Internal communications professionals strive to engage and inform employees while arming them with the information they need to do their jobs effectively and support organizational priorities. But, is it possible to over communicate? According to Reducing Information Overload in Your Organization published in the Harvard Business Review, the answer is yes.

Let’s take a look at why we over communicate, the risks of over communicating and how to avoid it.

Why we over communicate

Too many channels – Technology such as email, intranet platforms and communications apps has made sharing and accessing information faster and easier. However, too much content in too many places can leave users wondering why they are reading the same things again and again, or where to quickly find critical information they need to do their jobs.

Competing priorities – There is often a long list of topics we are asked to communicate about: business goals and priorities, safety, new products and services, evolving marketing strategies, organizational changes and internal system upgrades to name more than a few. They’re all competing for valuable communications real estate, making it challenging to prioritize content and tempting to deviate from a solid communications strategy.

Irrelevant information – It’s important to understand what audiences need to know, what they want to know and what doesn’t apply to them. Flooding inboxes with irrelevant information that doesn’t apply to employees and busy internal chat groups create unnecessary noise.

Lack of collaboration – Significant events such as organizational changes are important and often need to be communicated company-wide. This can result in employees receiving more than one communication about the same subject, with the same messaging from different teams or leaders.

There’s more. In the article Information Overload Plagues Employees. Is the Modern Workplace to Blame?, Larry English shares a few more reasons why employees experience information overload.

Risks of over communicating

Confusion – Too much information can cause confusion resulting in poor decision-making and decreased job performance.

Reduced productivity – Over communicating can lead to reduced productivity including spending countless hours trying to manage an unmanageable inbox or lost time trying to source the most recent or accurate information.

Disengagement – Information overload can cause employees to disengage. In an effort to reduce the noise, they might choose to ignore all communications including critical and relevant information that affects job performance.

How to avoid over communicating

Know your audience(s) – Create personas, send surveys, ask them questions directly. Engaging employees to find out what information they need and want, and how they prefer to receive it will help prevent information overload.

Target appropriately – When you know your audience(s), you will understand how to effectively communicate with them. Use targeted distribution lists. Create dedicated intranet pages for specific teams or groups.

Educate – Educate stakeholders and audiences about your strategy. Let them know when and how you communicate, and why. Let employees know where to find specific information.

Collaborate – Identify redundancies. Build connections with other teams, and consider sharing your content calendar and sending joint communications. In addition to reducing information overload, these tactics will improve overall efficiency and reduce duplication of effort.

For more information about how to stop over communicating and prevent information overload, check out Speakap’s LinkedIn article about Information Overload in the Workplace & How to Overcome it.

Every organization and internal audience is different. Knowing how to communicate effectively with employees is an ongoing process. Evaluate your strategy regularly, engage your stakeholders to determine their needs and adapt as necessary.

We’d love to hear from you. Let us know what you think about information overload and the tactics you use to avoid over communicating with employees in the comment section.

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