A tricky thing about communication is that sometimes it's really hard to convey why you believe something. You have some intuition that you should do A not B, but you can't put a finger on why. In order to resolve conflicts, you need to find a way of reasoning about intuition.
So I agree that open and honest communication is super important. I just wanted to note that difficulties in communication may happen even with the best intentions.
I completely agree and I didn't mean to imply that communication difficulties only occur due to bad intentions. My point is more that lack of communication can directly lead to negative effects.
Even when there are open/honest comms, there's still the additional effort needed to understand what's being said (which I think is what you're referring to). To reach that level, you must first have been able to listen. Not every decision can be made using hard facts but it should be possible to explore the drivers behind viewpoints - assuming of course, that you trust the people you're discussing with. Taken to an extreme, it's almost like a form of counselling.
So I agree that open and honest communication is super important. I just wanted to note that difficulties in communication may happen even with the best intentions.