Corporate entities also reflect the combined insecurities of their individual members. Internal communication slows down measurably when the people passing the message are uncertain of the repercussions or what policy on this subject is or who exactly is responsible for what.

So when what you're asking them to do breaks new ground, things can slow down to slower than a crawl.

This is good to remember when it's going to be down to a case of who told who about what, when.