You can hold someone accountable for “poor communication” by focusing on their specific behaviors measured against the expectations you have (hopefully) set in advance.
Setting clear expectations ahead of time provides you with objective standards by which you can diagnose the employee’s specific issues and offer appropriate feedback. These expectations will likely depend on the needs of your team, but they typically involve standards around timeliness (when communication should happen), completeness (what information should be included), clarity (whether the information is presented in a way that’s understandable and actionable), and relevance (whether the information is appropriate for the audience).
With these standards, you can define what “poor communication” looks like, point it out when it happens, and note its impacts. For instance, if a project status report was sent late and that lead to a delay, key information was buried where too many recipients missed it, messages are cluttered with undefined acronyms leaving team members unsure what they mean, or stakeholders not included in critical messages were unable to give input, etc.
If you haven’t gone over your expectations with employees before, start there. If they’re aware of the expectations, explain where they’re not meeting them and what their communication needs to look like going forward.
This Q&A does not constitute legal advice and does not address state or local law.
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