When we think about communication in organizations, I’d argue it’s one of the least well-executed functions—yet one of the most critical for employee engagement and productivity. The challenge isn’t just about sharing information; it’s about delivering the right content, at the right time, through the right method.
With today’s digital tools, we can push out an overwhelming amount of data. In many cases, it feels to me like the flood of information becomes more of a curse than a benefit. Kidding aside, we send emails, post updates, drop files into shared drives—but does any of it truly drive action? Often, communication remains passive: employees wait to be informed rather than actively seeking the information they need to contribute meaningfully, because that’s the way it has been delivered historically.
At one company, we tackled this by making communication a shared responsibility rather than a top-down broadcast. The agenda for meetings was posted in a common space, and if someone wanted a topic discussed, they had to proactively add it, specifying the issue, the decision needed, and its importance. Every team member was responsible to go to the agenda in advance of the meeting and get themselves prepared to responsibly participate. This meant that when the meeting started, we weren’t spending time getting informed—we were making decisions. I recently heard this principle summed up perfectly: “Meetings should make news, not report it.”
So how do we apply this principle more broadly? We need to shift communication from a passive exercise to a structured business process:
- Define the Rhythm – Is this information best shared daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly? Every piece of content should have a cadence.
- Choose the Right Method – Is this an email, a shared drive, a dashboard update? The medium should match the message.
- Create a Pull System – Instead of blasting information at employees, design a system where they know where to go to get what they need—when they need it.
Like any quality system, communication should have standard work—clear expectations about what gets shared, who updates it, and how employees engage with it. When we treat communication as a structured system rather than a flood of updates, we empower teams to take responsibility for staying informed and making decisions.