A lot of your employees may hesitate to communicate openly in the workplace. That’s a challenge, and it’s something you can address when you notice it. After all, collaboration is becoming increasingly important, so when you see a roadblock to speaking freely between colleagues, you’ll probably want to knock it down.

The harder part will be noticing employees who are afraid to talk openly with clients. When it’s happening out of sight, maybe at the client’s office or perhaps over the phone, you may not notice it until it’s too late. A lack of communication with clients can be very damaging for your relationship with them.

One problem is that your clients may get very involved in overseeing the details of the work before you understand what their goal is, leading to a result that does not accomplish what they want. A client may come to you and say, “I want a website/TV commercial/design for my office that looks like (fill in the blank).” By telling you what they want something to look like, instead of what result they are aiming for, they put you at a disadvantage. It may be that what they say they want it to look like may not get them to the goal they are trying to accomplish, but you won’t know that unless you understand what’s truly important to them. Unfortunately, when things don’t work out the way they want, they will blame you. Your employees need to be willing to ask questions and take some control over the conversation, or they may be pushed down the wrong path.

Your team also needs to be prepared to say “no” to clients who ask for things beyond your capabilities, or that go beyond the contract. When your employees are unwilling to say “no,” they will leave your clients with unrealistic expectations. When those are not met, you damage your long-term relationship. Of course maybe you DO meet those expectations, but only by spending more than you’re getting paid. That’s not doing you much good either.

Difficult conversations are called “difficult” for a reason, and it should not be surprising when your employees don’t want to have them. It’s up to you, then, to get them comfortable with the idea of talking openly with clients, not only asking questions do diagnosis a client’s true goal but also being willing to push back against things that just aren’t going to work.