How Poor Communication is Sabotaging Your Culture (and What to Do About It)

Let’s start with a gut check: Are you communicating at your people, or with them?

If you’re thinking, “We do town halls, send newsletters, and leadership does a video update every month,”—then congratulations, you’ve just described every disengaged organization that thinks it has great communication.

Here’s the deal: poor communication is the silent killer of engagement, and no, we’re not being dramatic. Studies show miscommunication costs organizations an average of $62.4 million per year. That’s not just dropped balls—it’s entire trust bridges being burned to the ground.

In this post, we’re diving into how communication is failing at the organizational level, why it’s dragging your culture down with it, and what you can do to fix it (without needing to launch another Slack channel).

Why Communication Breaks Down at the Top

Most executive teams aren’t ignoring communication—they just assume it’s happening.

But the truth is, somewhere between the C-Suite and the frontline, your message is being mangled into a game of corporate telephone.

Here’s how it usually plays out:

• You have a strategy update.
  
• It gets delivered via a memo, a town hall, or a slick PowerPoint.
  
• Your managers try to translate it… with varying levels of success.
  
• Your employees hear about it thirdhand and feel like they’re on a need-to-know basis—and apparently, they don’t need to know.

Worse, when messages are vague or laced with corporate jargon, employees tune out faster than you can say “synergy.”

Translation: Your people don’t feel informed. And when people feel excluded, engagement tanks.

The Cultural Fallout of Poor Communication

Communication breakdowns don’t just confuse people—they erode trust. And without trust, engagement becomes a ghost story we tell ourselves to feel better.

Here’s what happens when communication fails:

• Employees disengage because they don’t see the “why” behind the work.
  
• Rumors replace reality (and are way more interesting).
  
• Psychological safety shrinks.
  
• Turnover climbs. Productivity dips. Collaboration fizzles.
  

Bottom line: Poor communication turns even the best culture into chaos.

Signs Your Communication Isn’t Working (Even If You Think It Is)

Let’s call out a few red flags. You may be guilty of one (or all) of these:

• You say, “We already told them,” but employees say, “Wait, what?”
  
• No one opens the internal newsletter unless there’s a giveaway.
  
• Leaders think they’re being visible because they posted on LinkedIn.
  
• Big news gets to employees through the grapevine—again.
  
• Engagement survey feedback includes phrases like “I don’t feel heard” or “Leadership is out of touch.”
  

Oof. If any of that stings—it should. But don’t worry, redemption is only a few tactics away.

From Noise to Clarity: What Great Communication Looks Like

Let’s flip the script. High-engagement cultures don’t just communicate better—they communicate with intention.

Here’s what that looks like:

• Consistent messaging: across departments, from top to bottom.
  
• Clarity over cleverness: ditch the buzzwords and just say what you mean.
  
• Two-way dialogue: listening is just as important as broadcasting.
  
• Leadership visibility: not performative drive-bys, but real, human connection.
  
• Storytelling with substance: tie communications to purpose, not just process.
  

Employees don’t need another memo—they need meaning.

Tactical Fixes You Can Start Today

Here’s how to course-correct:

✅ Audit your current communication flow. Where does it break down? Who gets left out?

✅ Simplify your messages. If it sounds like a press release, you’ve gone too far.

✅ Train your leaders. Yes, they need communication skills too—not just business acumen.

✅ Open feedback channels. Think: pulse surveys, AMAs, listening sessions.

✅ Track communication KPIs. Email open rates, intranet engagement, feedback participation—watch the data.

✅ Make it a two-way street. If you’re always the one talking, it’s not a conversation—it’s a monologue.

Talk Less. Say More.

Here’s the kicker: Employee engagement doesn’t live in a ping-pong table or a purpose statement.

It lives in the day-to-day clarity, context, and connection employees feel from leadership—and that’s all communication. So ask yourself: When was the last time your people really understood what you were trying to say? If the answer is, “I’m not sure,” it’s time to fix that.

Ready to Build a Culture of Clear, Engaging Communication?

MindWire helps leaders communicate with clarity and confidence—without the fluff. Whether it’s through our executive coaching, engagement audits, or communication training, we’ve got tools (and receipts) that work.

Let’s talk about leveling up your communication game.