Common Language Tool: The Ice Cream Truck Analogy
One of the most common leadership challenges we see across organizations is under-communication. It rarely shows up as silence. It shows up as assumptions.
You think, “I wish they understood how important this is.” Or, “Why aren’t they better at this by now?” Or even, “How hard is it to greet a patient well?”
Most leaders have thought some version of that. But here’s the uncomfortable question that sits underneath it all: Have you ever actually told them what “good” looks like?
Because the truth is this: what feels crystal clear in your head is often fuzzy, incomplete, or interpreted very differently by someone else. That gap between intention and interpretation is where frustration grows. And that’s exactly what our third common language tool, the Ice Cream Truck, helps expose.
Let’s try it.
Close your eyes and picture this sentence: “Susie heard the ice cream truck, and she ran to get her birthday money.”
Take a second and really visualize it.
- What does the setting look like?
- What does Susie look like?
- What does the ice cream truck look like?
Now open your eyes.
Here’s the interesting part. If you asked a room full of smart, capable people to describe what they saw, you would not get the same answer twice.
Some people picture Susie as five. Others see her as ten. Some imagine a suburban street. Others picture a park or a city sidewalk. Some see a modern ice cream truck. Others hear the old-school music from childhood. Some see her holding a crisp bill. Others see a handful of change.
Same sentence. Same words. Completely different mental pictures. That’s the point. If we can all interpret a simple, neutral story differently, imagine how often we’re doing this at work with things like “great service,” “professional communication,” or “a good patient experience.”
Where This Shows Up at Work
This is where leaders get stuck. We say things like:
- “Make the patient feel welcome.”
- “Be more confident.”
- “Create a great experience.”
And we assume everyone sees the same picture we do. They don’t.
One employee’s version of a great greeting might be warm and conversational. Another’s might be efficient and polite. Neither is wrong, but if the organization hasn’t clearly defined the picture, inconsistency is inevitable. And inconsistency is often misread as lack of effort, lack of care, or lack of buy-in. In reality, it’s often just different pictures playing out.
How to Use This With Your Team
Here’s your challenge for the upcoming week: do the Ice Cream Truck exercise with your team.
You can keep it light and quick. You don’t need a whiteboard or a long meeting. Start by saying something like: “We talk a lot about providing a great patient experience, and we all agree it matters. But we might not all be picturing the same thing. Let’s figure out what picture each of us has in our head.”
Then pick one specific moment.
- A greeting.
- A handoff.
- A phone call.
Ask people to describe what “great” looks like to them in that moment. You’ll start to hear the differences immediately. That’s not a problem. That’s the opportunity.
Once the pictures are on the table, you can align on a shared one. That’s where a common language starts to form. Not by telling people they’re wrong, but by realizing they were filling in the blanks differently.
Why This Works
The Ice Cream Truck analogy is simple. It’s a little cheesy. And that’s exactly why it works.
- It lowers defenses.
- It creates awareness without blame.
- It gives teams permission to say, “Oh, that’s not what I pictured.”
When you practice this consistently, communication gets clearer. Expectations get tighter. Frustration drops. And leadership becomes less about correcting and more about aligning. Because small changes, done consistently, really do lead to substantial progress in the end.
