Every Monday, a Mexican public affairs manager at a London-based organisation sends an update to her British peers. Same three people, same format, most weeks nothing more than a paragraph.

She CCs her boss. Every time.

Nobody's ever mentioned it. Nothing's changed. On paper, it's fine.

But something is off.

The Situation

To her, the CC is basic professional courtesy. Where she trained and worked, in Mexico, looping in a manager when you write to his team is how you show respect for the chain of command, not how you go around someone.

To her British peers, it reads differently. Nothing in the email needs a decision, nothing's gone wrong, so why is the boss on it?

They don't ask her. Asking would turn it into a thing, and nobody wants to make a scene over an email. So they say nothing, and let the resentment sit.

The Friction

This is Slot logic clashing with Loop logic. She's speaking one, her peers are hearing the other, and neither side has translated it.

In the UK, decision-making runs flatter and more consultative: you go straight to whoever holds the information, chain of command or not. Copying someone's manager into a routine email reads as an accusation there, a sign you don't trust the person enough to say something to their face.

In Mexico, and across most of Latin America, decision-making sits with the person at the top, and the chain of command matters. CC'ing a boss there is what respect looks like: you keep the person with authority informed as a matter of course.

Slots v. Loops™ in Action

If copying someone's boss is your habit, say so once, plainly, the first time it might land wrong: ‘I'll keep him copied on updates like this so he stays in the loop, that's all it is.’ One sentence, said early, and nobody's left guessing at your motive.

If you're the one who keeps seeing the boss copied and saying nothing: ask. ‘I noticed he's usually on these, is there anything you need from him, or is that just for his visibility?’ The question does the work in under a minute, and it's a lot cheaper than months of quiet resentment.

And if you manage across this divide: read a CC for what it's actually signalling in the sender's system, not yours, before deciding how to feel about it.

Over to You

Think of the last time someone copied your boss on an email that didn't need him. Did you ask why, or did you just let it sit?

Until next Tuesday,

Cecilia