Common Challenges in Corporate Communication

Is poor communication killing your company? Poor communication in business is so common in organizations that many brush it off as just another corporate flaw. But, if left unchecked, it becomes a gateway to toxicity. When leaders fail to communicate clearly, consistently, and with purpose, confusion fills the void. People start guessing. Misinformation spreads. Distrust grows. And the gap between leadership and the rest of the organization widens. In many cases, it looks like this: - Leaders hold critical information close, sharing only what they think is necessary or maintains their control. - Internal updates lack meaning or connection to strategy, often sounding like corporate wallpaper. - The organization's employees don't know who its true stakeholders are, so external communication is shallow, inconsistent, or purely reactive. - Customers become abstract: mentioned in passing, but never truly understood, and often blamed when things go wrong. - Strategies, policies, and standards are written in a vacuum, ignoring employee and customer needs and feedback or what competitors are doing. How can you tell if you are drifting into toxic territory? Ask these questions: Are teams making up their own narratives about what's going on? Do important initiatives die in silence, without explanation? Are customers, employees, and/or partners expressing confusion or losing confidence. Do leaders dodge hard conversations or refuse to engage with uncomfortable feedback? Here’s how to turn this around before it breeds deeper, toxic problems: 1. Identify your key stakeholders. Map out exactly who needs to hear from you both internally and externally, and identify why and what they need to hear from you. 2. Consistently connect all of your communication to the business’s strategy and purpose. Make sure every message ties back to what you are trying to achieve and why it matters. 3. Be 100% transparent, especially when it is hard. Openly talk about risks, changes, and failures so people learn to trust your words. 4. Leverage structured channels that your audiences use. Provide regular updates, hold Q&A sessions, and conduct informal check-ins. Do not rely on rumors or one-off emails to keep people informed -- they don't work! 5. Make the customer real and evident. Bring customers into the work center, share customer stories and feedback, and provide competitive insights so your teams stay grounded in who they serve. Be a "Best Leader," not a toxic one. The best leaders use communication to pull people together around a shared mission, purpose, vision, and values. The toxic ones let silence or spin create a breeding ground for fear, blame, and speculation. What’s one way you could improve how you communicate vision, priorities, or problems with your team this week? ….. Follow me if you enjoy discussing business and success daily. Click on the double notification bell 🔔 to be informed when I post. ##betheeagle

What's something no one tells you about working in #corporatecommunications? Here's a good one: "The nexus of dysfunction." What's that? Let me explain with an example. You are an #internalcommunications professional and you are asked to support a team with an enterprise announcement about a new program that is going to roll out globally next week. Of course, you were invited very late to the party. During the kick off meeting, they give you a draft announcement that someone on the project team wrote. No comms or change management plan on sight. You read it and your "spider sense" identifies various sections that likely didn't go through the proper approval channels. So, you start asking questions: - Are we sure that this program is relevant to all employees and not just line managers? - Did you run this by Legal? What about Employee Relations? - Did you connect with the EU council? - Can this really be rolled out in China? - I saw a team in LATAM working on a similar initiative... Is this part of the same project or is it different? - The go-live date is the same day as earnings. Is the date flexible? You ask SO many questions that people get annoyed because you are delaying their process. But what if this went live just as it is? You are just anticipating all the potential risks of releasing this without proper alignment and trying to avoid backlash. You are doing your job. I heard a former colleague summarize this reality in a very simple, elegant phrase: "Communication professionals work at the nexus of dysfunction." In talking to other #commspros, this seems to be a pretty standard situation across companies and industries: internal teams just don't talk to each other. These organizational silos are usually the culprit for miscommunication and inefficient use of resources, and those in #commsjobs are normally the ones uncovering the disconnections and trying to fill in the blanks because... we talk to people. Lots of people. So, here’s a takeaway for all of us in #commsjobs: embrace the role of the "necessary nagger." Yes, you might momentarily be the thorn in everyone’s side with your "annoying" questions and your insistence on triple-checking everything. But remember: you are the guardian of the company’s reputation. You are not alone, so wear that badge proudly.

If you’re running a company, chances are you have communication problems. But don’t worry—every business does. When you bring people together, communication issues are inevitable. In this week’s Whiteboard Wednesday, I’ll show you how to diagnose and solve the most common examples of poor business communication. Let’s begin with triage. Here are three signs your team might be struggling with communication: 1) Demoralization Are team members feeling let down or discouraged? 2) Misalignment Is there a gap in expectations or a disconnect between responsibilities? 3) Friction Are you noticing tension or frustration between team members or across teams? These symptoms often stem from a few common communication breakdowns. One of the most frequent is assuming alignment between teams. For instance, a CS manager might assume an AE is as committed to customer success as they are, simply because they’re selling the product. Meanwhile, the AE sees their primary goal as closing deals and moving on to the next one. This assumption leads to misalignment, and if left unchecked, it can spiral into demoralization and friction. Another issue lies in how you communicate internally. Do you push ideas or ask questions? ➝ Pushing Ideas: “Black Friday is coming up, so marketing is our top priority this quarter.” ➝ Asking Questions: “Team, which product should we market most aggressively leading up to Black Friday, and why?” Notice the difference? Pushing ideas without seeking input can lead to misalignment. However, asking questions to a team that’s already misaligned can cause demoralization because they’re unlikely to provide the right answers. So, what’s the solution? Start with inquiry to establish alignment, then work to sell your ideas. Here’s an example: You ask, “Which product should we push for Black Friday?” After listening, you think deeply about their responses. Then you return with, “What if we push X during Labor Day as a test, then focus on Y afterward? Whichever performs better, we’ll prioritize for Black Friday.” This approach shows genuine curiosity and incorporates their input into your solution, fostering a sense of collaboration and alignment (more on this in the video below.) Be mindful of how your team communicates, especially across departments. Ask questions, observe behaviors, and look for clues that might indicate where communication is breaking down. P.S. I post these every Wednesday—comment with topics you’d like me to cover next.

Leaders -- Here’s the Harsh Truth About Communication. When I meet with a prospective client "partner" I often hear about their problems: poor/declining customer service, employee turnover, lack of engagement, retention issues, conflict, etc. All the typical "symptoms". And then once I start working with them, I find out the real disease: COMMUNICATION. My suggestion is always relatively simple. Communicate regularly. Planned. Scheduled. Various ways. No matter what. If you’re not intentionally and regularly communicating with your team, you are communicating—you’re just letting gossip, rumors, and speculation do it for you. Something always fills the VOID. When communication is irregular or reactive, here’s what fills the silence: 🚫 Rumors: Employees start guessing at decisions and motives. 🚫 Gossip: Small issues get inflated into full-blown problems. 🚫 Distrust: People stop believing the official word, even when you do share it. 🚫 Disconnection: Teams drift, priorities blur, and momentum dies. Your silence creates a vacuum—and nature (and workplace culture) hates a vacuum. The fix? Planned, consistent communication. Not just when there’s a crisis, not just when you “have time,” but on a predictable rhythm that your team can rely on. They NEED this. The simple fix: The 4x4 Communication Framework 4 Key Topics to cover every time: ✅ Wins & successes ✅ Challenges & roadblocks ✅ What’s coming next ✅ How the team is making an impact 4 Regular Touchpoints each month: Daily or Weekly team huddle (15 mins) Weekly written update (email or Slack post) Weekly or Bi-weekly one-on-ones (20–30 mins) Quarterly or Monthly all-hands or department meeting You may think you’re “too busy” to communicate like this. Here’s the truth: you’re already paying the cost of not doing it—low morale, disengagement, and mistrust. Regular, planned communication is not an extra task. It's just not a nice to have. It's a MUST have. It’s the bloodstream of your leadership. Need some help in getting started? Reach or DM me. I would love to chat with you!