What Is Upward Communication?

Definition and Examples

April 4, 2020
Upward communication can increase workplace productivity and employee satisfaction.
Regardless of your role within an organization, it is essential to understand how upward
communication affects a company's overall success. Being able to communicate within
an organization effectively requires employees and upper management to find new and
innovative communication methods they can apply to their business practices.
In this article, we define upward communication, describe how it differs from downwards
communication, highlight its advantages and review a few examples of upward
communication within the workplace.
Related: 4 Communication Styles in the Workplace

What is upward communication?

Upward communication is the process by which lower-level company employees can
directly communicate with upper management to provide feedback, complaints or
suggestions regarding the day-to-day operations of the company. Upward
communication is increasing in popularity among organizations to encourage a
participative work culture. Companies that foster upward communication are better able
to make decisions that positively impact their employees.
Related: 14 Communication Strategies to Overcome Communication Barriers in
the Workplace

How does upward communication differ from

downward communication?
Here is how you can distinguish between upward communication and downward
communication:

 Bottom-up vs. top-down communication: Whereas upward communication

focuses on lower-level employees disseminating information to upper-
management, downward communication focuses on a transfer of information from
upper management down to the employees.
 Communicative nature: Upward communication is participative because it
encourages lower-level employees to voice their opinions. In contrast, downward
communication is directive in nature as it allows upper management to instruct
employees on particular company matters.
 Fundamental purposes: The purpose of upward communication is to allow
employees to give feedback or suggestions to authoritative company figures,
whereas the use of downward communication is to give orders to lower-level
employees about their job responsibilities or company policies.
Advantages of upward communication
Here are some advantages to incorporating upward communication into a business:

 Increases mutual trust

 Improves workplace procedures
 Helps managers identify areas for self-improvement
 Makes employees feel valued
 Creates an inclusive environment within an organization

Increases mutual trust

Upward communication can instill a sense of mutual trust between upper management,
lower management and employees. This is because lower-level employees trust that
company officials will consider their suggestions. In contrast, upper-management
believes that employees use this direct communication method to be proactive and
positive.
For example, company executives allow employees to give feedback or advice during a
company-wide meeting. They trust that their employees take the opportunity to make
honest suggestions, while employees trust that upper-management will use their ideas
to improve the company.

Improves workplace procedures

Using upward communication creates the opportunity for improvements to workplace
procedures and, consequently, workplace productivity. For example, an employee
notices that a delay in communication between upper and lower management limits the
amount of time they have to complete a marketing campaign for the company. They
suggest a direct email channel where upper management can send information directly
to the marketing team. This action helps increase productivity by 25%.

Helps managers identify areas for self-improvement

Managers need to strive to improve just as their employees do, making upward
communication a constructive mode for employee-to-employer feedback. For example,
a department manager sends out an email survey to their department to gauge their
strengths and weaknesses as a leader. Results suggest that they have excellent
communication skills. However, they could improve their motivation tactics.

Makes employees feel valued

Upward communication encourages employees to communicate directly with upper
management. This creates a sense of value in employees since they realize that upper
management cares about their input, especially when they make changes in response
to employee suggestions.
For example, an employee wishes that upper management would make more of an
effort to engage with lower-level staff. They voice their concerns to their direct manager,
who then discusses this issue with company officials. A month later, upper management
creates an email newsletter highlighting how the efforts of lower-level employees
contribute to the organization. The team member who initially voiced their concerns now
feels like they work for a company that values its employees.

Creates an inclusive environment within an organization

Integrating upward communication practices into a business can help create an
inclusive environment. What this means is that every employee, regardless of their role,
feels like they are an important contributor to the company's success.
For example, company executives encourage employees to voice their opinions about a
slogan for a new product. They decide to create a slogan-writing contest to use in the
promotional stage, and an employee's slogan wins. This helps employees feel like they
are a part of the decision-making process.
Related: How to Communicate Better With Coworkers

5 examples of upward communication

Here are five examples of upward communication:

1. Performance reports
2. Focus groups
3. Employee satisfaction surveys
4. Company meetings
5. Suggestion boxes

1. Performance reports
In upward communication, performance reports allow lower-level employees to rate the
performance of their direct managers and other company officials. Performance reports
of upper management could take place at the same time as employee performance
reviews to demonstrate that company officials know they also need to strive to improve,
just like their employees.

2. Focus groups
Focus groups typically comprise company employees accompanied by an HR specialist
or company official. During focus groups, employees can discuss reoccurring issues at
the department level, or company officials could use these sessions to ask employees
how they would feel about a new policy. Officials record these sessions for other
executives to view later on and aid in their decision-making.

3. Employee satisfaction surveys

Companies use employee satisfaction surveys to gauge the degree to which employees
enjoy their daily job duties, workplace culture and the overall company itself. Surveys
are a great example of upward communication because they encourage employees to
rate their personal experience working for the company.
4. Company meetings
Company meetings are an example of upward communication because they encourage
upper management and lower-level employees to interact with one another in person.
These include one-on-one meetings between employees and their direct manager or
company-wide meetings where all employees and executive personnel gather to
celebrate an important milestone or address major changes.

5. Suggestion boxes
Companies can either use an actual suggestion box where employees place written
feedback, complaints or advice for upper management to review, or they can use an
online format. Company officials can create a "suggestion box" email address to which
employees can send their digital feedback, complaints or advice.

Downward communication refers to the messagesOpens in new window and

information that proceed vertically down the chain of command from managers who
communicate in a downward direction with employees that report to them.

In other words, downward communication flows from individuals in higher levels of

the organization to those in lower levels. It is arguably the most familiar and obvious
flow of formal communication.

is used by group leaders and managers to assign goals, provide job instructions, inform employees of
policies and procedures, point out problems that need attention, and offer feedback about
performance.

Examples of Downward Communication

A communicationOpens in new window from the general manager of a company to the branch
managers is an example of downward communication.

Other examples of communication conveyed in downward direction include annual confidential reports,
performance appraisals, notices, project feedback, announcements of company policies, new company
goals, job instructions and trainings, and so on.
Forms of downward communication may include notes, notices, memos, telephone conversations, voice
mails, emails, or face-to-face conversations.

Lateral communication is a communication which is done between same organizational level,

but in different or same department. For example communication done between
different functional areas, such as communication between a manager of
marketing department and manager in the finance department, it is known as lateral
communication.

Horizontal communication occurs between workers at generally equal

levels in an organization. Under this communication, information flows
between persons of equal status in the organization. Communication
between departments or people on the same level in the managerial
hierarchy of an organization can be defined as horizontal or lateral
communication. 
If the sales manager communicates with the human resources manager
or purchase manager and the like then it is horizontal communication.

Let us give an example as follows through a letter of requisition where

sales manager 15 asking for human resources to the manager of the
human resources department.

Lateral Communication
How Can it be Mastered?
Lateral communication is defined as the exchange, imparting or sharing of information,
ideas or feeling between people within a community, peer groups, departments or units
of an organization who are at or about the same hierarchical level as each other for the
purpose of coordinating activities, efforts or fulfilling a common purpose or goal.

Lateral Communication - Horizontal Communication

Horizontal communication is one of the essential communication skills we need in

life. This communication helps to promote teamwork and facilitates coordinated
group effort within a group or organization. It usually is less structured and
informal compared to vertical communication. This is true if the communication
is coming from or going to upper management or from the group down to end
consumers.
This communication may take place as telephone calls, e-mails, memos, letters,
informal discussions, gossip, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, Second Life
conferencing, and meetings set up by the group.

From Agriculture to You and Me in the department of IT, horizontal

communication is the grease that makes the machine like workings of a business
operate smoothly. If the horizontal communication is effective, the potential to
improve and grow.

In one study (Rogers & Kincaid, 1981) it was found that how the members of a
group get and deal with information can affect the performance of the group as a
whole.

Within any organization there are differences in the way groups or departments
within that organization communicate. The more complex the organization,
group or even community, the more differences.

So on a community level, (a true story) what would you think if this happened to
you. Someone from Colorado meeting someone in the rural Pennsylvania
community hears the neighbor say that they have sugar. On its own it may
sound like they are a sweet old soul. However, what they mean is that the
person has diabetes.

As a neighbor, how I deal with this lateral communication information could

affect my ability to watch out for the signs and symptoms that something is not
right with their health and be able to offer help.

Take this into the health care realm. Although many in the hospital are health
care professionals, there are also social workers, cleaning staff, dietary staff, and
many types of secretaries and ancillary staff that lateral communication takes
place with.

With all the pressures on Doctors, many do not like geek speak. Indeed, many
are not aware of all the medical jargon, especially if it is out of their specialty.

So when lecturing on the negative side effects of blood transfusions and bringing
up immunomodulation, although it may seem like a good thing, in reality it
means decreasing the immunity for life. The more transfusions in a life time, the
greater loss in immunity. Effective lateral communication requires that the
speaker skill on avoiding unfamiliar terms be applied. Never assume the
audience knows what your talking about.

Moving into a different department, language unique to dietary staff will not
necessarily be equal and congruent knowledge base and language used by
nurses even when talking about the same thing.

More complex organizations like a news broadcasting company has even more
diverse groups. Camera crews, reporters, graphic artist and web-masters, sales
staff, and accounting to name a few.
 Each has their unique language. Failure to meet the audience needs (the
audience being anyone outside your group) will result in ineffective
communication.

Mastering Horizontal Communication: A Solution

How can horizontal communication be mastered, improved or even enhanced?

Simply by mastering the same speaker skills that public speakers need to
master. Consider how this can improve horizontal communication.

Knowing the Audience is essential for speakers. When speaking laterally to a

group outside the speakers knowledge base requires making adjustments so as
to best reach the audience.

Avoiding Unfamiliar Terms does not mean dumbing down your speech. It

does mean to say it in the simplest way with the greatest economy of words to
end up with the same meaning as a more scientific or technological expression.
Audiences on the whole cannot absorb as much information as we can spew out.
To give more than can be retained is like giving a drink of water to someone
from a full five gallon bucket and you, the speaker are holding the bucket.

Proper pronunciation is not only a courtesy to extend, with out it, you could
lose the respect of your audience. Do not just say "what ever the pronunciation
is" or in some other way gloss over it. If you do not know, simply ask and learn
how to say it. That is, if your a professional. Learn how to say it right.

Illustrations can be used to help the audience understand difficult concepts. So

for SEO or Search Engine Optimization, to illustrate it think of a best selling
book. How does it become a best seller. Basically it has to appeal to a lot of
human readers. When that happens along with good advertising, even more
copies sell. The book has to be good in the first place.

SEO is a process of making a website like a best seller to the search engines. If it
is good it will be bought or show up in the first places on the search engine
results. To make the website a best seller for the search engines requires having
what is seen, content and the information on the graphics you have, all be the
best they can be to as seen by the search engines.

There are some behind the scenes parts of the website that also are seen by the
spiders. These too have to be best seller quality for the search engines to like
the site and show it in the top result.

Coherence is essential because this is how our minds work. To jump around or
jump in with an audience that does not speak the same technical language will
only serve to frustrate and confuse.

Each thought needs to connect with the next coherently to have good lateral
communication.

Clear Speech, Fluency, Pausing, and Gestures all can play a part in improving
lateral communication.
Mastering the speaker skills is one of the best ways to master lateral
communication.