Saying what we are not sure about

At Color of Vietnam, when we are not sure, we say so. The sentence always has three parts: what we know, what we do not know, and when we will know. Those three parts turn a plain I am not sure into a promise with a deadline, so the team keeps moving and trust is not spent. This piece is for candidates, above all people early in their careers, because this habit is hardest in the first months, when everyone wants to look as if they know.

Why new people guess

New colleagues carry two fears: being seen as someone who does not know, and slowing other people down. Both fears push the same way: answer at once, answer neatly, and hope it is right. Most of the time it is. But in food, the rare wrong guess can end up on a label, in an email to a buyer, or in a specification sent to a partner facility, and there it costs more than all the right guesses put together.

We do not want new people to lose the fear by knowing everything. Nobody knows everything. We want a way of saying not sure that costs no face and no time.

The three part sentence

Our way is simple:

• What we know: say the certain part first, so the person asking has something usable immediately.
• What we do not know: name the uncertain part and why, without circling.
• When we will know: give a specific time, and say who will confirm.

A full sentence inside the team sounds like this: the cranberry nut bar uses the same base recipe as the plain cashew bar, that part is certain; I am not sure whether the allergen line needs anything extra because of the dried cranberry, so I will ask the partner facility and answer before tomorrow afternoon. It is longer than a yes. But everyone who hears it knows what happens next.

An example: a question from a buyer

A distributor asked about the Let's PLAY rice crackers: is the cracker line run on equipment shared with products containing peanuts. It is an allergen question, and the colleague handling it did not have a certain answer in their head. The easy reply was no, because the cracker recipe has no peanuts. But a recipe and a line are two different things.

They answered in three parts: the rice cracker recipe contains no peanuts, that is certain; whether equipment is shared has to be confirmed with our partner facilities, because peanuts are used in some of our bars; a written answer will follow on the next working day. The facility's answer arrived the following day and was forwarded word for word. The distributor did not get the fastest reply. They got a reply they could put in their file.

Not sure, but not slow

Saying not sure does not mean stopping to wait. A few ways the team keeps moving:

• Split off the certain part and act on it. Packaging design can continue while one allergen line waits for confirmation, as long as that line is flagged.
• Put the open question in the tracking sheet with an owner and a date. Questions do not live in anyone's head.
• Keep the deadline short. Most uncertainties in a small company can be settled within a day if the right person is asked.
• Close the loop. When the answer comes, tell exactly the people who heard the not sure, even when the answer is what everyone expected.

The last point is the one most often skipped. The person who asked was given a promise. Answering on time is the cheapest way to make them trust your next not sure.

Why this is culture rather than procedure

Our value Speak Honestly is often taken to mean not lying. The fuller meaning is not claiming certainty we do not have. In a sample review, in an email to a buyer, in a specification sent to a partner facility, a not sure said early is always cheaper than a certainty said wrong. The founder uses the three part sentence like everyone else, and that is how new colleagues see that saying not sure makes nobody smaller.

If you are early in your career and want a place where not sure can be said out loud, have a look at the Fresher Product R&D (FMCG) role on the Careers page. If you are a partner who has received a not sure from us, you know what comes next: an answer on time.