Many businesses imagine that hiring a communication consultant, or the services of a public relations agency is a luxury for well-to do organizations. On the contrary, communication is an integral part of every brand. Ineffective communication at the workplace can bring down an organization to its knees if not checked. To a trained eye, the symptoms of communication breakdown within an organization tend to be obvious. However, a non-professional may struggle to identify these signs and instead focus on fixing other non-issues.
We will break down these signs into two categories cutting across internal and external communication. Both internal and external communication are important contributors to an organization’s daily operations.
What is internal communication?
Internal communication is the flow of information within an organizations. The information could trickle down from senior management or directors to employees or vice versa. It could also flow horizontally between colleagues. Basically, any kind of communication sent and received within the organization falls under this category. Popular channels of internal communication in 2024 include:
- Company or departmental WhatsApp groups
- Productivity/project management software dashboards
- Internal newsletters
- Virtual meetings
- Document sharing platforms and
- Physical pin-up boards.
Signs of internal communication breakdown
The primary role of internal communication within an organization is to get work done. Employees need to share project details and documents. Supervisors need to follow-up on task progress while employees are supposed to share progress reports. The organization’s management is also supposed to share important changes or decisions that affect employees. In case of grievances, rule breaks or legal, employees should have platforms to communicate. So, what are the signs of internal communication breakdown in an organization?
Missed deadlines
Does everything feel like a frantic attempt to keep the business going? Tasks are never completed on time and everyone seems overwhelmed. But when you evaluate the workload, it does not seem like a lot and the company is not understaffed either. What could be the problem?
Of course it’s communication. It is likely that supervisors do not delegate tasks on time, or perhaps instructions are not communicated clearly. Maybe the communication channels in place a not working.
Whatever the case, missed deadlines and an overwhelmed workforce could signal ineffective communication.
Overlapping roles
Poor communication could be eating into your company’s resources because more than one person is handling the same task. When internal communication is not flowing smoothly, people never know what is exclusively their work and which tasks are shared. Sometimes two or more people may perform the shared task and other times no one does as they expect the other party to get things done.
A simple example of overlapping roles is when a team receives instructions from two different leaders. It could be one leader is higher up the chain but not a direct team leader. Such an incident causes confusion and may lead the team to disregard the lower ranking leader.
Another example could be in a customer care team, whereby a client receives responses from multiple team members whenever they launch a complaint. This could be caused by fragmented complaints channels or unharmonized communication within the customer care team. As a result, the team members end up wasting too much time on one client while they could be attending to another.
Overlapping roles not only cost the business money but they also waste time. By streamlining internal communication, the company could easily save on payroll and give employees an opportunity to work more effectively.
Unending conflict
Conflict is part of life, but when the workplace turns into a toxic warzone, it could be a sign of poor communication. Effective communication is at the heart of conflict resolution. Skills such as active listening, interpersonal communication and timely communication come in handy in keeping conflicts within the normal range.
Let us look at common examples of poor communication that could lead to conflict:
Example A: A supervisor decides to send emails close to end of day requesting for a task to be completed urgently. This does not sit well with the affected subordinate and they either avoid a confrontation and perform the task hurriedly but unsatisfactorily. Or they choose to ignore the email. Either decision leads to conflict. What caused the conflict? Untimely communication.
Example B: A new staff member joins the workforce and they are not taken through a proper onboarding process. They don’t know who is who in the company and they are not sure of the actual job description. They end up “neglecting” some of their duties and saying the wrong things to the wrong people leading to conflict.
Example C: An employee makes a mistake. Instead of reprimanding them, their supervisor decides to keep quiet, but keeps the mistake in mind. The employee makes another mistake and the supervisor keeps quiet again. After one, two many mistakes, the supervisor lodges a formal complaint through higher ranking authorities. In the end the employee is either passed for promotions, issued a warning or fired altogether. This creates a toxic work environment that may likely lead to a high turnover.
Lack of morale
Operating in a team that does not seem to have a purpose or a sense of direction is a buzz kill. According to a survey by Mckinsey and Company, conducted between April 2021 and April, 2022, there are 8 main reasons why people quit their jobs. Lack of career growth and inadequate compensation are the two top reasons. Other include lack of meaningful work and uninspiring leaders. In the past, employment was for life. Regardless of how toxic or unchallenging an organization was, people put up with a lot until retirement. But now, professionals are more demanding. They want to work in a challenging environment that pushes them to grow. They also value working with highly qualified and smart colleagues. Some people even enjoy operating in fast paced environments.
Poor communication can however rid a workplace of all these things people want in employment. When instructions, company plans or scheduled changes are not communicated on time (or at all), employees begin to feel insignificant. As a result, they become “zombies” reporting to work just for pay.
Often, when they leave they company they will cite “lack of growth” as the main reason for quitting. Low morale could manifest in high turnover, reduced productivity and an “I don’t care attitude” among the employees.
What is external communication?
External communication is the information that flows between an organization and its clients, contractors, the media, suppliers, potential clients, the government, funders and the general public. The information could either come into the organization from these stakeholders or come from the organization targeting one or several stakeholders. Popular channels of external communication in 2024 include:
- Social Media Pages
- Company Website
- Webinars and Virtual Events
- Physical Events
- Media appearances and mentions
- Phone calls
- SMS
External communication is crucial for any organization’s existence. If you are not communicating with your customers or potential clients then your business is probably stuck. Maintaining healthy and smooth communication channels between a brand and its stakeholders leads to eventual growth. It should be easy for the company to reach out to its stakeholders just as it should be easy for them to send messages to the company.
Signs of external communication breakdown
Some brands focus too much on sending messages out to their stakeholders while ignoring the channels that help these stakeholders share feedback or share important information with the company. Opening up external communication channels can easily solve persistent issues in the organization and lead to new client acquisitions without exhausting the marketing budget. Here are common signs of broken external communication:
Missed opportunities
Do you wonder why your competitors are always bragging about achievements you’ve been eyeing but not attracting? It could be a coveted award, a new client you’ve been chasing, a media interview you dreamt of or a high level event you were not invited to. Missed opportunities symbolize several things. Sometimes you’re simply not qualified for these opportunities but a lot of times it has a lot to do with your communication.
Have you branded yourself as someone who deserves these opportunities. Let’s use a simple example. Your competitor shares their achievements and impact on social media. They document their work and maintain relations with their stakeholders. On the contrary, you share memes and irrelevant content on your socials. How is that working for you?
Missed opportunities could also mean you are unreachable. You’d be surprised at the number of corporate phone numbers that don’t go through. Some go unanswered and other usher the caller into an endless chain of bureaucracy. It’s also not uncommon for incompetent people to answer company phone calls and mess up potential opportunities.
Whatever the case in your organization, if you are missing out on a lot of opportunities lately, perhaps it’s time to streamline external communication channels.
Bad publicity
Inasmuch as brands would like to blame the media and bloggers for bad publicity, often, they are responsible for how these entities perceive them. Bad publicity is not just a sign of communication breakdown but also a sign that you are sending the wrong signals to the public. What is your strategy for reputation management, who do you trust with sensitive information? What kind of information do you put “out there” about yourself? How do you interact with your stakeholders and what kind of information trickles down to them. And most importantly, who is responsible for crafting your messaging? These are important questions you need to ask yourself if you are attracting bad publicity.
Often, we associate bad publicity with controversial people and internet personalities until a bad story about your brand surfaces. Sometimes, skeletons from years ago are dug out by a curious blogger or reporter.
But a negative story about you does not mean that is who you are. It simply means people do not know the other side of you and you should focus on showing more of that positive side. Reputation management does not begin after bad publicity. It involves long term efforts to maintain a clean image, professionalism and crafting a positive narrative about your brand.
Bad reviews and unsatisfied customers
Nothing is more draining that a bad review especially on Google where everybody sees it when they search your brand. Have you asked yourself why the customer resorted to writing a bad review? Why was it so difficult for them to just talk directly to you.
The answer is obvious- your communication channels are not open and the customer does not feel heard. A simple move such as opening up a complaints desk can save you from the embarrassment caused by negative reviews. Help your clients understand that there is a platform for them to air their grievances and go a step further to resolve what is reported.
Legal trouble
Being dragged to court by an unhappy client, partner or other stakeholder is the ultimate sign of communication breakdown. Unless the other party is extremely vindictive, a lot of people avoid the legal route as it is costly and time consuming to both the aggressor and the aggrieved. So, if you are having legal trouble over issues that could easily be resolved, you have to ask yourself- why the other party felt compelled to take this route.
Are there other channels to address issues amicably? Are you responsive to your stakeholders’ concerns? Was the issue escalated to the right people within the organization? and if it wasn’t, how reachable are these people?
Simple measures like making the organizational structure known to your stakeholders and maintaining an open door policy at all levels could easily help you detect and avert legal trouble.
Low sales
Unclear brand image
Have you ever wondered what people say about your brand? Do your main stakeholders know exactly what you do? As of 2023, there was a total of 334 million companies in the world, by estimates, according to Statistica. With this high volume or businesses trying to get noticed, branding efforts must be amplified to create a clear image of what exactly you are.
In 2024, a lot of small brands a niching down to specific products or services as a way to increase visibility. Why, you ask? Because it is harder than ever to get noticed unless you are known for something very specific.
Failure to amplify brand communication can give your organization an unclear image. A simple way to test the effectiveness of your branding communication efforts is by searching your brand name on Google. If the search engine does not understand what you do then your target market may lack clarity too.
Decreasing sales volume
There is a common misconception – that communication does not contribute to sales. On the contrary, communication efforts have a lot to do with your business’ performance. In corporate communication, everything works in a ripple effect manner or a chain reaction. Ineffective communication may start internally, causing the issues we discussed above. These issues will trickle down to employee’s performance and soon enough external stakeholders will be affected. In the end, the sales graph will start dropping.
Poor external communication channels also means clients have no way of sharing important feedback even when they are dissatisfied. Eventually, they all leave and sales volumes begin to drop.
