Effective communication is a critical component of business success.
Yet, for most leaders, this can be a significant blind spot that derails
relationships, make goals harder to achieve, limits advancement
opportunities, and impedes overall business and personal success.
Communicating effectively in the workplace is not just exchanging
information. When done well, internal communications can move
organizations forward, engaging employees in collective action that
supports the organization’s mission and vision. Leaders who
consistently communicate the strategy in plain language and use it to
relate the organization’s initiatives and progress help inspire and
motivate employees, keeping them focused and working together
toward success (Effects of Poor Communication in the Workplace (W/
Solutions), n.d.).
I read an interesting news article on Yahoo and the effects of
miscommunication within the organization and its stakeholders. In
September 2016, Yahoo leadership acknowledged a 2014 data
breach that exposed the accounts of 500 million users to hackers.
Three months later, in December, the company announced another
breach from 2013 that affected one billion accounts. Nearly a year
later, in October 2017, Yahoo announced that the data breach
affected all three billion customers. Yahoo’s business communication
failure? Not communicating. It turned out that company insiders
knew about the breach years earlier but kept it under wraps. Not only
was this extremely poor business communication, but poor risk
management. An internal investigation found that “failures in
communication, management, inquiry, and internal reporting
contributed to the lack of proper comprehension and handling of the
2014 Security Incident.” By not addressing a crisis with internal
stakeholders and customers, companies with communication issues
face the following:
• Decrease in valuation: In this case, Yahoo was in the process of
selling a piece of their company to Verizon, who shaved $350
million off the asking price due to this mistake.
• Damaged brand reputation: People are less willing to trust a
company that not only mishandles their personal information
but doesn’t let them know their names, phone numbers, and
passwords were stolen. With plenty of alternative search
engines and email providers, Yahoo’s failure to communicate
most likely resulted in losing users.
• Loss of employee trust: Trust is a big-ticket item that delivers
high employee confidence and engagement. A moment like this
makes employees question the cultures and values of their
organization (Slotosch, 2022).
References
Effects of Poor Communication in the Workplace (w/ Solutions). (n.d.).
https://www.yourthoughtpartner.com/blog/poor-communication-in-
the-workplace
Slotosch, A. (2022). 5 Business Communication Failure Examples and
How to Avoid Them. Beekeeper. https://www.beekeeper.io/blog/3-
internal-communication-failures-that-turned-into-pr-disasters/
