A colleague confided in me recently that his company and coworkers were going through what he could only refer to as “growing pains.” He didn’t want me to misunderstand him; business was still good. But no one appeared to be on the same page anymore — from leadership down to the newest employee. As a result, nothing internally was as efficient or cooperative as it once was. Naturally, his admission surprised me — he was an exceptional talent in his industry, and I always appreciated how he could seemingly troubleshoot anything. But in this instance, he couldn’t see what was obvious to me: he had a communication problem on his hands.
Communication is the lifeblood of any organization. It conveys direction and fosters collaboration. It also boosts employee morale, engagement, productivity, and satisfaction. Simply put, communication drives better results — for the organization and its employees.
And yet, far too many companies don’t realize how terrible they are at communication.
You may not see it at first — especially when you’re in the weeds every day. But when your organization struggles internally, and its leaders and employees aren’t on the same page anymore, the underlying cause is almost always a communication breakdown.
Here are four signs your company and employees have a communication problem:
1. A reluctance to bring forward negative information
In the business world, we always say, “One of the tests of true leadership is how effectively bad news travels up.” After all, everyone loves to share good news. But when there’s bad news, or an employee isn’t happy, that negative information may not get shared at all. From an employee perspective, this is sometimes due to a lack of confidence or comfort in their communication skills. They might be OK with talking freely about a particular issue with a colleague or friend, but they are instantly intimidated about moving that information higher in the chain of command. And the more public their communication needs to be, the more fearful they become. It’s interesting because, in several studies, the fear of public speaking far exceeds an individual’s fear of death. As a leader, it is imperative to recognize this communication problem and help employees feel more comfortable with their skills and the idea that you, as their boss, welcome any shared information — good, bad, or indifferent. If you do this, the communication within your organization should improve.
2. The grapevine is flourishing
I did an interview recently where they referenced an organizational problem known as the “rumor mill.” I’m old school, so I prefer to call it the grapevine. I bring this up because when formal channels of communication aren’t timely or provide the right amount of information employees need to effectively do their jobs and thrive, grapevines flourish. And the next thing you know, misinformation runs rampant, morale suffers, turnover creeps in, and you’re left trying to pick up the pieces. As a leader, you must ensure the bulk of information that needs to be communicated comes from you and the rest of management in a timely and organized fashion rather than allowing informal channels such as water cooler chats, instant messaging between employees, and the general grapevine to roam free.
3. Struggling to adapt to transformational change
Identifying an industry that doesn’t regularly experience transformational change is difficult. If anything, the pace of transformational change has picked up in recent years as businesses have had to adapt to a pandemic, an increase in competition, etc. Naturally, this ever-evolving environment makes it even more challenging for organizations and employees to avoid communication breakdowns. In my opinion, this is where showing empathy is so critical to turning the tide. Each employee responds differently, so you must ask yourself, “As we communicate information during a time of substantial change, how aware are we of these individual differences? And how are we showing empathy?” As Harvard professor John Kotter has said many times, most transformational change efforts fail in large part because of poor communication from leaders. They fail to share information and encourage a sense of urgency, and they fail to enlist employees in that vision and change process because they don’t know how to meet people where they are at. How quickly you can diagnose this issue and address it will go a long way in positively impacting your communication efforts.
4. Employee engagement is low
Employee engagement is such a popular term. However, very few people are fully engaged in their organizations, and a big reason is a lack of ongoing communication from the top down. Employees think, “I don’t have enough information to do my job.” And when they communicate those needs upward, nothing is done about it — so they disengage. If we look at the studies on employee engagement, 15% to 20% of employees within organizations are disengaged, and another 10% to 15% are highly engaged. So that begs the question: What about the roughly 75% in the middle who are somewhat engaged? How do you move the disengaged and somewhat engaged employee to highly engaged? So much of that depends on — you guessed it — communication.
The Business World Demands More Effective Communication
Whether you are an organizational leader or an employee working your way up the corporate ladder, business success depends on how effectively we craft and deliver the right message in the right manner and align it with the right audience. TalkMeUp is an innovative, one-of-a-kind software that profoundly addresses these needs and related shortcomings by leveraging AI for instant measurement, analysis, reporting, tracking, scaling, and more.
Click here to request our white paper and learn more about how TalkMeUp can benefit your organization and employees.
About the Author
Ron Placone, Ph.D., is Professor of Business Management Communication at Carnegie Mellon University and the Former Faculty Lead and Executive Director for the Accelerate Leadership Center at the Tepper School of Business. Ron teaches a range of communication courses and leadership programs for Tepper students. Ron’s research interests include civility in discourse and fostering individual and team creativity. Previously at Carnegie Mellon, Ron was the Assistant Vice President for Learning & Development. Before joining Carnegie Mellon in 1999, Ron was Vice President and Director of Organizational Development and Communications for Mellon Network Services. Ron has been a consultant, leadership, and communication coach for numerous executives and corporate and not-for-profit organizations. He has consulted in health care, financial services, education, technology, and energy sectors. Ron has a Ph.D. in Rhetoric-English from Carnegie Mellon University.
