The Most Misdiagnosed Problem in Organizations
Nov 03, 2026
TL;DR: Leadership coach Anadel Alberti, founder of Audaciously Authentic, argues that what most organizations diagnose as a "communication problem" is almost always an alignment problem — rooted in unclear priorities, undefined decision rights, missing psychological safety, and weak accountability. Drawing on Google's Project Aristotle, McKinsey, and Gallup research, she explains why communication is the symptom rather than the cause, and the single question leaders should ask instead of scheduling more training.
If I had a dollar for every time a CEO, founder, or executive team told me, "We have a communication problem," I'd probably retire.
In fact, over the last year, that has become one of the most common answers I hear whenever I ask a simple question: "What's your biggest people challenge right now?"
At first, I believed it too. Organizations described missed deadlines, confusion around priorities, duplicated work, silos between departments, disengaged employees, and leaders frustrated that important information wasn't flowing the way it should.
On the surface, it certainly looked like a communication problem.
But after digging deeper, through executive coaching, organizational assessments, leadership workshops, and strategic consulting, I rarely found communication to be the root cause.
More often than not, communication was simply the symptom.
One organization believed they needed better communication between departments. What they actually needed was greater clarity around decision-making and accountability.
Another invested in engagement surveys year after year, yet employees quietly admitted they had stopped being candid because they never saw meaningful action after sharing their feedback.
Another leadership team wanted their managers to "communicate more," but each executive walked away from meetings with a different understanding of priorities, timelines, and ownership.
None of those organizations had a communication problem...
They had an alignment problem.
Communication doesn't break down first. Alignment does.
When leaders aren't aligned around priorities, communication becomes inconsistent.
When expectations aren't clear, people fill in the gaps with assumptions.
When psychological safety is missing, employees stop asking questions and start protecting themselves.
When accountability isn't defined, information gets lost because no one knows who owns the next step.
Communication simply becomes the visible symptom of something much deeper.
Research continues to reinforce this.
Aristotle
According to Project Aristotle, psychological safety was identified as the single most important factor influencing team effectiveness, outweighing individual talent, seniority, or experience. Teams perform better when people feel safe speaking up, asking questions, admitting mistakes, and challenging ideas without fear of embarrassment or retaliation.
Kin
sey
McKinsey & Company
Similarly, McKinsey & Company has found that organizations with strong organizational health, where leaders are aligned, roles are clear, and employees understand the organization's direction, consistently outperform their peers in resilience, execution, and long-term performance. Communication improves because alignment improves.
Perhaps that's why so many communication initiatives fail.
Organizations introduce new collaboration platforms.
They schedule more meetings.
They create newsletters, town halls, dashboards, Slack channels, Teams channels, and endless email updates.
Yet people still leave meetings asking,
"So... who's actually responsible for this?"
Because information isn't the problem...
Shared understanding is.
The goal isn't better communication. The goal is better alignment. Better communication is simply the outcome.
One of the questions I find myself asking executive teams most often isn't, "How can your people communicate better?"
It's this:
"What is communication trying to compensate for?"
Is it unclear priorities?
A lack of trust?
Undefined decision rights?
Leaders sending mixed messages?
Fear of speaking honestly?
Those are leadership questions, not communication questions.
According to Gallup
Managers account for approximately 70% of the variance in employee engagement, highlighting just how influential leadership behaviors are in shaping communication, trust, collaboration, and performance across organizations.
As I reflect on the conversations we've had with executive teams over the past year, I continue coming back to the same realization.
Communication is rarely the first thing that breaks.
It's simply the first thing leaders notice.
The real work begins much earlier, with alignment, trust, accountability, and leadership.
When those pieces are in place, communication becomes clearer, faster, and far more meaningful.
So let's reflect...
The next time someone in your organization says, "We have a communication problem," pause before scheduling another communication training.
Instead, ask:
What is communication trying to compensate for?
The answer may reveal the challenge your organization actually needs to solve.
If this resonated with you, I'd love to hear your perspective. What do you believe is the most commonly misdiagnosed leadership challenge organizations face today? And if you know a leader navigating this very issue, consider sharing this newsletter with them.
Sometimes the right question changes the entire conversation.
About
Audaciously Authentic
Audaciously Authentic helps CEOs and leadership teams of growing organizations build aligned, high-performing cultures that scale. Through its DAL framework, the firm equips leaders to strengthen decision-making, activate teams, and implement the systems needed for sustainable growth.
Clients report faster execution, stronger accountability, and improved team performance, along with greater clarity across roles, priorities, and communication. Audaciously Authentic provides the structure and partnership leaders need to turn vision into consistent results. Learn more here: https://www.au2movement.com/
Learn More →This article was originally published in the Leading with Alignment newsletter on LinkedIn on July 23, 2026
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