Speaker A
Most organizations are designed in ways that communication flows down the chain of command, top-down.
Alex Lyon explains why organizations default to top-down communication, the obstacles blocking upward communication (psychological contract, fear), and how leaders can build dedicated upward channels
Key Takeaways
- Organizations naturally default to top-down communication, so upward channels must be deliberately built.
- Psychological and social fears suppress employees from sharing negative or critical information with managers.
- Leaders lose valuable frontline intelligence when upward communication is absent, leading to poorer decisions.
- Regular surveys and focus groups are practical tools for creating reliable upward communication.
- Acting visibly on feedback is essential for trust and for keeping upward channels working.
What the video covers
- Most organizations are designed so communication flows top-down through a chain of command, modeled on military structure.
- Frontline complaints are usually not high-quality, actionable information for leaders.
- The psychological contract leads supervisors to expect to issue orders and employees to expect to receive them, discouraging upward feedback.
- Employees fear souring the boss relationship, being labeled troublemakers, or retaliation ('shoot the messenger').
- As a result, decision-makers often lack good information about day-to-day operations and client interactions.
- Frontline staff hold valuable intel, insight, and feedback but often have no channel to pass it upward.
- Upward communication yields better decision-making intel, which future leaders should take seriously.
- Recommended approach: dedicated upward channels such as regular employee surveys.
- Survey results must be acted upon rather than shelved.
- Focus groups on particular issues can help dig deeper into concerns and develop upward communication.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction: Top-Down Communication in Organizations
- 00:41Welcome and Channel Overview
- 01:03Why Hierarchies Default to Top-Down Flow
- 01:34Why Frontline Complaints Aren't Useful Intel
- 01:48Obstacles: Psychological Contract and Expectations
- 02:12Obstacles: Fear of Retaliation and Labels
- 03:23Consequences: Leaders Out of Touch
- 03:59Benefits of Upward Communication and Dedicated Channels
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
In very few instances are there systems in place to make sure that bottom-up communication happens effectively, and there's a huge advantage to doing this properly.
Speaker A
So let's unpack it.
Speaker A
(uplifting music)
Speaker A
Hello again, friends. I'm Alex Lyon, and if we haven't met yet, this channel, Communication Coach, is here to help rising leaders increase your impact so you can lead your teams to higher levels of excellence.
Speaker A
I'm talking about frontline leaders like team leaders, supervisors, and managers. This channel is for you.
Speaker A
And today's topic is communication, that balance between top-down versus bottom-up communication. I write about this in my new book, in a couple of the chapters.
Speaker A
It's really a critical notion to get our heads around. So the first thing I want to say is that most organizations are designed, through and through, so that communication goes from top to bottom.
Speaker A
We call this a hierarchy or a chain of command. It's modeled after a military design, and that's the way it is built.
Speaker A
So in almost every case, unless you work really hard to do something different, that's the way information is going to flow.
Speaker A
Now, it's true that as leaders, you're probably going to hear a lot of people griping and complaining, but that's usually not high-quality information that you can do anything about. That's just human nature.
Speaker A
What we don't often have is information going up the chain of command in a really reliable way.
Speaker A
So there are some obstacles to explain why this doesn't happen in a normal chain of command situation.
Speaker A
The first one is the psychological contract that Bisel, Messersmith, and Kelley talk about in their research.
Speaker A
When we come to work, supervisors expect to issue the orders, and employees expect this too.
Speaker A
So there's a relationship that we assume about the workplace when we arrive. And for that reason alone, a lot of times, we don't feel, as employees, that it's our job to pass up information.
Speaker A
So we often don't. We keep our mouths shut.
Speaker A
The second major obstacle is fear.
Speaker A
You might sour your relationship with the boss. You might have that fear. So if you tell the boss something, maybe he or she feels connected to that project, so they feel personally criticized if you share that.
Speaker A
It's one of the reasons why employees don't want to tell the boss some negative information.
Speaker A
Another one is fear that you might be labeled as a troublemaker. Someone that's going to rock the boat. Oh, that's that person complaining again.
Speaker A
And then a third fear, of course, is retaliation. One of the whole reasons we have an expression like "don't shoot the messenger" is because oftentimes, when people share information, people criticize and discredit you, and we do shoot the messenger.
Speaker A
So those are some of the reasons why we don't pass information naturally up the chain of command.
Speaker A
And the third thing I want to talk about is the result. The result of this is that the decision makers in the organization often are out of touch with the day-to-day operations of the frontline employees, supervisors, and managers.
Speaker A
They don't have good information from that level of the organization. And that's a level of the organization that's doing almost all of the work with clients and customers, so they have incredibly valuable intel, and insight, and feedback, but there's really often no channel to pass it upward.
Speaker A
And then the leaders make these decisions, and everybody seems mystified, like, why in the world would we want to do that?
Speaker A
That's a horrible idea. So the benefit of upward communication is better decision-making intel. And I really believe that leaders of the future need to take upward communication seriously.
Speaker A
In my book, I recommend developing what I call dedicated channels for upward communication. I'm not going to go into all the details. Maybe we'll do that in a different video.
Speaker A
But you want to do regular employee surveys. And then when you get the results, you have to take action based upon those results.
Speaker A
You can't just put it in a drawer and say, oh, well, we'll do it again in six months and see if it's changed.
Speaker A
You can also do focus groups around particular issues to really dig into it. There are a lot of ways to do this well, to develop upward communication.
Topics:upward communicationtop-down communicationchain of commandworkplace communicationfrontline leadershipemployee surveysfocus groupspsychological contractorganizational hierarchyleadership development
