Actually, yes. Many of my colleagues take a narrow view of communication: it’s about crafting and delivering messages. They act on their belief that the scope of employee communication is limited to disseminating information.

This is an extremely parochial idea of what we do. More importantly, it’s not the way people experience communication in organizations. Even when it comes to information, they don’t differentiate between a message sent from an official source (a professional communicator working on behalf of management) or one sent from an unauthorized source, such as IT or Safety. To employees, this is all “communication,” so when there are too many messages, or the messages aren’t relevant, they say, “communication needs improvement.”

Employees at every level also recognize the fact that “communication” also includes a lot of informal experiences: How visible senior leaders are. Whether a manager spends time with his team. How freely colleagues share information. Whether issues are candidly shared or “spun” so they no longer resemble reality.

Communication is complicated and it’s pervasive. And while I wouldn’t suggest that you take it all on as part of your job, I do recommend that you look at the big picture when thinking about how to improve communication. The more expansive and ecumenical you can be, the more you can make a significant difference in how people communicate in your organization.

* If you’re wondering why you didn’t see the above comment on this blog, it’s because Insights readers are responding in an interesting and old-fashioned way. Rather than posting their thoughts for all to see, readers are contacting me directly, e-mailing or even calling. Maybe it’s a generational thing? (Baby boomers still haven’t gotten comfortable on line?) Or are you all just shy?