October 25th, 2026 by Mike Manazir – (4-5 minutes)
How do you manage internal communications? Does your team see the whole fight?
Most leaders think the answer is better email, more meetings, or another communication platform. The real issue is deeper. It involves transparency.
During the Iraq war, General Stanley McChrystal faced a very hard communication problem. He was leading a Joint Special Operations organization made up of thousands of highly capable people spread across the world. Operators, intelligence analysts, partner agencies, and support teams were all working hard. It was imperative that they work together to create advantages against a capable and crafty adversary. But information was getting trapped inside organizational silos.
The enemy was adapting quickly. Intelligence discovered in one place could affect an operation somewhere else almost immediately. If information had to crawl up one chain of command and then back down another, the organization was already behind.
McChrystal changed the communication rhythm.
At the center of that change was a daily Operations and Intelligence briefing, commonly called the O&I. It grew into a 90-minute video conference involving more than 7,000 people. By 2007, participants were connecting from as many as 72 locations around the world. Most importantly they all heard directly from General McChrystal. He flattened the organization to create a strong communication structure. Transparent efficiency turned into combat success.
Most of us have been in a meeting with twelve people and wondered whether everybody needed to be there. McChrystal deliberately connected thousands. The purpose was bigger than passing information. He wanted people to understand the whole fight.
The O&I gave people outside their immediate team access to what other teams were seeing, learning, planning, and doing. Commanders shared accomplishments and priorities. People heard context, not simply instructions. McChrystal empowered everyone on the call to share information. Over time, that helped create what McChrystal called “shared consciousness”—a common understanding that allowed people throughout the organization to make better decisions faster.
Here’s the Truth
Your people cannot execute your intent if they don’t understand what is happening around them.
Leaders become frustrated because people “aren’t aligned.” Once you look at the way information moves through the organization, you may discover that everybody is working from a different picture.
One group knows the strategy. Another knows the customer problem. Somebody at the front line sees trouble developing, but nobody has created a reliable way for that information to move across the team.
That is not an employee problem. That is a leadership problem.
Good internal communication creates a rhythm people can trust. Your team should know where the organization is going, what matters now, what has changed, and why. Just as important, information has to move back toward the leader. The people closest to the work often see trouble first.
This does not mean everybody needs every email or every detail. That creates noise, not clarity. Your job is to give people enough context to understand how their work connects to the mission and enough access to speak up when they see something others need to know.
Technology can help. Email, Teams, Slack, Zoom, dashboards—use whatever works.
But the tool is not the answer.
Trust is.
People have to believe leaders will tell them the truth. They have to know questions are welcome. They have to feel safe sharing bad news before it becomes worse news. Communication has to move up, down, and across the organization.
When that happens, information moves faster. Decisions improve. Silos weaken. Your people stop operating as separate groups and begin operating as one team.
Lead to Win Principle
Create shared understanding before you expect aligned action.
The Question
Does your internal communication help your people understand the whole mission—or only their piece of it?
Want more powerful leadership lessons from Mike?
- Begin leading from the heart: Order Learn How to Lead to Win | The Manazir Maxims | Leadership Study Guide for Manazir Maxims
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Let’s lead to win together,
Mike Manazir
Retired Navy Rear Admiral | Bestselling Author | Keynote Speaker | Executive Coach