Banished: What The Traitors Gets Right About Strategy, Data, and Power

Season 4 of The Traitors was one for the record books! We got our first Secret Traitor, the queerest cast in franchise history, and some of the best bickering, backstabbing, and betrayal we’ve seen to date. Here are three things this season has to teach us about good MEL. 

Know When to Abandon Ship

As expected, the central controversy this season is traitors…being traitors - even against their own. It’s a tale as old as season 1, when Cirie turned on Cody to save herself. While I tend to agree with Candiance that Rob R didn’t strictly need to abandon Rinna as quickly as he did, the writing was certainly on the wall (talk about foresight!).

Rob R jumping ship (while Candiace went down more loyal to Rinna than Captain Edward Smith was to the Titanic) teaches us the importance of avoiding the sunk cost problem. In evaluation, for example, this problem shows up when organizations treat their theory of change as immutable, or ignore data that begs us to change course because we’re already “too far in.” Candiance is a reflection of those who choose to dig their heels in as opposed to doing the often uncomfortable work of re-building and adapting to rapidly changing and unpredictable circumstances. Learning is a part of the job, and it’s acceptable, expected, and encouraged that new information leads to pivots in strategy, programming, evaluation design, data collection, or outreach. So, don’t let sunk costs lead to your banishment.

Embrace Discomfort and Accountability

Make no mistake, I love Candiace down. I was rooting for her, and frankly, I really, really wanted her to levy a scorched Earth campaign against Rob’s backstabbing ass. That said, the name of the game is The Traitors. At the reunion, Candiance said she wanted Rob to own his behavior. To Candiance, that might look like an apology, but from where we’re sitting, Rob absolutely owned his treachery. 

In fact, Rob is a model for how organizations should act when evaluations have uncomfortable findings. That is: acknowledge the discomfort, speak truth to power for any harm caused, and do what is necessary to make things right. Rob only has to buy Maura a Birkin. For organizations, the work is much harder; but if we’re going to take the money (from donors, communities/consumers), we have to be willing to accept data that helps us confront and own our choices and their consequences. We also have to be willing to do the important work of making changes because of what we learn.

Withholding is a Strategy, Just Not Our strategy

Whether we like it or not (clearly my feelings are mixed), Rob R’s gameplay this season was incredible. His (very petty) decision to withhold that Colton suspected Candiance of being a traitor and allowing him to be murdered was a turning point in the game and accelerated Candiance’s outing as a Traitor. 

Information controls who wins, who loses, who benefits, who gains. For practitioners, this is a reminder of the importance of clear and consistent communication, not just with funders, but with communities affected by our work, and actors who share our vision, including “competitors.” Unlike Traitors, we don’t make it to the end through treachery. If we are truly in the business of addressing societal problems, we must banish the mindset that withholding knowledge and resources is the only way to win.

Eval Design Studio’s approach to evaluation, for example, rests on Affected Community members having the power to hold, share, and act on evaluation findings so that lessons learned survive the inevitable rise and fall of organizations and funders. 

The Traitors might be entertaining, but the questions it raises about power, information, and accountability show up in our work every day.

If you want to talk about evaluation and learning, and what it looks like to actually share power and knowledge with the people you serve, we'd love to hear from you.