Poor communication is something that, unfortunately, thousands, if not millions, of people have to deal with every day when they walk (or log) into work. It’s unfortunate, given the effects poor communication is known to have on employees, teams, leaders, and organizations.
If you’re trying to determine where your team, department, or company currently stands, review this list of signs of poor communication in the workplace. You don’t need to check off every box to be concerned. After all, if severe enough, just a handful of the following signs can derail productivity, impede collaboration, tank employee engagement, and ultimately increase turnover.
In some workplaces, communication only flows in one direction - from the top down. You see it when those in management talk at employees rather than with them.
One-way communication is a huge missed opportunity because employees and managers who work on the frontline are the closest to the customer and the day-to-day running of the business. They see and hear what executives do not, thus generating vital information, feedback, and ideas that are lost without bi-directional communication. It’s things that, when heard by upper management and implemented, could improve the bottom line, the customer experience, and employee engagement with the overall company mission.
People do not become effective communicators overnight. It takes training, practice, experience, and time to develop those skills, something which communication training is designed to accelerate. Unfortunately, if an investment is not made into the communication skills of the workforce and those skills are left underdeveloped for too long, employees and leaders alike will begin to struggle with the fallout of poor communication.
In the absence of strong, healthy, and effective communication, it is common for people in the workplace to defer to grapevine communication. It is an informal method of communication where people seek out what information they can from others in their social group. While water cooler talk happens in every workplace, where there are no other communication sources for people to rely on, grapevine communication becomes the norm. Unfortunately, this can lead to rumors and gossip that if left unchecked, lead to a whole host of other issues for everyone involved.
While it might be annoying at times, jargon is not inherently bad. When used properly, certain phrases, terms, acronyms, and expressions can allow for faster, more efficient communication between colleagues and teams. However, the point at which it becomes problematic and negatively impacts communication is explained by Bart Egnal in the book Leading Through Language. He explains, "[The same] jargon that allows for speed can be detrimental to those who do not understand it but are assumed to. Jargon that creates a shared identity for some can exclude others simultaneously.”
In a 2022 study conducted by FutureForum, it was found that people who believe their leaders are transparent feel 6x more satisfied with their work environment and have a stronger sense of belonging by up to 4x. Meanwhile, in a separate study, 33% of respondents said a lack of open and honest communication was the top reason for poor employee morale. What these studies and many others on the topic are telling us is that people do not appreciate being left in the dark and a lack of transparency will eventually lead to fallout.
Difficult conversations are not something that can (or should) be avoided in the workplace. If they are, you can count on the fact that problems will escalate, trust will deteriorate, resentment/grudges will fester, misunderstandings will get worse, and trust will be lost. On the other hand, when approached with honesty and tact, difficult conversations can become invaluable opportunities for growth, improvement, and connection.
Do you find it challenging to navigate all the different communication tools, apps, or channels in your company? Are you confused about which to use for what? If so, this is unfortunately a common issue in the workplace that negatively affects communication in the workplace. In fact, 68% of respondents to a RingCentral survey said they toggle between apps up to 10 times per hour and waste up to 60 minutes a day doing so. Not only is this disruptive, but respondents say it causes them to lose their train of thought, which makes them less productive.
The communication problem that seems to get the most attention is that there’s too little of it in the workplace. However, communication overload is becoming a more pressing issue as we struggle with being more connected to one another than ever before. In fact, according to Gartner, more than a third of employees say they waste significant time and effort dealing with excessive volumes of information from their organization. Meanwhile, Microsoft recently confirmed that the average knowledge worker now spends two full work days a week on emails and meetings alone.
When departments, teams, or individuals within an organization operate independently, with little to no collaboration, communication, or sharing of information between them — often referred to as working in silos — it’s a telltale sign of poor communication. Individuals and teams should be communicating with one another frequently about their priorities, projects, and progress. Otherwise, they risk duplicating efforts, making unnecessary mistakes, and causing a fragmented customer experience.
One unmistakable sign of poor communication is when messages between employees and their teammate, boss, or colleague go unanswered or are flat-out ignored. Those who do this might do so unintentionally or for understandable reasons, and a quick conversion might be all that’s needed to remind them to respond in a timely manner. This is sometimes done for underhanded reasons, such as to portray a sense of importance above another. It’s when the latter happens on a large scale that real problems begin to emerge.
In a study by Panopto, 60% of employees said they experience some degree of difficulty accessing the information or knowledge they need to do their jobs. While this is known to be in part due to shorter tenures and higher turnover, or even because of ineffective internal systems, knowledge hoarding is another cause. It’s when people hide or withhold valuable information, expertise, or insights from others, usually to maintain a sense of indispensability, gain a competitive advantage, or flaunt control over others. As you can imagine, left unchecked, this can become a major issue that leads to poor communication.
Things happen that you have to respond to on the fly. That’s normal and to be expected. It becomes a problem when most of the communication within an organization seems to lack strategy, intentionality, and thought. This sort of communication will come across as disjointed and rushed to people, which leaves a bad impression and can ultimately plant the seeds of doubt and mistrust that require a great deal of work to reverse down the road.
Debate and conflict in the workplace are bound to happen and can even be a good thing that leads to better ideas, personal growth, and a greater sense of respect between individuals. However, there’s a difference between a healthy debate and a harmful one, as a harmful one will often be a chaotic mix of personal attacks, aggressive behavior, petty disagreements, and general disrespect. If this sounds familiar, consider it a sign of poor communication that needs immediate attention and work.
Communication that is not inclusive is poor communication. It’s as simple as that. Humi, an HR and payroll platform, explains this in more detail in a recent blog: “The words you use, and the way you use them, can have a significant impact on your team. Assessing phrases and words that usually go unchallenged is pivotal in ensuring everyone feels safe and comfortable at work. Inclusive language means using language that is free from stereotyped, prejudiced, or discriminatory words, phrases, and tones.”
In today’s workplace, a lack of digital etiquette when it comes to communicating with colleagues online is a telltale sign of poor communication. Interestingly, digital communication and etiquette is something 46% of workers under the age of 35 worry about daily, as opposed to just 22% of workers over the age of 45. Ideally, everyone, regardless of their age would abide by the same etiquette rules online to ensure the effectiveness of their communication. According to Adaptavisit, “This isn’t (usually) out of any malice; the problem is that there’s very little consensus on what constitutes good conduct in the digital world.”
In the workplace, it’s not just about what you say but how you do so. For example, if you need to have a difficult conversation and provide constructive feedback on a recent mistake, ideally, you would do so in private, face-to-face, and one-on-one. But let’s say you choose to do so after hours over text or at someone’s desk in the middle of the office where all their peers can hear and see the conversation. This is a quintessential example of poor communication, and unfortunately, it happens all the time. Whether it’s bad timing or the wrong medium for the message, poorly executed communication can compromise an otherwise well-crafted message.
It is a myth that emotion has no place in the workplace. In fact, emotions can drive the level of engagement, sense of purpose, and amount of motivation we all need to do our jobs and do them well. So, if the communication happening in a workplace is devoid of emotion, focused solely on numbers or facts, or does not allow for real, meaningful interpersonal connections to be made, this is a cause for concern that needs to be addressed.
In past studies conducted by Quartz, 44% of remote employees said they have missed out on important information because it was communicated in person, and 43% said they have been excluded from meetings and brainstorming sessions. Given how many people are working remotely or have hybrid work arrangements today, it is more important than ever that everyone, regardless of their geographical location, is looped in and communicated with so that they have access to the same information their in-office counterparts do.
Has this ever happened to you? You go to a meeting and make a decision as a group. You think it’s a done deal, only to find out later that the decision was overturned in a backchannel conversation you never had the chance to be a part of because you didn’t know it had even happened. This is a clear sign of poor communication, as it leaves people frustrated, demotivated, and disengaged. The importance of fixing this problem is highlighted by the fact that 80% of workers say they want to know more about how decisions are made at work and 87% want the next company they work for to be transparent, especially when it comes to decision making.
Oftentimes, the norms, expectations, and best practices people in any workplace follow to communicate with one another aren’t written down anywhere. It’s up to the employee to pick them up and figure them out as they go. This can lead to preventable mistakes such as emailing the wrong list of people or using the wrong channel to deliver a message. While it can definitely contribute to poor communication, it’s one of the easier problems on this list to fix so long as someone is willing to do the work of documenting such norms, expectations, and best practices for the good of future employees.
Is it easy to answer tough questions, hear out someone’s concerns, or accept constructive feedback? Of course not, but that’s no reason to shut them down. After all, good questions, valid concerns, and honest feedback have the potential to benefit the individual, team, and overall organization significantly. Unfortunately, if people’s questions, concerns, and feedback don’t just go unheard, but are flat-out shut down enough times, they will stop offering them, and when they do you will have a much bigger problem on your hands.