How effective communication is the key between success and failure

I often get asked what I think is the single biggest factor that results in the success or failure of any objective or deliverable, my answer is simple - communication.

You could argue that is a generic statement and other factors are undoubtably involved, that is not something I would disagree with, however if you analysed the root cause of those additional issues, I would safely assume that communication would feature highly on any defined problem statement.

So what are the types of problems/issues that are caused as a direct result of ineffective communication? That is a good question, so let's take a look at some of the potential impacts:

1) If you are not communicating, information and knowledge is not being shared, leading to an immediate mis-alignment in respect to what is ultimately trying to be achieved

2) Relationships will deteriorate through a lack of communication, in most cases this will lead to a breakdown in trust

3) A silo mentality will start to embed itself within the day-to-day functioning of any operation, leading to people trying to solve the same problems and significantly reducing resource and productivity efficiencies

4) The overarching vision and strategy will be compromised through a lack of cohesion and joined up thinking, with people now working in silos and not sharing information, the end goal keeps moving further away

5) The culture of the organisation will be detrimentally affected as the level of trust deteriorates and the level of individual self-preservation increases

It can be agreed that the problems/issues identified above can cause significant damage to any organization, so what solutions can be implemented to address this?

The following ideas are certainly not exhaustive, however they hopefully provide some insights into what I have learnt and personally implemented in regards to effective communication solutions:

1) Define an overarching communication strategy that provides a set of principles that colleagues can align themselves too and adopt in their day-to-day approach to work

2) Ensure that a culture of information/knowledge sharing is adopted, however ensure this is undertaken in a balanced manner - people can't be overloaded

3) Manage the communication platforms that are utilised throughout the organization, ensuring these are fit for purpose, meet user needs and are supplemented with guidelines around usage and purpose

4) Provide flexibility within the communication strategy to teams and individuals about how they effectively apply the principles e.g. some teams may want to leverage a Stand-Up at the start and end of each day, other teams may want these twice weekly - a singular approach will never work

5) Consider different preferences and styles when talking about communication - there are those individuals that prefer to jump on a call to discuss a specific issue whilst others may want to receive all the available information to review prior to having any further conversations

I would stress that there isn't a one size fits all approach when it comes to effective communication - organisations, teams and people need to adopt approaches and solutions that work the most effectively for them.

However, the most important consideration is that effective communication is at the core of any organisational culture and anything that jeopardises this must be addressed as a critical priority and have the buy-in from all involved.

Thanks for reading.