Upward communication: What is it? 5 examples

When it comes to workplace communication, are you pulling your weight? Only if you’re prioritizing upward communication. 

Let’s say you’re a low-level sales representative for a wholesale manufacturing company and you notice an issue with your employer’s website check-out process — the software glitches and you get stuck on a loading page. You figure this likely frustrates customers and makes them exit the site before purchasing. 

One option is to message your direct manager on Slack and propose fixing the check-out process. Maybe your manager likes the idea and conducts a team survey to pool more solutions, which they send to the software developer. This developer implements changes, sales conversion increases two-fold, and profitability climbs up 15%. 

Or, maybe you debate whether your manager will receive your input well. Policies tend to come from the top down, and leadership may perceive constructive feedback as subordination. You decide to keep the idea to yourself. 

The first option is an example of upward communication, a free flow of information that encourages lower-level workers to share ideas, feedback, and complaints with leaders. When you use this communication style, you’re pulling your weight to help the organization achieve its full potential. 

What’s upward communication?

Upward communication is when communication flows between lower-level employees and management. Leaders who implement this style often encourage every employee to share their ideas and feedback with others, no matter their seniority level or that of the listener. 

The standard way of organizing a company's structure is top-down, meaning senior leadership brainstorm long-term goals and the company vision and define company-wide initiatives and policies. Workers at the bottom accept authority from the top as a creed and dutifully carry out their leaders’ vision. 

But workers are increasingly demanding a flattening of power and decision-making structures. Millennials and Gen Z don’t want to feel like anonymous workers. Instead, they yearn to connect with their employer by offering their ideas and helping make important decisions. 

For organizations that want to retain talent, it’s vital to tap into what matters most to workers and adapt important organizational structures accordingly. You’ll be more competitive as you attract and retain skilled workers but also because you’ll be improving productivity-driving engagement. 

Upward versus downward communication

Here are the four main differences between upward and downward communication — figure out what your company needs most to find the right balance between these two types: 

• Communication structure: Upward communication is participative, open, and collaborative, whereas downward communication is closed and directive. 

• Direction: Upward communication sends messages from low-level workers to top management, whereas downward communication sends messages down from leadership to workers. 

• Purpose: Upward communication consists of feedback, criticism, and requests. Downward communication involves these things but also includes implementing rules and sending instructions.

• Managerial style: Upward communication flattens hierarchies and is more democratic, whereas downward communication is more authoritative

How to foster upward communication in the workplace

The objective of upward communication is to create a positive feedback culture between teammates and departments. Here are eight ways you can cultivate this environment. 

1. Encourage open communication

Imprint open communication as a company culture norm by having upper management actively ask for feedback, hosting regular collaborative meetings or brainstorming sessions with teammates across levels, and making yourself available to all employees. 

2. Leverage both communication types

More consistent communication from management encourages employees to participate and communicate upward, so use top-down communication to encourage upward input.

3. Question your leadership style

Managers may possess cognitive biases toward their own ideas or those of their peers with more social capital. But democratic leaders don’t pick and choose who input comes from — they build open-door policies that allow every employee to openly share feedback and get involved in decision-making.

4. Allow employees to create and share content

If only managers create and share content, you might experience bottlenecks or unproductive communication silos between divisions and hierarchies. Encourage everyone to add and share documentation like meeting notes or templates to ensure information flows freely. 

5. Give praise

Employees that feel their input is valuable are more likely to share it. They’re also more likely to have stronger mental and physical health and motivation. Encourage them to share and appreciate their ideas, even if they don’t provide the best solution. What matters is that they feel comfortable and confident enough to express themselves.

6. Keep it up

It's common for management to improve their communication strategy during a company crisis or around an impending deadline. Remember to keep business communication open year-round, not just when necessary. 

7. Invest in communication channels

Engagement tools and workflow apps like instant messaging programs, collaborative document sharing, and regular one-on-one and team member check-ins show that teamwork is the standard. Choose channels that can integrate with one another — too many work platforms overwhelm and can decrease communication motivation. 

8. Invite employee-generated content

A culture of experimentation encourages everyone in an organization to take the initiative to provide innovative methodologies, work templates, and ideas. When managers react positively to both failures and successes, employees feel excited to share findings that stimulate better ideas and generate more effective policies. 

7 benefits of upward communication

How you communicate organization-wide determines whether you enjoy high employee engagement, productivity, and, ultimately, profitability. Here are seven benefits of incorporating upward communication into your company culture:

1. Develops mutual trust: Open workplace communication builds trust and confidence to express opinions and share ideas. And workers in high-trust organizations experience 74% less stress and 50% higher productivity.

2. Increases information retention: Collaboration doesn’t only build personal connections — it improves understanding. One study found that students who actively share information develop a firmer grasp of the materials. 

3. Improves procedures: Feedback from team members on the frontline helps managers and human resources (HR) professionals improve procedures that lead to better operational decision-making. And poor decisions can eat upwards of 3% of annual profits, which can seriously impact your business's growth. 

4. Employee recognition: Upward communication means recognizing employees as valued parts of the team and not cogs in the machine. This boosts employee self-confidence and encourages engagement.

   

5. Points out valuable employees: Workers who take advantage of upward communication show hiring managers and leadership important soft skills like initiative, motivation, and commitment that can be useful when looking for internal candidates or debating promotions. 

6. Gives a sense of purpose: Millennial and Gen Z workers want to feel involved and value opportunities for professional growth, and open communication builds this sense of belonging and purpose.

7. Encourages better communication: Upward communication helps workers improve their communication skills. They develop clearer written, verbal, and nonverbal communication as they interact across different communication channels and hierarchies.

5 upward communication examples

Here are a few examples of upward communication — depending on your company’s needs, you might encourage some over others. 

1. Focus groups: An HR specialist can bring employees together to discuss satisfaction levels regarding daily issues, management styles, or short and long-term goals. Likewise, feedback about new or pending policies gives valuable insight from frontline workers to higher-level managers. 

2. Employee satisfaction surveys: Regular surveys offer constructive feedback about new policies and initiatives or provide constructive criticism about general satisfaction with day-to-day processes.

   They encourage employees to rate their experiences and give high-level managers and HR professionals valuable information to manage employee performance. 

3. Performance reviews: Performance reports allow lower-level workers to rate their manager’s performance and vice versa. This practice shows that everyone’s opinion matters and helps cultivate growth mindsets throughout the organization. 
4. Meetings: Whether one-on-one or in a group, regular meetings create a work culture where everyone values idea-sharing, teamwork, and open communication. 

5. Suggestion boxes: A physical suggestion box where workers can give written feedback or complaints for upper management to review makes workers feel safe to air important grievances.

   Likewise, a dedicated channel on the company’s online messaging platform provides a space to openly throw ideas around. 

4 obstacles to upward communication

Businesses should be conscientious of organizational structures that create limitations to upward communication. Here are four obstacles to overcome to institute better upward communication in your organization: 

1. Fear of speaking up: Toxic work environments with hostile leaders, gossip culture, and unsupportive team dynamics will trump workers' confidence in sharing ideas and knowledge.

   Even if organizations implement upward communication channels, toxicity in the workplace will likely limit the quality of information employees communicate. 

2. Autocratic leaders: Ego-driven managers who mark strict hierarchies, shut down ideas from others, and want to lead knowledge generation will undermine efforts to stimulate upward communication. 

3. Poor resource management: Too many communication channels and a lack of clear best practices convolute employees' communication efforts and can lead to misunderstandings and frustration. 

4. Lack of recognition: No one likes to feel their efforts are unrecognized. Employees whose ideas consistently fall on deaf ears will likely stop sharing. 

Up and away

Effective upward communication creates transparency, trust, and a sense of purpose, all of which drive organizations forward. This method also provides the leadership and organization structure workers want to be a part of. 

Review your communication channels, management styles, and culture to find ways to foster more open communication.

And while changing the fabric of your organization’s communication style isn’t easy, bringing leaders, managers, and employees on board will pay off in the long run with better engagement, more empowered staff, and increased productivity.