In this Australian Institute of Insider Trading interview, host Boaz Fischer and guest Peter Natra explore how miscommunication acts as a risk multiplier within organizations, especially in the context of insider threat awareness. They identify the root causes of miscommunication—assumptions, vague expectations, mixed messages, cultural and generational differences, and unclear role definitions—and explain how these breakdowns lead to operational inefficiencies, employee disengagement, morale loss, turnover, customer churn, and heightened security vulnerabilities. The conversation highlights concrete examples such as ambiguous timeframes for database access and repetitive email chains that illustrate the problem. Natra emphasizes the damaging effects of poor feedback and performance management, noting how lack of clear guidance erodes trust. The duo then outlines practical leadership strategies: using plain language, avoiding acronyms, explicitly stating outcomes and deadlines, encouraging clarifying questions, and employing regular recaps to confirm understanding. They discuss fostering a culture of open dialogue and trust—creating an “arena of trust” where two‑way conversations are safe and feedback loops are efficient. The interview concludes with a key takeaway that clarity, plain language, and systematic recaps are essential to mitigate miscommunication and its associated insider‑threat risks.
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Hello and welcome to the Australian Institute of Insider Trading. My name is Boaz Fischer and I have my good buddy here, Peter Natra. Hello. What do we call it? The guru, the behavior guru or whatever.
Thank you.
I think, yeah. So Today we're going to talk about the Global Insider Threat Awareness, and specifically we're going to be talking about miscommunication. So miscommunication isn't just inconvenient, it's a risk multiplier. So from vague expectations to mixed messages, the smallest misunderstanding can snowball into real threats happening within an organization.
Yes.
So in this interview, we're going to explore how these communications break down, how they create vulnerabilities, and more importantly, the strategies leaders can adopt to foster clarity, accountability, and resilience.
Yep, absolutely.
Perfect.
Yes,
we're all ready to go. Okay, so let's start with the first question. How do miscommunications start? Where do they come from? And what, what is it?
Yep, absolutely. So one of the interesting things that the that I come across when I'm looking at this is that miscommunication is the cheapest thing to fix, but it's the most expensive thing to
keep. Yeah, well said.
And miscommunications comes from assuming, it's an assumption that when you are saying or writing something that the other person will actually find out what, will actually intuit what you're after, which Many times does happen, but the more that you intuit into something, the more you have the expectation that somebody's going to pick up on what you're not saying.
Correct. But we also got, I mean, you mentioned assumption as we tend to assume what the other person is saying, but there's also an interpretation or mixed messages or vague understanding.
Vague understanding. And so It comes down to a disjoint between understanding and intention. So for instance, one of the examples is the systems admin has said, okay, we've got this database guru coming in. He needs access to the database for a couple of days, a couple of days. Now, when you say that, the intention is 2 days.
Yes.
When you receive that, it's like a week?
Yes. 2 weeks? Yes.
How long is this going to take?
Yeah. So how do mixed communications create vulnerabilities within an organization?
There's 3 layers to it. Mixed communications often leads to work having to be redone. So, no, that's not what I want. Go back, do it again. And which causes disgruntlement. Is that a word? Yes. That leads directly into morale and turnover. So if this is something that consistently is going on, people will say, I've had this, thanks very much. And we're out of here. Believe it or not, also for customer churn, because it's not just if, let us assume that you're customer-facing, if you're constantly putting out mixed messages to your customers, your customers will say, I can go elsewhere for this.
Correct. What are sort of the most common scenarios where miscommunications lead to sort of that frustrations, disengagements, or even to Potentially risk.
If clear instructions are not given, if clear. So it has to do with the outcome. Everybody needs to be understanding what the outcome is because that will then almost explain itself what the instructions mean. So we want to have our database fixed by 3 days from now because that's when we need to have it fixed. We've got a new guy coming in and he needs access to the database, new gal coming in, she needs access to the database. for that time. Everybody knows that by 3 days that should be done.
Yep, yep.
So clarity, purpose, everybody's on the same page. Whereas you turn around and you say, oh, I need that report soon.
Yes.
Well, how long is soon?
Yeah, good question. How does the ambiguity coming from leadership basically create or fuel distrust Or disengagement.
Ambiguity becomes a shield behind which people can hide when they turn around and say, but I told you so, I told you specifically. Well, actually, no, you didn't. So then already you're setting up this confrontational environment. And every time now that you issue some instructions, people are going to second-guess what it is that you're actually trying to say. And oftentimes coupled with that, when somebody comes back to whoever's given that directive and says, now actually, what do you really mean by that? The frustration level being fed back is often high where they say, well, don't you know what I mean?
Yeah, correct.
I mean, that's a high— that's a high— yeah, yeah.
And to make it worse, so the follow-up question is, how does cultural or generation diversity Amplify that challenge, that problem.
Absolutely. So there are certain people, there are certain cultures that are by nature able to or find comfort in being able to be assertive and say, now what do you really mean by that? There are other cultures that will turn around and say, well, I guess I'll have to figure this one out on my own without and almost at effect rather than at cause of what's going on. And that's That's just the way that culture works and that's how we've got to operate inside of
that. Yeah. So what impact does a sort of a role or take place or the lack of clarity within roles and how that sort of affects the situation?
So there's a saying, you know, with a lack of direction, people will make stuff up.
Correct.
And, you know, with all the best of intentions, people will make stuff up that suits them best and not the purpose. So it really gets back to being very clear and very— we'll talk a little bit about plain language in a minute, but very plain about what it is that you want or that needs to happen. Everybody's on the same page, everybody understands what needs to be done. Give opportunity to— I'm preempting this, but give opportunity to people to ask clarifying questions and then say, okay, and come back to me if there's anything that I have to clarify.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. How does poor feedback play? Yeah, I was going to say performance management, but there may be lack of performance management that allows the employee to really understand that their understanding, their communication, whether it's been heard or not. Yeah. So, so my question is, how does poor feedback or performance management contribute to employee dissatisfaction?
So from the perspective of that, let's take the assumption that the employee or the staff member wants to excel. But they're given no guidelines. So one of the worst examples I've seen in the workplace is, oh, that report was total rubbish. So I've given it to Stephen.
Yes.
And you're left going, okay, so what did— how could I have done that better?
Correct. Correct.
And Stephen won't even talk to me.
It could be your supervisor or your manager, you know, has got your report or project or whatever. They've looked at it. They're not happy.
Yes.
But there's no feedback.
There's no feedback. Yeah. Or it could just land back on your desk with a redo note on it.
Yeah, exactly. And you go, yeah, exactly.
Redo what?
Yeah. What are the signs of miscommunications that create toxic work environments?
Looking at the— okay, one of the classic samples is if you have internal emails that have been copied and copied. So you see the subject line going read, read, read, read, read, whatever the topic is, and you get that often, then you've got an endemic problem inside of the organization. And that gets back also to the number of times you have to redo work because it's that kind of work churn That is not only bad for productivity, but it's also bad for morale because, oh, this is laying on my desk again. I'm sick of this. Bang.
Yes. I want to go back again to assumptions because the question is, how do assumptions or even biased form of communication lead to misinterpretations?
Well, if you assume, what was it? We wanted to have it in white, but you gave me a black one. Well, you didn't tell me you wanted a white one.
Yes.
I just thought you'd assume because the room is white, we wanted to have a white one.
Yes. Yeah. What can leaders do to ensure clarity and consistency in their communication?
It's 2 steps. Keep the language plain.
All right. That's essential.
That's really essential. Don't use acronyms. Don't use shortcuts. And secondly, take the time to ask, so how do you understand what I just said?
Yeah, very simple. Yeah. So if they don't understand the communication, it's basically stop right there.
Yep.
And then maybe respond in terms of, wait, is this what you've asked?
Absolutely.
So how do organizations foster a culture of open dialogue and transparency?
by creating an arena of trust. And an arena of trust means that the two-way conversation can happen, that people can come back to you a little bit later on and say, listen, I've just hit this snag here, we didn't quite cover that in the briefing, how would you like me to handle that? Yep, yep. And if there is the ability to do that, then you'll find you get the feedback you're after without having to redo the work.
Correct, correct.
And you're also creating an expectation environment, this is how we do things. And thirdly, you create trust.
Are we assuming that the organization and the people that work in the organization feel safe to do so?
Yes.
So therefore you can foster a culture of trust and support.
Absolutely.
But if, if to start off with there's a culture of mistrust, it's very difficult to turn around because perhaps your manager is not the most pleasant person that you've ever come across. They have said something and now You fear basically asking this person to explain themselves because otherwise you'll feel like a real idiot.
That's right. Yeah. And that's the whole point. Don't make people feel like they're an idiot for asking the question. I've seen operations where you have one lone manager who has the ability to create that amount of trust. But within 6 to 12 months, that manager is gone because he's not getting back, he or she, in this instance, it was a he, is not getting backed up by their next level. So you've just lost that, you've just lost that point of trust. So, and that then travels, trickles down across the rest of the organization.
Okay. So with that word of trust, what is the key takeaway from miscommunications and why it is so important to change, to fix maybe.
There will always be— There
will always be some level of miscommunication.
And there will always be a disjoint in performance as or in results. So by being able to be open and say, you were talking about feedback, look, I actually meant I did that. I wanted you to do that. Also opens up the person who gave that task to a vulnerability to say, look, I stuffed up. I did not tell you exactly what I needed. But let's work on this together. Can we do this together now? And that's where the trust comes in because you have to be able to both ways say I stuffed up. I put my hand up. That's it.
I'm done. Okay. So the key takeaway
is clarity and Plain language and recap, recap again. Get the person to say, okay, so what did I, how did you understand what I just, how do you read what I just said?
Cool.
Okay. And then you go, yep, fantastic. Oh, and by the way, I want to have the paragraphs indented.
What was it again?
Recap.
Recap. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you very much. This concludes this video and stay tuned for the next one. Thanks, Peter.
