I was in an awkward meeting once where I watched a VP present 47 slides of quarterly metrics to glazed-over eyes. Twenty minutes in, someone brave enough asked, "But what does this mean for our team?" The presenter paused, shuffled through slides, and said, "Good question. Let me get back to you."
Sound familiar?
We're living through what I call the Great Context Collapse. Companies pump out dashboards, reports, and updates at record speed. Slack channels overflow with links to documents no one reads. Email threads multiply nonstop. Yet employees feel more lost than ever.
Here's what's happening: we've confused information sharing with communication. They're not the same thing. Information is raw data — sales figures, project updates, policy changes. Communication is what that data means for the person receiving it. It's the difference between knowing your company's revenue grew 15% and understanding that this growth means your team can finally hire that specialist you've needed for months.
So how do you bridge this context gap?
Start with "why it matters." Before sharing any information, ask yourself: Why should this person care? If you can't answer in one sentence, you're not ready to communicate. Every graph needs a "so what?" Every update needs a "here's what this means for you."
Connect dots ruthlessly. Your employees don't have time to piece together how the new CRM system relates to the hiring freeze which connects to the market downturn. That's your job. Draw the lines between disparate facts to create a coherent story.
Layer your messages. Not everyone needs the same depth. Create a hierarchy: headline for scanners, summary for managers, details for those who need to dig deep. Think of it like a news article — most important stuff up front, supporting details later.
Use analogies that land. When our company switched project management systems, instead of explaining every feature, we said: "Think of it like moving from sticky notes on a wall to a shared digital whiteboard everyone can see." Instantly, people got it.
Test for understanding. Don't ask "Any questions?" Ask "What's your biggest concern about this change?" or "How will this affect your Thursday routine?" Specific prompts reveal whether your context landed.
The goal isn't to share less information — it's to wrap that information in meaning. Your job as a communicator isn't to be a data pipeline. It's to be a translator, turning corporate noise into signals people can act on.
When employees understand not just what's happening but why it matters to them, that's when real engagement begins.