You ever play that game at a party where someone whispers a message around a circle and by the time it gets back, it’s wildly off? Like “The cat sat on the mat” somehow becomes “Matt is secretly a wizard with a cat”?

That’s the telephone game. Or, as it’s often called in office corridors; the grapevine.

It’s cute when you’re ten. Less so when you’re trying to manage a team and someone thinks you’re firing the intern because they saw you close your laptop too dramatically during a meeting.

This week’s reading, What Is Informal Communication? by Lucy Sands, hit a nerve in the best way. It made me think about how messages flow inside organisations, and how quickly they can turn into chaos if we’re not paying attention.

Let’s talk about it.

Knowledge Is Power, But Also a Bit Delicate

In any organisation, knowledge is currency. It’s how decisions get made, how teams align, and how culture is shaped. But here’s the thing: the way knowledge travels matters just as much as what the knowledge actually is.

According to Sands, informal communication is inevitable. People talk. They make assumptions. They share info over coffee, via memes in Slack, or while waiting for a meeting to start. That’s not inherently bad. In fact, it’s often where real bonding happens.

But when important messages get passed informally, or worse, when the real message never gets shared at all, that’s when things get tricky. Misunderstandings can create fear, mistrust, and sometimes even damage a business.

And it usually starts with one phrase: “Did you hear…?”

So How Do We Keep Messages Accurate?

Let’s be honest. You can’t control every whisper. But you can build a workplace where clarity wins and confusion doesn’t stand a chance.

Here’s how I think organisations can do that:

1. Share the Why, Not Just the What

When leadership drops decisions without context, people fill in the gaps themselves. Instead of just announcing that you’re restructuring a team, explain why. Transparency gives people fewer reasons to invent their own narrative.

2. Use Multiple Channels (But Stay Consistent)

Some people read every newsletter. Others live in Teams chat. A few need it said out loud to believe it’s real. Use a mix of written updates, meetings, and informal check-ins, but make sure the message stays the same across the board. No remixing.

3. Check for Echoes, Not Just Silence

Just because you said something doesn’t mean it was heard correctly. Ask questions like, “What did you take away from that?” or “How would you explain that to someone else?” It’s not micro-managing. It’s message health-checking.

4. Give Informal Communication a Place

Don’t ban the grapevine; reshape it. Encourage open discussion, create Q&A spaces, let people process information together. When informal communication has a healthy outlet, it’s less likely to turn into a rumour mill.

5. Train People to Spot Signal vs. Noise

Just like we do media literacy outside of work, we need message literacy inside work. Teach your team to ask, “Who said that?”, “Where did it come from?”, and “Is that official or someone’s opinion?” Curiosity is a superpower.

The BrokeBella Take

Look, messages will always morph a little in the wild. That’s human. But as organisations, we can create cultures where clarity is the norm, and trust is built into every update. Where people don’t have to guess what’s going on or assume the worst.

Whether you’re leading a team or just trying to keep your inbox from becoming a rumour hub, the goal is the same: make your message the clearest voice in the room.

Because if you don’t write the story, the grapevine will. And it rarely gets the plot right.

If your workplace has clever ways of keeping messages clean and consistent, I’d love to hear them. Or drop your favourite “telephone game gone wrong” moment from work. We’ve all got one.

And yes; I’m the one who once accidentally sparked a rumour that we were getting a coffee machine upgrade. (We were not. I just walked in with a new travel mug. Oops.)