There’s a simple human problem that shows up in business every day: when communication is missing, people fill the gap with a story.
I’ve seen a version of this in a movie example that stuck with me. A daughter keeps trying to visit her estranged father, but the apartment buzzer is broken. He never knows she came. She concludes he heard her and refused.
That is exactly what happens inside teams:
- A message doesn’t get delivered.
- A handoff doesn’t happen.
- A manager doesn’t follow up.
- Then someone decides what it means.
Usually the story is negative:
- “They don’t care.”
- “They’re avoiding me.”
- “They’re trying to make me look bad.”
Most of the time, it’s just a broken buzzer. A failed channel.
Fix the channel before you attack intent.
What to do this week
- Identify one place where communication regularly fails (handoffs, approvals, customer updates).
- Build a simple standard (who sends what, by when, in what format).
- Require confirmation, not assumption.