How to Improve Organizational Communication at Work

When you think of “organizational communication,” you may think only about formal information handed down from leadership and management. But it includes all company communication about how to carry out business. That could be an email, a shared document, a presentation — even information stated in a meeting.

It can be a challenge for any team — in-person, hybrid, or remote — to store and later find the communications related to work. Project information can be spread across so many digital tools.

A few best practices can improve your organizational communication to help get everyone on the same page and working efficiently. 

What is organizational communication?

Organizational communication is how the people in the organization share their vision, priorities, opinions, and decisions, both internally and externally.

This information sharing can be upward, downward, or horizontal. Senior leaders drive organizational communication through top-down communication of policies, business decisions, and product or service updates. But all departments and team members, from the CEO to the front line, deliver organizational communication to colleagues, customers, stakeholders, and community members.

By improving your company’s communication, you can empower your teams to improve business results and culture across the board.

Words hold power. Each person in your organization can harm or enhance your company culture and performance. The key is organizational communication.

Why strong organizational communication matters

Organizational communication impacts your company’s productivity, culture, and engagement. Ineffective communication means more time spent searching for information, seeking clarification, and duplicating work.

Say you roll out a new campaign brief to your team, but you leave out key details. Your team could spend extra time seeking clarification or, worse, spend time developing a campaign that doesn’t meet expectations and has to be redone. Poor communication equals lost morale, productivity, and trust. Here are the benefits of effective organizational communication:

• Better collaboration. Real-time conversations, easy-to-find information, and access to agentic AI enable effective internal collaboration. 
• Higher productivity. Productive workers say they feel more connected to their teams and use integrated communication platforms like Slack. Companies using Slack for organizational communication report being 47 percent more productive.
• Employee engagement and retention. Better communication boosts employee engagement and retention — 63 percent of employees wanting to leave cite poor communication as the top factor.
• Better decision-making. Open and effective organizational communication improves decision-making by equipping decision-makers with timely and accurate information.

Types of organizational communication

Organizational communication takes many forms. It can look like mass communications (presentations, mass emails, webinars, memos, press releases) or individual communication (one-on-one meetings, Slack direct messages, customer service interactions). Understanding these various types and when to use each can make or break your success. 

Internal vs. external communication

Internal communication is directed to employees inside your company, while external communication targets external stakeholders, including customers, vendors, partners, and community members. In many cases, you need one strategy for internal communication and another for external, including distributed teams.

Formal vs. informal communication

Formal communication is typically written or multimedia communication sent out through official company or team channels. These communications prioritize consistent messaging, expectation setting, and creating a document trail.

Informal communication takes the form of water cooler talks, online chats, or unscripted conversations with colleagues or customers. Informal communication works best for quick updates, building rapport, and clarifying misunderstandings or ambiguity. 

Digital-first communication vs. on-site communication

Most modern workplaces include a blend of both digital and on-site interactions. For successful organizational communication, focus on knowing when to use each format. Community-building, brainstorming, and collaborative decision-making can be more productive in person. On-site communication brings higher engagement and nonverbal cues, while digital-first is more flexible, inclusive of remote and hybrid workers, and better for information retrieval. 

Common barriers to effective organizational communication

More communication isn’t always more effective communication. In fact, many teams struggle with information overload — overwhelming numbers of messages and misaligned communications compete for attention. Here are three common barriers that cause frustration and inefficiency:

• Silos. Silos happen when departments act as gatekeepers to information and expertise, isolating knowledge from others who could benefit. For example, your product team might launch a new feature without consulting customer service, who could have shared feedback about recurring bugs or feature requests from customers. 
• Misalignment. Misalignment happens when teams or individuals don’t understand goals, priorities, or messaging in the same way. This breakdown shows up as mismatched objectives, inconsistent messaging, or confusion about responsibilities. It’s a symptom that digital communication in the workplace isn’t flowing clearly or consistently across departments. 
• Tool sprawl. When workers switch between communication tools multiple times in an hour, they lose focus and productivity. For example, your teammate sends you an email asking you to review their document. You open the document in a separate software, switch to a third tool to verify something, then back to the document and email to leave comments. This tool switching takes longer and fragments communication.

Tips for the best organizational communication

Leadership support, cross-departmental collaboration, and tool integrations break down silos and improve organizational communication for the common good. Leaders can overcome misalignment by establishing shared goals and metrics, facilitating frequent check-ins, and debriefing projects. Integrate these organizational communication best practices today for quick wins and long-term success.

1. Be clear and concise

Communicate better by using plain language in written and spoken communication. Instead of “we’re pivoting our strategy,” for example, say “we’re changing direction.” Check your text for corporate jargon and any language that’s overly complex or unclear. 

2. Match the message to the channel

Choose your channel and format carefully for the biggest impact. For example, use public channels for announcements or documentation, and DMs or private channels for quick updates or sensitive conversations. Create a cheat sheet or flow chart of which channels are appropriate for each type of communication, then check yourself before shooting off a message. 

3. Promote transparency

Employees want to understand the “why” and “how” behind decisions. Commit to sharing information openly, even if it’s something that didn’t work and why, so others can learn from it.

4. Encourage active listening

Active listening involves listening more than speaking, asking open-ended questions, and repeating key points back to the speaker. Practice active listening to reduce misalignment and improve connection.

5. Document decisions

Clear documentation keeps teams accountable and aligned over time. Share meeting notes, transcripts, and key takeaways in a central location or channel so everyone can look back on the decision rationale. 

6. Balance async and real-time communication

A good meeting sparks creativity, but too many kill it. Workers say 43 percent of meetings could be eliminated without impact. Reserve meeting time for collaboration, team-building, and decision-making. Experiment to find the right balance of channel updates, messages, and recorded walk-throughs for everything else.

How Slack makes organizational communication better

Slack transforms organizational communication by centralizing conversations and enabling cross-functional collaboration, making information easy to share, sort, and synthesize. 

• Channels. Dedicated Slack channels create visibility and transparency for key communication. With intuitive messaging and search, everyone from marketing to engineering can stay aligned on company goals, product launches, and customer feedback without relying on scattered emails or siloed meetings.

• Integrations. With integrations like Salesforce, Google Workspace, Zoom, and Trello built directly into Slack, teams eliminate tool sprawl and keep work flowing in one place. Streamlining communication tools and integrations keeps your team in the flow and eases the strain of tool switching. 
• Huddles. Slack huddles let teams switch from async to live communication with voice or video conversations and visual huddle boards. Hybrid organizations can use clips to let teammates across the globe share video updates asynchronously — no matter the time difference.
• Workflow Builder. Slack’s Workflow Builder helps teams streamline organizational communication by automating routine requests like IT support tickets, onboarding checklists, or cross-departmental approvals. 

Having strong communication across an organization can be difficult, but it is important. The next time you have a message to share with your team or customers, choose clear, concise language and be sure you’re using the right medium and format. Organizational communication isn’t just a buzzword — it’s the key to better collaboration, productivity, and engagement.

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