to add layers, meetings, and controls when things get harder.
  • The meeting or the tool is rarely the failure — how it is used is.

Nokia — every layer up knew less

Story
  • The pattern Olivia keeps finding — information degrades as it travels up, so each layer up the org chart knows less about what is really going on.
  • Leadership's confidence in its own picture is the part that goes unexamined.

Push decisions down two or three levels

Highlight
  • The fix isn't more visibility for leadership — it's moving the decision to where the work is.
  • Two or three levels down, far enough that it feels uncomfortable, is the target.

The Monday-morning clarity test

Key insight
  • Can each person say what they own this week without asking anyone?
  • If they can't, the clarity leadership believes exists doesn't.

Stop mixing meeting types

Key insight
  • Status, brainstorm, and decision are three different meetings with different people, prep, and length.
  • Mixing them is one of the most common quiet destroyers of time in an organization.

The first test: is this alleviating uncertainty?

Highlight
  • The single question to apply to any meeting or process before defending it.
  • If it isn't reducing uncertainty for someone, it is coordination overhead.

Why PMOs actually work — the Gartner research

Key insight
  • Olivia's Gartner-era research consistently showed formal PMOs improve project delivery and success.
  • The structure earns its keep when it removes uncertainty rather than adding another reporting layer.

Emotional intelligence in project leaders — 10 years of data

Key insight
  • A decade of data links emotional intelligence in project leaders to better project outcomes.
  • It is a measurable performance driver, not a soft skill that sits outside delivery.

Why a strict KPI focus creates dishonesty

Highlight
  • People optimize for the number being reported rather than the reality it was meant to represent.
  • The measurement regime quietly changes what teams are willing to say out loud.

AI tools are designed to keep you talking

Key insight
  • Tools built for engagement are silently eating the productivity gains their vendors promise.
  • Engagement and productivity are opposing design goals, and buyers rarely check which one they bought.

Companies need a conscious AI vision, not a vendor-driven one

Key insight
  • Without a deliberate internal vision, the AI strategy is set by whichever vendor sold in first.

"You built a tool for yourself" — the product-research problem

Story
  • Too many tools are built for the builder rather than researched with the people who have to use them.

Closing advice: the one thing to do this week

Highlight
  • Identify the decisions that require the most meetings.
  • Ask honestly why the team doing the work can't make them.

Links

Olivia Montgomery on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/olivia-montgomery

Data Frame: dataframe.consulting

The Coordination Tax Index 2026: download the report

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