Communication Breakdowns Happen Constantly
Important information gets missed. People work on the wrong things. This isn't a people problem.
A client calls asking about something you discussed last week. You're confused—you thought that was handled. You check with your team. "I didn't know that was my responsibility." The information got lost.
Two team members are working on the same project, but they're going in different directions. Neither knew the other was involved. Duplicate work. Wasted time. Frustration.
A deadline passes. You ask why. "I didn't know that was due." The deadline was mentioned in a meeting, but it never made it to the project tracker. Communication broke down.
These aren't isolated incidents. They're symptoms of the same problem: broken communication systems. When information doesn't flow reliably, people work on the wrong things, miss deadlines, and duplicate effort. Every time.
Communication breakdowns happen for specific, fixable reasons. Understanding why helps you fix them:
Too many channels. Information lives in email, Slack, text messages, project tools, and verbal conversations. No one knows where to look. Important messages get lost in the noise. People miss critical information because it's scattered across platforms.
No single source of truth. Project updates happen in meetings, but deadlines live in a spreadsheet. Client requests come via email, but status is tracked in Slack. There's no one place where everything lives. People have to hunt for information.
Assumed communication. You assume people read emails. They assume you'll tell them if something's urgent. Neither happens. Important information gets missed because it's assumed, not confirmed.
No communication norms. There's no rule about when to use email vs Slack vs text. Urgent requests get buried in email. Non-urgent updates interrupt focus time. People don't know how to communicate effectively.
Information overload. Everything is marked "important." Every message feels urgent. People tune out. They miss the actually important stuff because it's buried in noise.
The businesses that thrive have communication systems that work. They use the right channels for the right things. They have a single source of truth. They confirm important information. They have clear norms.
When communication breaks down, you pay a price that compounds:
Duplicate work. People work on the same things because they don't know others are already handling it. Time wasted. Effort duplicated. Frustration builds.
Missed deadlines. Deadlines get communicated in meetings but never make it to project trackers. People miss them because they didn't know. Clients get frustrated. Trust erodes.
Wrong priorities. People work on the wrong things because priorities aren't clear. Urgent work gets delayed. Important work gets deprioritized. Results suffer.
Team frustration. People feel out of the loop. They don't know what's happening. They can't do their work effectively. They disengage.
Client confusion. Clients get different information from different people. They don't know what's true. They lose confidence. They look for alternatives.
You become the hub. Everyone comes to you for information because there's no system. You become the bottleneck. You can't scale. You burn out.
Good communication isn't about better people—it's about better systems:
1. Consolidate channels. Pick two channels max. One for urgent (Slack or text) and one for asynchronous (email or project tool). Make the rule explicit. Enforce it consistently.
2. Create a single source of truth. Use one place for project status, deadlines, and priorities. Make it accessible. Update it regularly. Train everyone to check it.
3. Establish communication norms. Define when to use each channel. Set response time expectations. Make rules explicit. Train everyone.
4. Confirm important information. Don't assume people got the message. Confirm critical updates. Use read receipts for important emails. Follow up on key decisions.
5. Reduce noise. Only mark things "urgent" when they actually are. Use asynchronous channels for non-urgent updates. Respect focus time. Reduce interruptions.
6. Document decisions. When decisions are made, document them. Put them in the single source of truth. Make them accessible. Don't rely on memory.
Using too many channels. If information lives everywhere, it lives nowhere. Consolidate. Simplify. Make it easy to find.
Assuming people read everything. If you send 50 emails per day, people will miss important ones. Be selective. Use the right channel. Confirm critical information.
No communication norms. If there are no rules, people make their own. They use the wrong channels. They create noise. Establish norms. Enforce them.
Everything is urgent. If everything is marked urgent, nothing is. Prioritize. Use asynchronous channels for non-urgent updates. Respect focus time.
No single source of truth. If information is scattered, people can't find it. Consolidate. Create one place for status, deadlines, and priorities.
When communication systems work well:
- Information flows reliably—people know where to find what they need
- Important messages don't get lost—they're confirmed and tracked
- People work on the right things—priorities are clear and accessible
- Deadlines are met—they're communicated and tracked in one place
- No duplicate work—people know what others are doing
- Team members feel informed—they're not out of the loop
- You're not the bottleneck—information flows without you
That's the difference between businesses where communication breaks down and businesses where information flows.
You don't need to fix all communication at once. Start with one:
Pick one communication problem that's causing issues. Maybe it's too many channels. Maybe it's no single source of truth. Maybe it's unclear priorities.
Design a communication system. Consolidate channels. Create a single source of truth. Establish norms. Confirm important information.
Test it. See if information flows better. See if people miss less. See if work improves.
Once you see how powerful one good communication system is, you'll want to fix all of them. That's how you transform from communication that breaks down to communication that flows—one system at a time.
Ready to Fix Your Communication Systems?
Our Business Flow service helps you design communication systems that ensure information flows reliably and people work on the right things.