With over two decades of experience driving brand, marketing and communication strategies across sectors, award-winning strategist Carine Nehme has witnessed teams losing alignment. Here, she lifts the lid on how to solve communication issues that arise within teams.                                                                            

The hidden costs of poor communication

According to Sociable, teams spend nearly 20 percent of their time fixing preventable miscommunication, and therefore stress rises, productivity drops and information scatters. Furthermore, around 74 percent of employees miss key updates, while 90 percent admit they often do not feel safe speaking.

As a result, efforts duplicate, deadlines are missed and morale decreases, especially in remote or hybrid setups lacking structured communication processes.

The role of leadership in communication

The solution begins with leadership, and managers must model structured communication while establishing operational standards driving clarity across all teams.

It is important to share meeting agendas 48 hours ahead of time and clearly define objectives, expectations and outcomes for participants to follow efficiently. Moreover, follow up with action-based accountability summaries is key, so communication tools should be carefully selected, standardized and maintained intentionally for effectiveness.

For example, Horizon Group, a mid-sized marketing firm, faced significant challenges with missed deadlines, duplicated efforts and a decline in employee morale. These issues were primarily due to unclear communication and a lack of accountability within the team.

Identifying communication gaps

It is critical to distinguish communication gaps from expectation misalignment, since vague messaging often causes confusion and disrupts team workflow consistently. Unspoken changes arise when leaders alter plans without notice, and consequently teams must adjust seamlessly, lowering morale and creating unnecessary rework cycles. What’s important is to stop the blame cycle, and instead plan proactively, communicate transparently and adjust timelines realistically to maintain clarity and accountability across organizations.

For instance, Revolut outsourced a mobile feature development, but inconsistent communication caused unclear requirements while unspoken changes led to expectation misalignment. Consequently, the team built features incorrectly, requiring costly rework. By standardizing updates, holding regular check-ins and documenting changes, Revolut improved alignment, reduced delays and ensured accountability across teams efficiently.

Promoting shared accountability

Accountability does not stop at leadership. Team members must speak up whenever direction is unclear. Moreover, silence leads to downstream issues, and undocumented information clearly demonstrates that communication or sharing did not occur with accountability enforced. Everyone must safeguard clarity. Reinforcing structured communication ensures consistency, transparency and mutual accountability throughout teams for effective collaboration continuously.

A tangible example of a leader embodying the principle that accountability extends beyond leadership is Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. Under Nadella’s leadership, Microsoft has undergone a cultural transformation emphasizing open communication, psychological safety, and shared accountability.

Building an EI culture

Strong communication also depends on emotional intelligence, and empathetic teams create healthier, high-trust environments that reduce conflict, encouraging diverse contributions regularly.

This practice reduces unnecessary conflicts, and simultaneously fosters adaptability, resilience and collaboration in dynamic, fast-paced professional working contexts across multiple sectors efficiently.

In conclusion, clear communication is not optional. Instead, it serves as the backbone of performance, progress and professional trust within organizations seeking sustainable excellence today.