How communication overload is slowing organisations down (and how to fix it)

As passionate communications experts we love communication….when it’s effective. The problem is too often we’re communicating too much and instead of helping it’s hindering.

We all know how it feels to be constantly swimming against the tide, trying to keep up with an ever-increasing avalanche of emails, notifications and messages, flicking between channels and getting distracted by notifications pinging on multiple devices around us. This constant influx of communication is forcing us to multitask, distracting our concentration, preventing us from getting into productive flow states, and preventing us from achieving important tasks.

Has hybrid working made this worse? Possibly. While very few people are missing the busy, noisy and distracting environments of the pre-pandemic open-plan office, today’s equivalent is perhaps the increased instant messaging platforms pinging away. Sure, we can turn off notifications, but it doesn’t stop our colleagues having questions.

On top of simply not harming productivity, this communications overload is also impacting mental wellbeing, stressing employees out when they feel they can’t keep up no matter how hard they try, and creating a sense of dread that they’re missing important messages and tasks that get buried in the noise.

As professional communicators driven by making a meaningful difference, we want to help the organisations around us. Here’s what we believe are the main culprits are along with our tips for reducing the communications overwhelm.

Too many channels

It’s great that technology blesses us with better channels all the time, but we must be careful to ensure that these new channels aren’t just adding to the noise. Part of the communications overwhelm is purely maintaining and checking so many difference channels.

Our tip: Be brave and don’t be afraid to close channels down.

From closing X and Facebook accounts to turning off internal channels like Yammer or WhatsApp. Question if another existing channel could serve the same purpose.

Poor use of channels

“Email as become a counter-productivity tool” Justin Rosentein, ex-Facebook and co-founder of Asana

If you’ve ever experienced a school parent WhatsApp group when a child loses its blazer, or have been part of a ‘Reply all’ email frenzy, you’ll appreciate how quickly poor communication can do its damage. Unfortunately, poor communications etiquette is common practice in organisations because it’s rare that anyone has been shown how to communicate better. Like leadership skills, there’s an assumption that subject matter experts automatically know how to communicate effectively.

Our tip: Provide effective communications guidance to employees

Help employees to choose the right channel, understand the anatomy of an effective piece of communication and how to use AI tools effectively.

Whilst email isn’t quite dead yet, it is time to reset the way we use it. Email should be limited to 1:2:1 conversation or used as an ‘inform’ broadcast channel only.

Too much collaboration

Yes, we did just say that. It’s obviously great to involve people, engaging stakeholders on the journey is critical to success, but that doesn’t mean cc’ing the whole company every time there’s an update or getting feedback at every stage.

Whether we blame modern matrix management, shifting leadership styles or anxiety over making decisions, there’s no doubt that organisational decision making is slowing down and getting more complex.

Our tip: Increase clarity where possible

Be clear on roles, responsibilities and RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed). One of the most common reasons for looping in too many colleagues is not being sure who needs to know what, being clear on this can help reduce communications overwhelm.

Poor personal leadership

When we think leadership, we often look to the top of the organisation, but everyone can take responsibility for stepping up personal leadership within their roles and this extends to being concise and considerate in their communications.

Our tip: Empower champions

We can’t all absorb every topic all the time, divvying up projects, workstreams or topic themes provides a great way to funnel communications through individuals so they can filter and share updates when appropriate, reducing the constant overload.

‘Always on’ communications

With hybrid working came many flexibility benefits including a blurring of the general 9-5.30 workday, the challenge this brought for many is a culture of ‘always on’ communication which has added to the feeling of overwhelm.

Our tip: Set the ground rules around the ‘right to switch off’

While for some the ability to work outside of the usual workday helps flex around care responsibilities or other responsibilities, it can add pressure to colleagues to feel always available. Be clear on expectations and the ‘right to switch off’ and increase awareness of ‘send later’ features.

As passionate communicators with experience in supporting large organisations with employee engagement, we’re keen to make sure communication helps drive innovation, builds relationships and enhances productivity. If you think over communications is slowing your organisations down and aren’t sure where to start book a call with us here.