Jonah Chipeco

When a project goes wrong because of unclear instructions, an uncomfortable question sometimes follows: Whose mistake was it – the person who gave the brief or the person who received it? For me, effective workplace communication is a shared responsibility.

The person providing the brief has a responsibility to communicate the important details needed to complete the work. That might include the objective, audience, requirements, expected deliverable, deadline, references, and approval process.

But the person receiving the brief also has a responsibility. Before starting, they need to review what was provided, identify what is missing or unclear, and ask questions when necessary.

I have seen this communication gap happen in projects such as website design and online course development. These projects involve many decisions, and the project sponsor or client may not remember – or even know – every detail that needs to be discussed during the first meeting. Sometimes, people simply do not know what they have not been asked yet.

This is why I find a guided written checklist useful. Instead of expecting someone to remember every requirement during a meeting, the team can use a checklist or structured project brief to guide the conversation. It gives both sides something concrete to review and helps uncover missing information before implementation begins.

The checklist does not replace conversation. It makes the conversation more productive. This connects with what I call my Write It Down approach: when important requirements, decisions, and expectations are documented, everyone has something they can return to and verify.

Unclear communication does not only create misunderstandings. It creates rework – and rework consumes the time and energy of everyone involved

What Effective Workplace Communication Actually Means

Effective workplace communication means more than sending information. It means creating enough shared understanding for the people involved to know what is happening, what is expected, and what they need to do next.

That can require written communication, verbal communication, or both. The best channel depends on the purpose, the people involved, and the complexity of the message. What matters is whether the communication helps work move forward rather than creating more questions, assumptions, or unnecessary activity.

Clear communication at work is a productivity skill. When expectations are understood, people can act with greater confidence.

When they are not, teams spend time clarifying, revising, following up, and correcting work that may have been avoidable.

Why Unclear Communication Creates More Work

Starting implementation before everyone is aligned may feel faster. Someone has started writing. A designer is creating a first draft. A developer is building the page. From the outside, the project appears to be making progress. But movement is not always progress.

When the expected output is not clear from the beginning, the consequences often appear later as unmet expectations, additional revisions, and rework. An incomplete project brief can create a chain reaction: unclear brief, wrong assumptions, first draft, feedback, revision, another review, and more revisions.

Every additional cycle consumes resources. The writer or designer spends more time revising. The project manager coordinates another feedback round. Stakeholders review the work again. Approval moves further away, and other projects can be affected because the team has to return to work they thought was nearly complete.

For creative teams especially, rework is a productivity cost. We do not need every tiny detail finalized before work begins, but the fundamentals should be aligned:

• What are we trying to accomplish?
• What does the deliverable look like?
• Who is it for? Who approves it?
• What are the major requirements?
• When is it needed?

Communication is not something that happens around the work. Communication is part of the work.

The ACT Approach: Give Instructions People Can Actually Follow

One reason instructions fail is not that people are unwilling to do the work. Sometimes, the instruction itself is too broad to act on confidently.

This is why I use a simple framework I call ACT: Actionable, Clear, and Time-based. SMART goals can be useful for broader objectives, but ACT is a quick way to check whether an instruction is ready to be implemented.

A – Make the Instruction Actionable

Consider someone who wants to write a book. We could say, “Write your book in the next 30 days.” There is an instruction and a deadline, but for someone with limited time, the task may still feel too large.

Instead, we could say: “Research your book topic and, based on that research, prepare a draft content outline within the next seven days.” Now the person has a realistic next step. Instead of completing an entire manuscript, the first meaningful piece of work is research and a content outline.

Actionable also means considering capacity. If a client has only a few hours available each week, an unrealistic deadline is not good project management. Before adding another commitment, use the CAP Capacity Checklist to consider whether the person has the Calendar, Ability, and Promise needed to deliver it well.

C – Make the Expected Output Clear

Even “research your book” can mean many things. A clearer instruction might be: “Research the three main topics your book will cover. Identify credible sources and common questions your target readers are asking. Based on your research, prepare a preliminary outline containing 8-10 possible chapters.” The activity and the expected output are now easier to understand.

Clear instructions reduce the amount of interpretation required from the person receiving the brief. They also make it easier for both sides to recognize whether the output meets expectations.

T – Make It Time-Based

Finally, establish when the work should be completed. In this example, the deadline is within the next seven days.

For more complex work, time-based communication may also include review stages: research, draft outline, review, revision, approved outline, and manuscript development.

The final deadline is not always the only deadline that matters. If several people need to review or approve something, those stages need space in the schedule too. Before handing off an instruction, ask: Is it actionable? Is it clear? Is it time-based? ACT before you act.

When Written Communication Isn’t Enough

I value written communication because it creates a record. A project brief, email, meeting summary, or documented decision gives people something they can return to. But not every workplace communication problem should be solved with another email or chat message.

One sign that written communication is no longer working is too much back-and-forth. If several messages have been exchanged and the same questions remain unresolved, continuing the thread may consume more time than a short conversation. Some decisions require dialogue: someone needs to ask a question, hear the answer, probe further, introduce another consideration, and perhaps change position based on what they hear.

I would also be careful about relying entirely on written communication when the subject is likely to create an emotional response. Feedback, conflict, disappointment, major changes, or sensitive decisions can be misunderstood when the recipient cannot hear your tone or immediately ask questions.

For important decisions, I prefer using both approaches: discuss what needs dialogue, then document what was decided.

A meeting may resolve the issue, but a written summary creates the reference point afterward:

• What did we agree on?
• What changed?
• Who is responsible?
• What happens next?

Overcommunication Isn’t Always Better Communication

I do not think overcommunication is automatically bad. A president of a nonprofit organization I previously worked with valued overcommunicating with donors. In that context, overcommunication meant providing regular progress updates so donors did not have to wonder what was happening. That kind of communication can build visibility and trust.

The problem is confusing frequency with effectiveness. More meetings do not necessarily create better alignment. Longer meetings do not guarantee clearer decisions. Copying more people into an email does not mean everyone understands what is happening. Posting the same update across several channels does not guarantee that anyone has absorbed it.

The quality of communication matters as much as the quantity.

Ask for Acknowledgement When It Matters

Not every workplace update needs a reply. But important changes need acknowledgement. I would particularly ask for acknowledgement when there is a changed deadline, a new instruction, an approval, a change in scope, or a change in someone’s responsibility.

A simple “Please confirm that you received the updated timeline” or “Let me know if we are aligned before we proceed” creates a feedback loop. Sent does not automatically mean received.

Received does not automatically mean understood. Understood does not automatically mean agreed.

Acknowledgement is especially useful when the next stage of a project depends on another person’s understanding or approval. It can prevent the team from moving forward based on an assumption that later turns out to be wrong.

Choose the Right Communication Channel

Effective workplace communication is not only about what you say. It also matters where you say it. There is no single communication platform that works for every organization. The right channel depends on the size of the company, the people involved, and how the organization already uses its communication and project management tools.

Use Email for External and Formal Communication

I generally lean toward email for external communication with clients, suppliers, vendors, partners, and other stakeholders outside the organization. Email provides a more formal communication trail and makes it easier to return to previous conversations, documents, approvals, and agreements.

Email can also be useful internally when communication needs to be formally documented or retrieved later, such as company memos, contracts and agreements, important announcements, and significant threads that need to remain on record.

Use Slack or Microsoft Teams for Internal Coordination

For everyday internal communication, tools such as Slack or Microsoft Teams work well for quick questions, clarifications, progress updates, and follow-ups. Whenever possible, I like connecting the conversation to the actual project management task. Instead of simply asking for an update on a landing page, include the relevant task URL so the recipient has immediate context.

Some agencies also onboard clients into their chat environment for progress updates and quick clarifications. This can work as long as everyone understands how the channel is expected to be used.

Use Project Management Tools as the Source of Truth

While chat can help conversations move quickly, important project information should not necessarily live only inside chat. A project management tool such as Asana can provide a structured place for tasks, owners, deadlines, requirements, files, and progress.

A conversation might happen in Slack or Teams, but the resulting task or decision may need to be reflected in the project management system. Otherwise, important instructions can disappear inside a busy chat history.

Use Meetings for Decisions and Approvals That Need Discussion

Meetings are useful when decision or approval items cannot be resolved efficiently through written communication alone. The same applies when people need to explore alternatives, ask follow-up questions, negotiate priorities, or reach agreement. Afterward, document the important decisions.

A simple rule is: discuss what needs dialogue; document what needs to be remembered.

Write Things Down to Create Shared Understanding

I learned the value of writing things down even before I formally worked in project management. Documentation gives teams something concrete to return to when requirements change, memories differ, or priorities need to be reviewed.

This is part of what I call my Write It Down approach. Writing things down is not simply about recording information. It can help people clarify decisions, monitor commitments, and create shared understanding across a project.

I integrate this principle into my talks and training for teams that want to improve the way they communicate and execute work.

Explore Jonah Chipeco’s Speaking and Training programs.

A Simple Communication Checklist Before You Hit Send

Before sending an email, project brief, memo, report, or important workplace message, it helps to review it from the recipient’s point of view. One useful framework is the established 7 Cs of Communication: Clear, Concise, Concrete, Correct, Coherent, Complete, and Courteous.

• CLEAR – Will the reader immediately understand my main message and what I want them to do?
• CONCISE – Can I remove unnecessary words, repetition, or information without losing the meaning?
• CONCRETE – Have I provided specific details, facts, examples, dates, or instructions instead of leaving the message vague?
• CORRECT – Are the information, names, dates, grammar, spelling, and other important details accurate?
• COHERENT – Do the ideas follow a logical order and support the main purpose of the message?
• COMPLETE – Have I provided everything the recipient needs to understand the message and take the expected action?
• COURTEOUS – Is the message respectful and appropriate for the reader, even when I am communicating a problem, correction, or disagreement?

I would add an eighth principle to the existing seven:

• CONVERSATIONAL – Does this sound natural and professional when I read it aloud, or does it sound more complicated than it needs to be? Professional writing does not have to sound stiff. The objective is to make it easier for people to understand, respond, and act.

These are some of the practical principles I teach in my Business Writing Workshop. If unclear emails, confusing instructions, or unnecessary back-and-forth are slowing your team down.

Clear Communication Helps Teams Move Faster

Effective workplace communication is not about sending more messages. It is about reducing the distance between what one person means and what another person understands.

That requires shared responsibility. The person giving the instruction should provide enough context and detail. The person receiving it should review, clarify, and confirm before implementation. Teams should know which communication channels to use, when a discussion deserves a meeting, and which decisions need to be documented.

Frameworks such as ACT can make instructions easier to follow. The 8 Cs can help improve the quality of written communication. A Write It Down approach can preserve decisions and expectations after conversations end.

When communication becomes clearer, teams spend less time guessing, chasing clarification, and redoing work. They can put more of their time and energy into execution.

Read next: How to Work Smarter: A Practical Guide to Focus, Communication, and Project Execution.

Frequently Asked Questions About Effective Workplace Communication

Reference:

The Open University. “The 7 Cs of Communication.” OpenLearn. Accessed August 17, 2026.