Fair Systems that Work Newsletter

The Pothole Theory of Fair Management

You know that gravel road.

The one where you know exactly where the potholes are.

You slow down for this one.

Swerve left for that one.

And there’s another bastard around the corner that’ll rearrange your suspension if you forget it’s there.

After a while, you don’t even think about them.

You’ve learned how to drive around the holes.

And a lot of fairs operate exactly the same way.

Someone knows entertainment needs to start booking in November.

Someone else knows which sponsor needs a phone call instead of an email.

Mary knows where the vendor agreements are.

Bob knows which breaker trips if you plug in the coffee urn.

And everybody knows you never schedule that thing on a Thursday because of something that happened back in 2007, which nobody can quite explain anymore.

And it works.

Until Mary leaves.

Bob gets sick.

The entertainment chair decides they’ve done their last fair.

Or someone new comes along who doesn’t know they’re supposed to swerve left.

And suddenly, somebody hits the pothole.

Here’s the interesting part.

That pothole wasn’t new.

Everyone else had just gotten really good at driving around it.

That’s what makes these holes dangerous.

They can hide in plain sight for years.

Sometimes someone throws a little gravel in one.

A new checklist.

A quick conversation.

A note stuck in a binder.

“Ask Susan. She knows.”

Patch applied.

Carry on.

Then it rains.

Someone resigns unexpectedly.

A key volunteer isn’t available.

The fair grows.

Something goes sideways during fair week.

And that innocent little pothole fills with water.

Now you can’t tell whether it’s two inches deep or whether your entire front tire is about to disappear into Saskatchewan.

The crisis didn’t create the hole.

It exposed how deep it already was.

And this is where I think fairs get themselves into trouble.

Fairs are incredibly good at learning how to drive around problems.

Sometimes we call that experience.

And sometimes it is.

But experience that lives inside one person’s head is not a system.

Because the person coming behind them doesn’t know where to swerve.

I’d rather know where the potholes are.

That’s why I created the Fair Systems Review.

I come in and help you map the road.

We look across your fair at the moving pieces, who knows what, what happens when, where information lives, and what depends entirely on someone remembering something they’ve known for 17 years.

Then we find the potholes before someone loses a tire in one.

Show Me the Potholes

And once we know where they are?

I hand you the shovel.

You can fill them.

And if you decide you’d rather hand the shovel straight back to me and say,

“Kryssie, deal with it.”

Well...

That’s another conversation.

The goal isn’t a perfectly smooth road.

Fairs are run by humans.

Let’s not get ridiculous.

The goal is making sure the next person doesn’t need ten years of experience just to know where all the potholes are.

Because eventually, somebody new is going to drive that road.

Let’s make sure they can actually get to the fair.

Show Me the Potholes

Let's Get to Work

Kryssie ❦

P.S. Think your fair might have a few potholes hiding under the water? Let’s have a conversation first. We’ll talk about what’s happening, where things feel messy, and whether a Fair Systems Review is actually what you need. Not sure what you need? Start with a conversation.

​LET’S TALK POTHOLES​

PSS... Mark it on your calendar... October 15th: my book "Who's Actually Accountable Here?": A Fair Board's Guide to Getting Everyone on the Same Damn Page. is available on AMAZON.
(Canada, USA, and Australia) Full colour - $24.99!

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