Communication breakdowns are everywhere and happen every day but rarely make it into boardroom conversations. Our clients frequently point out that communication failures are among the biggest issues in projects, whether in conference room presentations or email exchanges. This reality resonates across the capital projects sector, especially in organizations involved with multi-billion-dollar projects happening globally.
The hidden crisis within capital projects
Here lies the uncomfortable truth: in today’s world of complex, capital projects, it’s rarely the technical aspects that sink projects—it’s how teams communicate about them.
The numbers tell a painful story:
- 52% of rework comes directly from poor communication (that’s billions wasted annually) 1
- 66% of workplace accidents have communication failures as contributing factors2
- 40% of client complaints boil down to “this isn’t what I thought I was getting”3
- 70% of construction disputes stem from misunderstandings, not technical failures4
And unfortunately, these problems are only getting worse. The industry is changing faster than communication methods can keep up.
Companies have BIM models, AI-powered project management, drones surveying infrastructure sites, and augmented reality walkthroughs—all generating more data than ever before. They’re building more complex structures and systems with teams spread across continents and time zones.
Yet many still rely on the same communication approaches used decades ago: technical specifications, Gantt charts, and jargon-filled emails that nobody fully reads.
The Real Pain Points
Several critical communication failures consistently plague capital projects across the board—whether it’s pipelines, processing facilities, highways, water treatment plants, or commercial buildings.
Information overload without context
Project leaders often report that updates lack proper structure, causing audience members to disengage midway through presentations when there’s no compelling narrative holding the information together. These updates frequently devolve into unstructured streams of consciousness that quickly become difficult to follow.
Project updates commonly resemble massive spreadsheets that simply check boxes to indicate project status, often highlighting that things are behind schedule. This mechanical approach fails to engage stakeholders or provide meaningful context.
Failure to simplify complexity
Major infrastructure and industrial projects are inherently complex, and simplifying this complexity presents an enormous challenge. This creates a significant communication hurdle, especially when subject matter experts who thoroughly understand the technical aspects struggle to effectively explain challenges to others who lack their specialized knowledge.
Inability to bring forward the one, most important strategic insight
Despite having the technical expertise to solve complex problems, teams often stumble at the critical first step: clearly defining what problem they’re actually trying to solve. When presenters can’t distill their message into one memorable BIG Idea—the key takeaway that stakeholders absolutely must remember—they leave their audience adrift in a sea of information, missing the forest for the trees. The result? Confusion replaces clarity, and the most crucial point gets buried under an avalanche of details that, while technically accurate, fail to drive understanding or alignment.
Email communication chaos 
The sector struggles with email management. Our clients share scenarios where they receive hundreds of emails daily about a single project, creating an overwhelming volume that buries critical information and makes it difficult to distinguish what truly matters.
Presentations without purpose
Whether it’s project updates or business development pitches, presentations frequently miss the mark. Presenters often simply showcase their products or services without considering whether they’re relevant to the stakeholder’s actual needs—essentially forcing solutions without understanding the current situation.
And, worse, many presenters fail to clearly communicate the problem they’re trying to solve. Without establishing why the audience should care about the information being presented, they struggle to maintain attention and engagement. Beginning with a clear explanation of the “why” behind a presentation would significantly improve audience attentiveness.
Misaligned perspectives across stakeholders
Different parties view projects through different lenses. Audience members—owners, contractors, and suppliers—all perceive the same problem from different angles, like viewing different sides of a dice. Though they’re examining the same issue, their perspectives and priorities can vary dramatically.
How Storytelling Changes Everything (Without Changing Your Processes)
Business storytelling isn’t about fiction—it’s about framing technical information in ways that create meaning, context, and connection. Research has sho wn that stories can be up to 22 times more memorable than facts alone.
Here’s what storytelling can do in the capital projects sector:
Communicating complex ideas and technical concepts
Storytelling helps translate complex technical details into understandable narratives. For example, a project manager could tell a story about how a certain process design will enhance process efficacy, or how specific safety measures will protect workers in a processing plant. This humanizes the information and makes it easier to understand.
Enhancing leadership and aligning teams
Storytelling creates a shared vision that helps unite diverse project teams around a common goal. It weaves a narrative that highlights the project’s purpose and vision. This sense of shared purpose can increase motivation and collaboration.
When people understand the broader story behind a project—whether it’s a bridge connecting communities or an industrial facility creating jobs—they often feel more invested in its success. This engagement can lead to greater enthusiasm and more effective teamwork.
Industry leaders emphasize the importance of distilling information down to its essence—identifying exactly what message you want to convey and ensuring the audience can walk away with that core idea clearly in mind.
Managing stakeholder expectations
Clear storytelling helps manage stakeholder expectations. By telling a story about the project’s development, potential hurdles, and timelines, the project team can set realistic expectations and prevent future misunderstandings.
Enhancing risk management
Storytelling is a powerful tool for risk management in high-risk environments like oil and gas facilities or industrial plants. Project managers can use storytelling to communicate potential risks in an engaging and relatable way, which helps teams prepare and adapt.
Making safety a priority 
By framing risks within a story about a project’s potential challenges and solutions, teams can more easily grasp the importance of proactive measures. Safety narratives that highlight real consequences and successful preventative actions create an emotional connection that technical safety manuals simply cannot achieve. When team members can visualize and relate to safety scenarios, compliance transforms from a checkbox exercise into a meaningful commitment to protect themselves and their colleagues.
Building community relationships
Many capital projects—from highways to energy infrastructure—impact local communities. Storytelling helps build a narrative that connects the project to the people it will affect, making it more meaningful and creating positive community relations.
The Bottom Line: Better Stories = Better Projects
73% of projects that maintain effective communication practices meet their goals, compared to just 37% of projects with poor communication—representing a near-doubling of success rates.5
So clearly, communication is the critical factor in project success. When projects fall flat, it’s rarely because of technical failures—it’s because team members didn’t spend enough time preparing effective communications.
We know that thorough preparation—taking time to consider exactly what message you want the audience to leave with—is crucial. Success happens when you distill information down to one, clearly articulated idea that audience members can easily grasp and potentially repeat after the presentation.
But how? It is critical to identify and articulate a BIG Idea with precision and impact. This allows teams to cut through information overload and lead with the core message that matters most.
Rather than leading with complex visuals or data-heavy slides, start with a story. When you build a compelling narrative first and use visuals to support that story—not the other way around—your message becomes stickier and more actionable. Your stakeholders don’t just understand what you’re saying; they feel it, remember it, and act on it. This story-first approach ensures that technical brilliance doesn’t get lost in translation.
In a world where professionals wake up to hundreds of emails each morning and sit through hours of poorly structured presentations, storytelling creates a framework that cuts through the noise.
In an industry integrally engaged with physical structures, it’s easy to forget that understanding, alignment, and trust are built through stories. The most successful professionals of tomorrow won’t just be technical experts—they’ll be master storytellers who can translate complex information into meaningful narratives that inspire action, create alignment, and build trust.
When the next project is at risk of falling behind—whether it’s an offshore platform, a manufacturing facility, or a transportation system—look beyond the structure to the stories being told—or not told—about it. That’s where the real foundation of success lies.
What story is your current project telling? And more importantly—is everyone hearing the same story?
References
1Construction Industry Institute. (2023). “The Impact of Communication on Project Performance.” CII Annual Research Report, 24(3), 112-126.
2Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2024). “Communication Failures in Construction Site Accidents.” OSHA Technical Report, 2024-05.
3Robinson, M. & Johnson, K. (2024). “Client Satisfaction Drivers in Engineering and Construction Projects.” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 150(4), 418-433.
4Global Construction Disputes Report. (2024). Arcadis Construction Disputes Annual Report, 12th Edition.
5Project Management Institute. (2023). “Pulse of the Profession: Navigating Complexity.” PMI Annual Global Survey Report, 2023, 15-18.
