When Overcommunication Becomes The Enemy: 4 Signs You Are Suffering From It

It’s a slippery slope towards disaster

A quick google search on the top 5 leadership skills and you will be bombarded with results on good communication.

The reasons are obvious. If you are handling a team, or are directly involved with work being carried out by individuals — be it overseeing a department or being responsible for a project — you need to be able to communicate effectively.

But can there be a negative aspect of it?

The answer is yes in the form of over-communication. That’s probably not a phrase that you’d expect to hear, as everyone goes on & on about how important communication is.

Keep in mind communicating effectively is not oversharing or info-dumping; repeating your message is different than sharing every single thing to all parties.

Your goal is understanding and alignment — not wasted time.

But excessive communication can be dangerous territory. If left unchecked, it can significantly cause harm.

Tell-tale signs

A good indication whether your team is engaging in over-communication is if interactions are more transactional than relational. Transactional interactions tend to happen just for the sake of interaction, whereas relational ones are concerned with the message being conveyed in relation to the purpose of the conversation.

If you are noticing any of the below, then most probably you are occupied with it in the wrong way.

Wrong people are making the decisions

Constant communication may dilute the impact of important messages. If everything is conveyed with the same urgency due to lack of clear decision making, individuals may not be able to distinguish between what’s truly important and what isn’t.

As such, it can lead to information overload, making it difficult for individuals to process and prioritize key details.

For example, if 3 out of 5 project requests are being opened with the most critical urgency and are communicated as such to the rest of the parties involved, then people will have a hard time understanding and assigning the legitimate urgency appropriately.

As a result, the necessary gravity for the truly urgent requests can easily be missed.

You don’t feel a coherent sense of direction

Consequently, there is a vague sense of direction.

Do we start with project A first? What about project B? How about the request that came from X department?

These questions are tormenting your team members’ minds instead of them focusing on the work that needs to be done.

Excessive communication can lead to confusion, with team members struggling to differentiate between critical information and less important updates. This can result in misunderstandings and errors.

I’ve been in situations where the floor was open for discussion to multiple parties. Even though the initiative was based on good will, it did backfire as there were constant alterations regarding the goals we were pursuing.

Not only did people feel lost, they also didn’t have much faith or trust in their leadership.

There is a clear decrease in productivity

We are just not that good under fire.

Individuals may feel overwhelmed, leading to decreased productivity. Too many meetings, emails, or messages can disrupt workflow and hinder progress on tasks.

And of course, the loss of focus. Overcommunication may cause team members to lose focus on their primary tasks. Constant updates and requests for information can distract from the core objectives of the project.

Subsequently, this leads to time wastage. Unnecessary messaging and exchange of information can lead to a waste of time which manifests into counter productiveness, as it diverts attention from actual project tasks.

Your team feels fatigued

And lastly, people feel exhausted.

Excessive communication demands can contribute to burnout, as individuals may feel swamped by the constant need to respond and stay connected.

It can lead to frustration and irritation among team members. Not to mention it may also strain personal relationships, as it can be perceived as intrusive or micromanaging.

I was involved in situations where every single detail of a project had to be meticulously reported to a myriad of people. We ended up spending more time on the reporting rather than the work being reported. Definitely a no-go.

In Summary

In the business world, communication is praised as the alpha and omega.

And rightly so.

However there is a thin line between over-communicating unnecessary, and carefully conveying information concerned with the objectives of the recipient.

The true skills is mastering the latter and avoiding the former.