Jackie Krawczak

Communication is the number one topic my clients identify as a problem area in their organizations. For the ones who don’t self-identify communication as a problem, when we dig in to improving their culture, we nearly always find that communication is one area they could work on to make improvements.

Although I work on business and organization improvements, much of what I’ll share today also applies to our relationships and interactions outside of work.

One of the things I frequently discuss with my clients is what I call the four communication traps we often fall into. Of these four traps, three are most often accidental and simple oversights, while one is done purposefully with malicious intent.

Improvement in any of the four areas can help improve communication in an organization.

The first communication trap we fall into is not communicating valuable information because we forget that not everyone has access to the same information we do. We assume (or simply don’t think about it) that others know what we know. We might attend meetings or receive phone calls or emails that others don’t attend or receive and are therefore exposed to information that others aren’t. We receive the information and then move on, without stopping to think if there is anyone else in our organization who might benefit from knowing what we learned.

We don’t do this with ill intent. We simply gloss over sharing the information, which is very easy to do as we quickly move from one meeting or project to the next.

A second communication trap that we get hung up with is not communicating valuable information because we assume that others do not need to know the information to do their job. Sometimes that is true, but there are two things to consider regarding this.

First, just because someone doesn’t need to know information to do their job, they may still benefit from knowing what you know because it may help make sense of their work, or it may further explain changes or directives.

Second, we do not always know what others need to know and what they don’t. It is up to us to determine if someone would benefit from knowing something we know. For example, if a policy changes, it’s incumbent upon us to understand all consequences of the change and to know all departments it will impact so we know who needs the information about the change.

Often, we only communicate with the most obvious people who will be impacted by the change and overlook others who might be impacted more peripherally.

The third trap we all into is not communicating valuable information because we assume others won’t want to know. This is a great way to start rumors. When we don’t tell the whole

story because we don’t think others will want to know, we open the door for them to make up their own stories. When others make up their own stories, what is said is rarely accurate. We should give people enough information to answer their questions and avoid having them attempt to fill in the gaps with gossip or fabricated information.

The fourth trap we fall into is the one we engage in because of ego or a desire for power. We sometimes do not communicate valuable information because we like knowing things that others do not know. We like to be able to say, “I heard that weeks ago,” or “Yup, I already knew that” when someone asks us about something. That behavior creates unhealthy division and should not be tolerated.

Communication is one of the most important components of successful relationships. Work or personal, all relationships can grow and develop into healthier and more productive relationships with improvement in communication. I’ve shared four common actions that create communication barriers.

The good news is that if all parties are willing to learn and grow, communication problems can be overcome with just a few relatively simple and affordable corrections. There really are no excuses for ineffective communication in our work or personal lives.