Dr. I.D.

Koroma
Major Causes of Business Communication Failure – yr.4
How we communicate with others in the workplace can have a big impact on the
success of what we do, how we feel about the company we work for and how
others perceive us.
1. Communication Becomes Overwhelming
2. Communication Is Inconsistent failing to grab the readers’ attention with
opening sentence
3. Communication Is Unclear and Inarticulate
4. Communication Doesn’t Include Enough Listening or Compromise
5. Communication Is Hindered by a Lack of Trust
How we communicate with others in the workplace can have a big impact on the
success of what we do, how we feel about the company we work for and how
others perceive us.
Effective communication makes it easier to manage teams, set goals, track
progress, solve problems and encourage innovation. The communication skills of
everyone within an organisation matter — from senior management through to
individual team members.
Although we communicate at work every day, we rarely stop to think about
whether it is effective or how to change the way we share information if it isn’t
working.
Why Does Communication Fail in Business?
We all know that clear and open communication is essential for any business to
thrive and work effectively. However, in most organisations, it’s easy to fall into a
pattern of communication that is less than optimal.
Communication breakdown is a common problem for businesses. Here are five
types of communication failures that you may encounter at work.
 Major Causes of Business Communication Failure – Yr.4
1. Communication Becomes Overwhelming
One of the main reasons why communication fails is that it becomes
overwhelming. For many employees, there are simply too many messages relayed
through too many channels.
Consider one of the main culprits of overwhelming communication: the email. It’s
a communication channel that can be used effectively, but it’s easy to get into the
habit of sending an email instead of speaking to someone or making phone calls.
It can be difficult to convey the right tone and context in an email, so it can often
lead to a long email thread without a resolution.
As well as email, another ineffective communication method is meetings. Most
employees and managers have a diary filled with commitments, tasks and
meetings — some of which are unnecessary. Poorly planned meetings,
discussions without a purpose and too many meetings all contribute to feeling
overwhelmed by communication. To avoid this, set a clear agenda, review it at
the beginning of the meeting and don't stray from it.
2. Communication Is Inconsistent
On the other side of the spectrum, inconsistency is also a source of
communication problems. When teams come to expect a monthly meeting or a
weekly bulletin email, it can be confusing and demotivating if these suddenly
change without warning. Communication can also be inconsistent from one
manager to a number of employees, prompting individuals to feel as though their
contributions or suggestions aren’t as valued as those of others.
In contrast to organisations where there’s an overwhelming amount of
communication, in some there’s not enough. A lack of clear, open and regular
communication can lead to difficulties in teams understanding your core values,
achieving progress and contributing their opinions and ideas.
 Major Causes of Business Communication Failure – Yr. 4
3. Communication Is Unclear and Inarticulate
Even when communication is consistent, it can fall into the trap of being unclear
or inarticulate. This often happens when there is not a clear and unified direction
from management, leading to different interpretations and conflicting priorities.
Communication can be unclear in a number of ways. One of the most common is
sending reactive, unplanned messages, instead of planning what to say and
structuring it in a way that’s easy to understand and communicates all points
accurately.
Another failure is not including enough detail. This can be especially important
when talking about projects where details and data are critical to following
progress.
A third example of unclear messaging is not knowing the audience or not
selecting the right audience based on who needs to know what.
And yet another major source of communication failure in business is the use of
unnecessary technical jargon. Confusing language and unapproachable acronyms
make it hard for employees to have a clear understanding of the whole message.
Businesses that keep language simple will find it much easier to communicate
effectively with employees and the wider community.
4. Communication Doesn’t Include Enough Listening or Compromise
When we hear the word ‘communication’ we usually think about what’s being
said or the manner in which the message is delivered, but the act of listening is
equally important.
Many people struggle to actively listen and digest the information that someone
else has provided. This can lead to difficulty in following a conversation or keeping
up with progress on a project.
In organisations where there’s too much one-way communication or there’s an
aversion to feedback, employees can feel as though their contributions aren’t
welcome or won’t be heard.
 Major Causes of Business Communication Failure Yr.4
In some cases, there’s an unwillingness to let others speak or engage in a
discussion. Where there is too much talking and not enough listening, this can
lead to heated moments or difficulty in achieving compromise. For
communication to succeed, listening must play an important role.
5. Communication Is Hindered by a Lack of Trust
Finally, one of the major causes of communication failure within an organisation
is a lack of trust. While trust can take a long time to build in a business, it can be
easily broken and difficult to repair.
Employees may have a lack of trust within a business for several reasons. This
could be due to being let down in the past by promises which have yet to be
fulfilled — for example a Q&A session with the CEO that never materialised. Team
members may also feel distanced from management or other teams due to a lack
of transparency, especially if they have taken an interest in company culture or a
specific project that was met with silence.
Another source of these connection pitfalls is believing that someone has an
ulterior motive or that their attempts at communicating are not genuine. In every
organisation, there will be employees who are not ‘team players’ and don’t have
the company’s best interests at heart, and this often comes through in the way
they communicate with others.

How to Avoid Communication Failure with Team Chat?

1. Team Chat Apps Create a Central Place for Project Communication
2. Team Chat Apps Help Team Members Stay in Communication
3. Team Chat Apps Encourage Open Conversation
If you feel as though your organisation would benefit from clearer, more effective
communication then a great way to achieve this is by introducing a team chat
app.
Software designed to aid with communication and productivity can have a
powerful impact on the way that teams share information and provide updates
on their progress.
Major Causes of Business Communication Failure – Yr. 4
This in turn creates a positive environment for communication, which will help
you reach other business goals and objectives relating to people management,
company culture and even financial progress. Here are three ways that team chat
apps can help you to avoid communication failure at work.

1. Team Chat Apps Create a Central Place for Project Communication

Especially for teams that work remotely, it's important to have a virtual
'teamwork desk' where team members can collaborate and communicate.
Through text, audio calls and video calls, teams can provide updates on the status
of project tasks and goals, plus talk about how they can help one another reach
the end goals.
When teams work in groups to accomplish goals, they need a dedicated space to
communicate, upload files and share information through text messages, video
chat and screen sharing. Smart companies use team software that allows users to
create channels for specific purposes — similar to a chat room.
This allows team members to communicate and collaborate about specific
projects without the rest of the organisation needing to be disrupted by chat
messages that don't have anything to do with their work.
New employees can also be added to the specific chat channels they need to be
involved in, and they can usually scroll through the past messages to get a clear
history of the project.
2. Team Chat Apps Help Team Members Stay in Communication
Today's business world moves fast and everyone is always on the go. Most team
collaboration programmes have mobile apps for iOS and Android that help your
whole team collaborate no matter where they are.
Let's imagine a senior executive is on his way to a critical business presentation
and is running late from the airport. A key piece of information needed for the
presentation has changed. He shouldn't have to check his email a moment before
the presentation starts to get the information.

Major Causes of Business Communication Failure –Yr. 4

3. Team Chat Apps Encourage Open Conversation
Many companies use teamwork chat apps for more than just managing business
chats. Team members can foster robust team communication and create
channels for social purposes.
Create a channel such as 'work' for general announcements and 'play' for social
conversations.
Just make sure that any social groups are optional and easy to search for.
Employees should know they have the option to participate in any social groups
and they don't need to keep their notifications on.
Other ideas for social chat channels can be based on common interests, such as
pets, book clubs, happy hour, hiking, dining, or sports. It's a great way to foster
rapport on large teams.

How to Use Your Team Chat App for Communication and Productivity
In our modern business world, teams often have to stay highly connected across
different time zones and locations. Team chat apps aren't just for communicating
information anymore. They have also become a productivity tool that helps team
members streamline their work and optimise their business processes.
No matter which apps your organisation chooses to implement, make sure you
limit the number of applications you use to avoid confusion and
miscommunication. Ideally, an organisation should adopt one to three
applications (depending on the size of the organisation) to streamline the process.
Finally, make sure every employee has the proper training on the teamwork chat
apps they’re expected to use. Even if the app has the best features, it's pointless if
your teams don't know how to use these new features effectively. Offer training
when a new team chat app is introduced to the company and refresher courses
when moving to a different version so that every employee can get the most out
of the tools your company uses.