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The Real Reason Your Company's Communication Strategy is Confusing

Three months ago, I walked into a boardroom where the CEO spent forty-five minutes explaining why their "streamlined communication framework" wasn't working. The irony was thicker than Vegemite on toast.

After seventeen years consulting for companies across Melbourne, Sydney, and everywhere in between, I've seen this same disaster play out more times than I can count. Companies spend thousands on communication strategies that confuse their own staff, let alone their customers. And here's the kicker – they genuinely don't understand why.

The Email Avalanche Nobody Talks About

Let me paint you a picture. Sarah from HR sends an "urgent" email about the Christmas party. Marketing forwards it with their own commentary. Operations adds a reply-all about catering allergies. The CFO chimes in about budget concerns.

By Thursday, that simple "save the date" has spawned seventeen emails, three meetings, and one very confused catering company.

This isn't communication. This is digital noise pollution.

The average Australian worker receives 96 emails per day. That's one every five minutes during an eight-hour shift. Yet most companies still act like email is the solution to everything. Want to announce a policy change? Email blast. Need to clarify a procedure? Another email. Team building event? You guessed it.

I've worked with companies where employees have developed sophisticated email management systems just to survive their own internal communications. That's not efficiency – that's survival mode.

The Meeting About Meetings Syndrome

Here's where it gets properly mental. Companies schedule meetings to discuss why their communication isn't working. Then they schedule follow-up meetings to clarify what was decided in the first meeting. Before you know it, you're attending a meeting about scheduling meetings more effectively.

I once worked with a Brisbane-based tech firm that was spending 47% of their work hours in meetings. Forty-seven percent! Their productivity had dropped so low they hired a consultant (me) to figure out why projects were behind schedule.

The answer was sitting right there in their Outlook calendars.

But here's what really gets my goat – half these meetings could've been solved with a five-minute conversation in the hallway. Instead, we've created this bizarre corporate theatre where everything needs to be "properly documented" and "stakeholders need to be aligned."

The Jargon Trap That's Killing Clarity

Corporate speak has infected Australian business like a virus. We've got managers "circling back to touch base about synergies" when they mean "let's talk about working together." We're "drilling down into actionable insights" instead of "looking at what we need to do."

Last year, I sat through a presentation where a marketing director used the phrase "leverage our core competencies to ideate solutions" seventeen times. Seventeen! I counted because I was losing my mind.

You know what happened after that presentation? Three different department heads approached me separately asking what she actually meant. Her own team didn't understand her.

This isn't sophistication. It's intellectual masturbation.

The best communicators I know – and I've worked with some absolute legends – speak like human beings. They use words people understand. They explain things clearly the first time. Revolutionary concept, right?

Why Your Staff Aren't Reading Your Communications

Here's a truth bomb that'll make your head of communications cry: your employees have stopped reading company emails. Not all of them, but the important ones.

They've learned through painful experience that most internal communications are either irrelevant fluff or things that should've been handled by their direct manager. So they've developed selective blindness.

I've seen this play out dramatically during crisis communications. Companies send out "urgent" updates that get ignored because staff have been trained to ignore company communications. Then leadership gets frustrated when "nobody follows procedures."

The problem isn't your staff. The problem is you've cried wolf too many times.

The Middle Management Translation Layer

Most communication breakdowns happen right in the middle of your organisation chart. Senior leadership makes a decision. They communicate it to middle management. Middle management "interprets" it for their teams.

Except here's what actually happens: the original message gets filtered through personal biases, departmental politics, and individual understanding levels. By the time it reaches the front line, it bears about as much resemblance to the original message as a Tim Tam bears to a carrot.

I watched this happen at a Perth mining company where the CEO announced a new safety protocol. Simple enough – always wear high-vis gear in designated areas. By the time it filtered down through three management layers, some teams thought they needed high-vis for office work, others thought it was optional, and one group was convinced it only applied to visitors.

Nobody bothered to check what the CEO actually said.

The Digital Platform Proliferation Problem

Companies love collecting communication platforms like some people collect ceramic elephants. They've got Slack for "casual conversations," Teams for "official meetings," email for "formal communications," an intranet for "important announcements," and WhatsApp groups for "urgent issues."

Then they wonder why messages get lost.

I worked with a Sydney marketing agency that used seven different platforms for internal communication. Seven! Their staff spent more time checking platforms than actually doing marketing. When I suggested consolidating, the IT manager looked at me like I'd suggested burning down the server room.

The problem isn't that these platforms are bad. Slack is brilliant. Teams works well for what it does. Email has its place. But using all of them simultaneously creates more confusion than a tourist trying to navigate Sydney's bus system.

Pick two platforms maximum. Train everyone properly. Stick to the system.

What Actually Works (Despite What Consultants Tell You)

After years of watching companies tie themselves in communication knots, I've noticed patterns in the organisations that actually get it right.

First, they communicate like human beings, not corporate robots. When Atlassian announces changes, they sound like actual people wrote the messages. Same with Canva. You read their internal communications and think, "Yep, that makes sense."

Second, they have clear rules about what goes where. Email for formal announcements. Slack for quick questions. Face-to-face for complex discussions. No exceptions, no creative interpretations.

Third – and this one's crucial – they train their middle managers to communicate, not just manage. Proper communication training isn't just for executives anymore. Your team leaders need these skills desperately.

Fourth, they audit their communications regularly. Not the content – the volume and effectiveness. How many emails are we sending? Are people actually reading them? What's the response rate to important announcements?

Most companies track everything except whether their communications actually work.

The Australian Factor

We've got a particular challenge in Australia because we're trying to balance our natural directness with imported corporate culture from places where people communicate differently.

Americans love their verbose mission statements and extensive documentation. Europeans prefer structured, formal processes. Asians often rely on hierarchical communication flows.

Then you drop all that into Australian culture where we prefer straight talking and hate unnecessary bureaucracy. The result? Communication strategies that feel foreign to the people who have to use them.

I've seen this create resistance that has nothing to do with the actual message. Staff reject communications not because they disagree with the content, but because the delivery feels wrong for the culture.

The most successful Australian companies I work with have figured out how to maintain professionalism while sounding authentically Australian. They're clear, direct, and don't waste people's time with corporate theatre.

The Real Solution Nobody Wants to Hear

Here's the uncomfortable truth: most communication problems aren't system problems or platform problems or training problems. They're leadership problems.

When leadership doesn't know what they want to communicate, they create confusion. When they change direction constantly, they create noise. When they delegate communication without clear guidelines, they create chaos.

I've watched CEOs blame their communications team for problems that started in the executive suite. They'd announce a strategic shift on Monday, modify it on Wednesday, and completely reverse it on Friday. Then they'd wonder why staff seemed confused about company direction.

The solution isn't better email templates or fancier platforms or more meetings. The solution is leaders who know what they want to say and say it clearly.

That means making decisions and sticking to them long enough for people to understand and implement them. It means accepting that not every thought needs to become a company-wide communication. It means understanding that communication is part of leadership, not something you delegate to the marketing department.

Moving Forward Without the Chaos

If you're stuck in communication chaos, start simple. Pick one thing that's causing confusion and fix it properly before moving to the next issue.

Maybe that's consolidating your communication platforms. Maybe it's training your managers to write clearer emails. Maybe it's establishing rules about when to call a meeting versus sending a message.

But here's the key – whatever you choose to fix, actually fix it. Don't create a committee to study the problem. Don't hire another consultant to tell you what you already know. Don't schedule meetings to discuss potential solutions.

Just fix the bloody thing.

Your staff will thank you. Your customers will notice the difference. And you might actually start enjoying coming to work again instead of dreading your overflowing inbox.

Because at the end of the day, good communication isn't about having the most sophisticated systems or the cleverest messaging. It's about respecting people enough to be clear, consistent, and honest with them.

Everything else is just noise.