Communication debt builds the same way any kind of debt does, slowly, and then all at once. A skipped update here, an unanswered question there, a plan that never gets explained. Each one feels small in the moment, but together they start to weigh down the organization.
You can tell when the debt is growing, conversations start with backtracking, projects move forward without shared understanding, and teams start solving problems that already have answers. The work hasn’t changed, but it takes more effort to keep it moving.
Leaders tend to fall behind because they’re busy, and the work feels more urgent than the explanation. But when the gap widens, the cost shows up somewhere else, in rework, missed steps, and the slow erosion of trust.
Paying down communication debt starts with catching people up. Share what decisions were made, why they were made, and what happens next. Fill in the blanks before they start to fill themselves. It doesn’t have to be perfect or polished, it just has to happen.
The longer communication debt sits, the more it costs to fix. Keep the balance low.
