When Digital Comms Creates Noise vs When Conversation Creates Connection: A human-first look at what’s really going on at work
We have more ways to talk at work than ever. Email, Slack, Teams, comments, DMs, reactions. It is constant. Yet so many good people tell me they feel less clear, more tense, and weirdly alone at their desks.
Here is what I see every day. Digital comms are brilliant for speed and storing information. They are not built for nuance, emotion, or relationship. Conversation is. When we choose the right moments to actually speak, things soften. Alignment shows up. Momentum returns.
What “noise” looks like where I work with teams
Noise isn’t about volume. It may also be heard as potential friction and intent that appears when messages move faster than context. Noise may be more prevalent when:-
Long threads of comms exist with short answers where nobody decides and the original ask gets buried
Vague requests that spiral into days of back and forth because nobody defined “done”
Sensitive feedback dropped into chat where tone gets misread and trust takes a hit
Parallel chats across channels so there is no single truth and everyone is slightly off
Performative urgency and red dots everywhere while deep work disappears
Noise may have a negative impact on our energy reserves. It can create a low hum distraction that people carry home. It may chip away at psychological safety because when we cannot hear intent, we fill the gaps with stories.
What connection feels like in practice
Connection is not a big away day. It is small, consistent moments of being understood.
People leave an interaction knowing who is doing what by when
Disagreements surface early and get handled with care
Feedback lands as helpful, not harmful, because context is clear
Workflows feel lighter, not heavier
Connection does not require more meetings. It just needs space for human signals to get through.
Why text struggles and talk helps
Most workplace friction is not about capability. It is about interpretation. Text flattens tone. It removes pacing, breath, facial cues, and the quick “hang on, what did you mean by that?” that stops a wobble becoming a wall.
Conversation re-inflates the context. Two people can check assumptions, hear concerns, and build a shared mental model. After that, documentation sticks because it reflects something both parties understand.
The hidden costs of ‘always-on’ messaging
Productivity: Work bounces between channels, decisions slow down, duplication creeps in
Wellbeing: Constant partial attention increases stress and makes recovery harder
Equity: People who are newer, remote, neurodivergent, or outside the dominant culture can be excluded by fast, unstructured threads
Culture: Cynicism grows when communication feels like performance instead of progress
This is rarely about one tool. It is about the weight of many micro misreads over time.
A real-world example from my coaching work
I have been working with a senior leader within a business, who shared with me the volume of activity, the range of responsibilities, deliverables and relationships they had to keep spinning. Further more not just keep spinning, making decisions based on sound judgments whilst only being able to gather a small amounts of information in the given time as things needed to move at pace. The reflection at the time was about, trying to ‘cut through the noise, be that email, teams, messages, voice calls to determine on what information they could use to make their fast paced decisions. The secondary impact, needing skills to join the dots and make sense of fragments of information that hopefully is interpreted correctly. This practice had been taking its toll in their confidence, energy levels and distractions just to stay abreast of day to day requirements as a leader.
What I ask leaders to notice
Teams copy what they see. When leaders respond thoughtfully, slow a hot thread down, and make space for honest questions, the whole system relaxes. When leaders only ever type, rush, or stay silent, noise grows. Culture is not a memo. It is the pattern people feel, see and hear every day.
Final thought
Digital tools are brilliant at storing what we know. Conversation is how we figure out what we mean. If your workplace is feeling noisy, it is not because people do not care. It is because clarity needs a human moment before it can live well in writing. Less performance. More connection. Better work.
I am Aly, founder of Bloom & Rise.
I am an ICF accredited coach and business mentor. I help people lead through change without burning out. If your team wants to understand where noise is creeping in and build a calmer, clearer rhythm of work, I can facilitate a grounded review and shape practices that fit your culture. If that sounds useful, let’s talk.
