“I didn’t know we were communicating so poorly.” We hear this phrase, often uttered with an awkward laugh, on a weekly basis. It is the moment when a team of highly trained professionals realizes that their perception of “working well together” does not match reality. But how can that be? How can teams that function perfectly on paper suddenly fail when pressure mounts?
The Myth of the ‘Good Relationship’
In many companies, a good atmosphere is confused with good communication. We are polite in meetings, we have lunch together and we wish each other a nice weekend. This creates a comfortable but dangerous illusion. We think we are communicating effectively, when in reality we are avoiding conflict, not testing assumptions and not sharing crucial information for fear of disrupting harmony. Real communication is not tested at the coffee machine, but in the storm of an approaching deadline.
The Moment of Truth: What Happens Under Pressure?
Once the pressure increases, the masks of politeness fall off and the real patterns of communication become visible :
- Assumptions become facts : In the rush to move forward, we fill in the gaps ourselves instead of asking the right questions.
- Departments become islands : Teams retreat to their own expertise and defend their own interests, losing sight of the overarching goal.
- Information becomes power : Communication becomes selective, conscious or unconscious, leading to misunderstandings and delays throughout the system.
How a Simulation Exposes the Painful Truth
You can give a hundred PowerPoint presentations on effective communication, but nothing is as powerful as experiencing it yourself. In a simulation like Cake Factory or Chain Reaction, there is no escape. The result – a collapsed chain reaction or a failing pie factory – is the direct, undeniable consequence of the team’s communication. It is no longer an abstract concept, but a tangible result. That moment of collective failure is the painfully honest start of real, lasting change.
Conclusion
Don’t be too quick to think that your team communicates well because the atmosphere is good. The only way to truly measure the strength of your communication is to test it under pressure. Only when you see the chain break will you know where the weakest links are.
Wondering how your team really communicates under pressure? Let’s talk about how a high-impact simulation reveals the weak links in your organization. Contact us today.