Workplace Communication Problems and How to Fix Them

You do not need an autism / ADHD diagnosis to struggle with communication in the workplace. Most teams face daily misunderstandings, tensions, and disconnects. They happen every day, and most businesses do not even realise they have them.

These issues are rarely addressed, communication problems are usually ignored. That is a mistake.

Many communication breakdowns are due to different thinking styles, different priorities, and different ways of processing and sharing information. If your staff do not understand this, you will keep losing time, motivation, and people.

Here are some of the most common communication problems we see in the workplace:

Technical Staff vs Sales Staff

• Technical staff think in detail. They hate seeing products or services misrepresented. They get concerned when the marketing or sales message is not true in their eyes.
• Sales and marketing staff think in terms of what the customer needs to know and aim to simplify messages for broader audiences. They focus on value to the customer rather than technical detail.

Both are right in their own way. Still there can be a clash because the technical people don’t want sales people to misrepresent the product or service. They don’t want sales and marketing to over-promise or over-simplify. If you do not understand this, you will waste time on internal battles instead of selling.

Detail Thinkers vs Strategic Thinkers

• Some staff think in fine detail which, to them, is integral to the bigger picture. In their eyes, you cannot understand fully without the detail.
• Some think think in big-picture view and are not interested in the detail.

Detail thinkers spot risks; strategy thinkers see possibilities. You need both. Developing a shared language is essential. This means the strategy thinkers need to listen, and the detail thinkers need to focus on the critical details and explain why as simply as possible. Without this, strategy gets shallow and detail gets dismissed.

We recently did a workplace assessment where a detail thinker wanted to be promoted to a level where strategic thinking was necessary. She needed to cut down on the detail and learn to give an overview.

Top Down vs Bottom Up Thinkers

People solve problems in different ways:

• Some people like to start with the bigger picture and work towards the detail (top down),
• Others like to start with the detail and work up towards the bigger picture (bottom up)
• A few like to work from both the detail and the bigger picture both at the same time

All these are valid ways of solving a problem. However, it has been found that each approach often gives a different result - while solving the problem. While the method doesn’t matter for simple problems, it does matter for complex problems. By taking advantage of these different ways of thinking, by listening carefully to all viewpoints, more optimal ways forward can be found.

However these different styles do often result in communication problems. Those who think differently to the majority may feel that their viewpoint is ignored. Then they stop contributing, which isn’t good for the business.

The solution is to be aware of the issue. Discussion within the team to identify these different ways of looking at and solving a problem between team members. This can ensure that all viewpoints are listened to and the team does not simply go with the majority way of approaching the problem.

Awareness can also lead to changes in how people communicate. For example, it is not difficult for someone who prefers seeing the bigger picture to switch things around and provide the detail.

In fact, all these thinking styles are catered for in the adage for writing a report: “Tell them what you are going to tell them [big picture overview], tell them [detail], tell them what you told them [Another big picture overview phrased differently].” This caters well to all the above styles.

Acronyms

Acronyms are a disaster for clear communication in business. They exclude anyone who does not know them, finds it hard to remember them (including new hires), or worse has a different meaning for them. Many acronyms have multiple meanings. For example, AI is all the rage today, but 10 years ago. people would have thought artificial insemination!

A few other examples:

• MD - managing director / medical doctor

• PC - personal computer/ politically correct (language / expression) / police constable

• NI - Northern Ireland / national insurance

• IP - intellectual property / internet protocol

• CIO - chief information officer/ chief investment officer.

All the same problem! If you rely on this kind of jargon, expect communication failures, especially with people who are not part of your immediate team.

Presentations

Many corporate presentations are designed for people who learn by reading and/or listening. Many people learn far better with diagrams or visual explanation. If you rely on bullet points alone, you risk losing some of your audience.

In order to cater for different preferred ways of taking in information and to make your presentation more memorable, it is important to have visual aids. This does not necessarily have to be PowerPoint, but if it is, it should not just be bullet points; there should be use of pictures and/or diagrams.

This is seen particularly in academia, where people in the sciences use visual aids as a matter of course, whereas some of those in humanities think just talking is enough - and can need diagrams translating into words.

Conclusion

Too many businesses wait until staff turnover creeps into dangerous territory before taking internal communication issues seriously. We have seen staff go from complete breakdowns in collaboration to effective partnerships just by learning how each other thinks.

Businesses need understanding before they can offer meaningful support. That is what our cognitive diversity training delivers. It works whether someone is autistic, ADHD, or simply a different kind of thinker.

If you want a workplace that listens, adapts, and gets the best out of everyone, contact us.