Ignorance is Not Bliss: Why fractured Organizational Communication can lead to Company Breakdown
Our nervous system transmits information from 7 trillion nerve endings to our brain and back to the appropriate body part every second of every day, as long as we are alive.
Who cares?
Well, without it, our command and control center, the brain, would not be aware of what jobs to delegate to our various body parts. It needs to receive messages from every part of the body in order to be informed to make the correct decisions.
At the very basic level this is how we survive. At an elevated level, we are able to realize and actualize “hidden” potential, exercise self control, learn new skills, study, expand our physical, mental and emotional capabilities through sports, art, dance, innovations, therapies and so on. The more awareness we have, the more the mind and the body it governs can grow, strengthen and flourish.
The underrated nervous system is mind blowing. We take this brilliant built-in network of perfect communication for granted. We know, of course, that if a nerve ending is dead, no messages will be sent from that body part to the brain and vice versa. But until that happens, we live without appreciation for the multitude of data that gets transmitted, and the perfect delegation of tasks that goes on inside of us.
Furthermore, our body and brain constantly communicate our environment in the context of our inner state.
Why am I shivering? Is it cold, am I underdressed, or is it hot out and my cold sensation requires the immediate attention of a medical professional? Or is it fear? All the while, the rest of our body is still functioning.
Can you say the same for your organization? For your company? Can you say this for your government (Not getting into politics! But I do work with homeland security so…). How strong is business continuity during times of crisis?
Are you as much in line with your organization and its many branches as your brain is with your body?
Every organization requires a healthy communication system to transmit data from all the people and parts of the organization to those who govern it, the decision makers and back to the relevant parties.
Over recent years, many companies have adopted an “Open Door” policy, gotten rid of cubicles and swapped them for an open office layout.
It is impossible to escape the fact that remote and hybrid work became significantly more popular since the beginning of the Covid pandemic. Although we are no longer in lockdown mode, we are a lot more distant from one another, and many of us from our physical corporate offices, than we once were.
No more open door policy. No more open office layout. Gone is the “let’s hold hands while we work” ideal. Not only are we back in our own cubicles, but we are largely isolated in our own four walls, streets, and in some cases even cities. But we have Zoom, so it’s fine right? We have whatsapp too, Signal, Telegram, and other supplemental communication channels.
Not only have we removed the little bit of “transparency” we had, but we’ve handed our communication over to the Mark Zuckerbergs, Eric Yuans and all the other technological communication giants of today. Unless you control their server, you probably hand over sensitive data to some stranger regularly. In fact you hand it over no problemo multiple times a day.
Moreover, you’re swamped with messages on whatever messaging platform you use, that it overwhelms you. Messages get missed, slipped to the wrong person in your contact list, forgotten, or otherwise unintentionally (let’s assume innocence) misused.
Other critical messages are seen and paid attention to; yeah, both by you and by some hacker sitting somewhere greedily eating your data, planning his next attack on your vulnerability.
Does there exist anywhere in this modern world, a communication system for organizations whose data is critical, sensitive? A system that the humans running the organization can manage and control? A system so impenetrable, that whoever even attempts a try is blocked at every attempt? One where only users and domains that you welcome are allowed in? A system that transmits messages from all parts of your organization as quickly, as reliably, as orderly as a healthy nervous system?
How informed are your decisions when your critical communication is, in the best-case scenario, a scattered set of broken lines?
I invite you to stay curious with me. To strive for better communication within your own body (maybe you’ll achieve that posture you’ve been dreaming about). To expand your awareness of what is going within your own company, within your own organization.
Ignorance is not bliss.
Always strive for more awareness. The more awareness you have, and the more secure that awareness is, the better informed your decisions will be. In your routine life, at home, within your body and mind, and yes, in the business or security operations you conduct.
