Communicating in the workplace: Think Iceberg

A way to understand human communication and behaviour in the workplace is by using the iceberg model.

Photo by Frans van Heerden on Pexels.com

Just as an iceberg has only a small portion visible above water while most of its mass remains hidden beneath, our workplace interactions and office politics have visible components that are supported by deeper, less visible elements of organizational culture.

Three Key Applications for Workplace Communication Effectiveness

1. Recognise that what you can see is just the tip of the iceberg

In professional interactions, we often respond only to what’s visible—the behaviors, statements, or actions of colleagues and superiors.

However, these observable elements of workplace communication are supported by hidden factors:

What’s visible: Meeting contributions, email tone, project engagement, resistance to initiatives
What’s beneath: Individual values, past experiences, personal concerns, cultural backgrounds, departmental pressures

Try this: When facing challenging office interactions, pause before reacting to surface behaviours. Ask open-ended questions to explore underlying motivations.

For example, when a manager appears to micromanage, instead of feeling frustrated, consider asking about their priorities and concerns regarding the project to improve your relationship management skills.

2. Understand your company / organization’s culture by mapping visible and invisible elements

Organizations have their own icebergs—formal structures and policies above water, supported by informal systems beneath that influence office politics.

What’s visible: Organizational charts, stated values, official processes
What’s beneath: Unwritten rules, power dynamics, historical precedents, implicit expectations

Try this: Map out the formal structures and informal influences in your organization. Identify key stakeholders whose support matters regardless of their position on the organization chart. Pay attention to what is shared by longer-serving colleagues who have had experience in navigating the terrain.

3. Mid-level management comes with multiple iceberg levels

Being sandwiched between leadership and junior staff requires addressing the invisible needs beyond the obvious tasks.

What’s visible: Task assignments, deadlines, status updates
What’s beneath: Trust relationships, personal development goals, fear of failure, need for autonomy or support

Try this: When delegating, explicitly address both task requirements and support needs. When managing upward, provide not just status updates but strategic context that connects to your manager’s priorities and pressures. All of that will help to improve your workplace communication and influence.

Supported by Organizational Psychology

This workplace communication model draws from established organizational theories and business psychology:

Edgar Schein’s model of organizational culture
Chris Argyris’s work on “theories in use” versus “espoused theories”
Amy Edmondson’s psychological safety research

By developing awareness on the tip and what is under the iceberg elements in the workplace, professionals can navigate the complexities of work relationships through more strategic communication.

Would you like every message spoken and written by you to be effective but still reflect your personality? If you would like to learn to be a more effective communicator at work, let’s chat more. You can read about what I do here.

You can read more posts on relating to people here.

Scripting Life