$37 billion a year. That’s what - according to the Society for Human Resource Management - businesses in the US and UK lose annually due to one problem: poor communication.
Every unclear message, misaligned goal, and misunderstood directive adds up, stealing away an average of 7.5 hours of productive time from every member of your team. An entire workday - gone, every week. And those are hours no organisation can afford to lose.
Once brushed off as a “soft” skill, with the rise of remote and hybrid work, the ability to communicate clearly has never been more important. Without it, collaboration falters, empathy fades, engagement drops and growth stalls.
A major culprit in communication breakdowns is our tendency to make assumptions. We assume our audience understands context, shares our background knowledge, or is as dedicated as we are to the success of this project.
When you’re knee-deep in the day-to-day details, it’s easy to overlook that others might not see things as you do, leading to miscommunication and confusion. To communicate effectively, you need to step back and assume, well, pretty much nothing!
Good communication is about empathy - putting yourself in others' shoes, understanding what they need to know, why they should care, and identifying their knowledge gaps.
That’s why drawing has always been an invaluable strategic tool for us. It clarifies our thinking and communication by forcing us to prioritise information, question assumptions, and focus on what matters most to the people it’s meant for.
Years ago, I worked with someone who always said: “If I don’t understand WHY I’m being asked to do something, I’m not going to do it.” At the time, we were both in fairly junior roles and, no doubt, it ruffled a few feathers. But I admired him for it. It’s crucial for everyone to understand the larger mission and the context of their work.
"When that sense of purpose is communicated poorly, or not at all, it can be incredibly demoralising and damaging, leading to misalignment, confusion, and wasted resources as people aren’t fully aligned on the same goal."
When that sense of purpose is communicated poorly, or not at all, it can be incredibly demoralising and damaging, leading to misalignment, confusion, and wasted resources as people aren’t fully aligned on the same goal.
That’s exactly what our strategic visualisation work does. It answers, in a clear and engaging way the key questions everyone has when they are working as part of a bigger team: 'This is where we’re going', 'This is why we're going there', 'This is how we're getting there' and, perhaps most importantly of all, 'This is where I fit in'.
When you can do this successfully provide those answers, you can align teams around a shared purpose, and provide them with the clarity, motivation and momentum they need to achieve it.
We often get told our visual approach to communication has led to a massive increase in engagement. And that’s probably because all those visual thinkers in the company just weren’t being well served before by traditional forms of communication. We know that visual methods aren’t necessarily for everyone either, but that’s why it’s important to have a mix of approaches to get through to as many people as possible.
After 15 years of partnering with clients, both large and small, we’ve discovered that visuals are the fastest and most effective means of communication. They offer a simpler, clearer, and more efficient way to engage with information. Whether through infographics, vision maps, or animations, working visually ensures that messages really land and strategies stay on track.