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Why Your Company's Communication Strategy is Confusing Everyone (And How to Fix It Without Another Workshop)

The bloke in the corner office just sent another "urgent" email marked "low priority" with three different deadlines buried in a wall of text that would make Tolstoy weep. Sound familiar?

After seventeen years of watching Australian businesses tie themselves in communication knots, I've come to one inescapable conclusion: most companies communicate like they're playing Chinese whispers at a construction site during peak hour traffic. The message that leaves the boardroom bears about as much resemblance to what reaches the front desk as a meat pie does to a croissant.

And here's the kicker - everyone knows it's broken, but instead of fixing the actual problem, they book another communication workshop. Because apparently what we need is more PowerPoints about listening skills.

The Real Problem Isn't What You Think

Most executives I meet think communication problems stem from people not listening properly or lacking the "right skills." Bollocks. The real issue is that your communication strategy was probably designed by someone who's never actually had to implement it.

I was guilty of this myself back in 2018. Spent six months developing this beautiful, comprehensive communication framework for a mining company in Perth. Colour-coded priority systems, standardised templates, approval workflows - the works. Looked fantastic on paper. In practice? Total disaster. The supervisors were spending more time categorising emails than actually reading them.

The problem wasn't the people. It was that I'd created a system that worked brilliantly for someone who had all day to manage communications, not for blokes trying to coordinate shift changes while dealing with equipment breakdowns and safety inspections.

Stop Treating Symptoms, Start Fixing Causes

Here's where most companies get it backwards: they focus on training people to communicate better instead of designing systems that make good communication inevitable. It's like trying to solve traffic congestion by teaching everyone to be better drivers. Sure, it might help a bit, but wouldn't you rather just fix the bloody road layout?

The best communication training programs I've seen don't just teach skills - they redesign the environment where communication happens. But most companies skip that part because it's harder than booking a facilitator for a half-day session.

Take Bunnings, for example. Their communication strategy isn't complex, but it's consistent. Walk into any store and the information flow is predictable. Staff know where to find what they need, customers know who to ask for help, and managers know how to escalate issues. It's not revolutionary - it's just well-designed.

The Three Things Your Strategy Actually Needs

After fixing communication disasters across industries from hospitality to heavy machinery, I've noticed successful strategies always have three elements that failed ones lack:

Ruthless Simplicity. If your communication guidelines require a manual, you've already lost. The best systems I've implemented can be explained in five minutes to someone who's never worked in the industry. Complexity is the enemy of clarity, and clarity is the enemy of confusion.

Built-in Redundancy. Important information should travel through at least two different channels. Not because people are stupid, but because people are human. We get distracted, we misread things, we forget. A good system assumes this will happen and plans accordingly.

Regular Reality Checks. Most communication strategies are created in conference rooms by people who don't actually use them daily. The only way to know if your system works is to regularly ask the people at the coal face: "Is this actually helping you get stuff done?"

Why Australian Businesses Get This Wrong

We've got this cultural thing where we think being straightforward means being rude, so we wrap everything in diplomatic language that obscures the actual message. I've seen emails that take four paragraphs to ask someone to update a spreadsheet.

Meanwhile, the most effective communicators I know - whether they're running construction crews or managing retail teams - are direct without being harsh. They say what they mean, they mean what they say, and they don't dress it up in corporate speak.

There's a tradie I know in Brisbane who runs a team of twenty electricians. His communication strategy? Monday morning briefing, end-of-day check-in, and if something's urgent, you ring him. That's it. No priority matrices, no escalation protocols, no communication style guidelines. Just clear expectations and consistent follow-through.

His projects run on time. His team retention is excellent. His clients are happy.

Sometimes simple is better.

The Workshop Trap

Here's an uncomfortable truth: most communication workshops are theatre. They make everyone feel like they're addressing the problem without actually changing anything structural.

I've sat through countless sessions where participants nod enthusiastically about active listening techniques, then return to an environment where they're managing seventeen different communication platforms and getting interrupted every four minutes. No amount of training can overcome a fundamentally broken system.

The companies that actually improve their communication don't just train their people differently - they change how information flows through the organisation. They eliminate redundant meetings, consolidate communication channels, and create clear hierarchies for decision-making.

What Actually Works (From Someone Who's Seen It)

The most dramatic communication improvement I've witnessed happened at a logistics company in Melbourne. The CEO didn't book a workshop or hire a consultant. He spent two weeks working different shifts - warehouse, dispatch, customer service, accounts. Just observing where information got stuck.

Turned out the problem wasn't skills or attitude. It was that critical information was buried in systems that different departments couldn't easily access. Once they fixed the information architecture, communication improved overnight.

No role-playing exercises. No personality assessments. Just better organisational design.

The Uncomfortable Reality

Most communication problems are actually organisational structure problems in disguise. You can teach people to listen actively all you want, but if your reporting structure is unclear, your priorities are constantly shifting, and your systems don't talk to each other, you'll still have communication chaos.

The companies with the best internal communication aren't necessarily the ones with the most sophisticated strategies. They're the ones where information flows naturally because the structure supports it. Where people know who to talk to, when to talk to them, and what decisions they can make themselves.

Sometimes the best communication strategy is admitting your current one isn't working and starting from scratch. Not with another framework or methodology, but with an honest assessment of whether your organisational design actually supports the kind of communication you're trying to achieve.

Because here's the thing - you can train people to communicate perfectly, but if you're asking them to operate in a system that makes good communication difficult, you're just setting everyone up for frustration.

The Bottom Line

Fix your systems first, then worry about training. Design your information flow before you design your workshops. And for God's sake, ask the people who actually have to use your communication strategy whether it's helping them do their jobs better.

Because if it's not making their work easier, it's not really a communication strategy - it's just another thing they have to manage around.

Further Reading: Change Management | Team Development | Leadership Training | Workplace Communication