My regular readers know that I really love the magazine Fast Company. Almost every month, they have several ideas or articles that improve my own productivity or match concepts that I have been thinking about. Hopefully you remember that I often speak about the challenges we now face in the realm of communication. Or here. Or this one about email. Along the way of the past decade, the ability to work remotely, at home, in a different city or even another nation, has become an aspect of communication. As someone who can, from time to time, work from the house, I do understand the appeal. Yet, as someone who values human interaction, I also see the downside of only having my workmates work from home. Nonetheless, I don’t think it is going away, and so last month, Fast Company presented a short list of keys to making this work relationship work.
Make It Work—Remotely
The PowerToFly cofounders on the keys to telecommuting success
WORKERS SHOULD…
1. Overcommunicate. Supervisors will trust you more if they’re not busy worrying about what you’re up to. End each day with a note that details what you worked on that day and what you’re focusing on tomorrow.
2. Schedule face time. Set a weekly one-on-one with your supervisor over video chat. It helps to be seen in the office, even if it’s from thousands of miles away.
3. Escalate medium, but not message. When you need to reach your employer and she’s not responding to email, try Skype. Then phone. But never sound frustrated; your mode of contact is urgency enough.
EMPLOYERS SHOULD…
1. Hire with caution. Don’t hire a candidate you’re not convinced is self-motivated. If you can’t fully trust her from the start, you’ll drive yourself (and your remote worker) nuts by constantly monitoring her work.
2. Assign a buddy. Each remote worker should have a designated in-office person to talk to (and a backup one, if the main buddy is out). That way, the remote worker has a peer—and not just the boss—to relate to.
3. Do a reality check. Remote workers tend to feel more pressure to produce than office regulars, just to show they aren’t slacking off. Go out of your way to make sure your employee isn’t overworking herself.
So, two take aways that I think are key after ten years of working in this kind of situation. Note, these six ideas hold true even if everyone in your workplace is on site, especially if your workforce is spread out over multiple locations, or multiple floors. First, you must be motivated to stay up with your communication. I get it…we have tons of emails and messages. It certainly is a lot more than I remember working in my first professional jobs in the early 1990s after I got my second Master’s degree. Its tough, can be annoying and becomes exhausting keeping up. And yet, keeping up is a must. Thus, you must be motivated and avoid the “too easy” declaration of “have too many emails.”
Yeah, so do the rest of us…now get with it….that email or message you were sent by our boss is important. Sheesh…I can’t tell you the number of conversations I have had with my peers about some decision made by our College that this person is now angry about….and we were ALL TOLD ABOUT IT months and months ago. Worse, at our College, almost every decision is made in a way that invites us to both participate and comment on…if something is terrible, you say so and usually a change happens. I mean, often, we end up taking far too long to make a decision because we are attempting to get it just right, and the leaders listen to everyone. So, for someone to get made months later, acting like they had no idea is really silly. That person is clearly not motivated.
Second, we are at a point where you must over communicate. And for me, this is merging the above list #1 and #3. You simply cannot send off one email or leave one phone message and expect the info is there. Note what I said above…we are all inundated, practically drowning in information to the point that many people start to shut down overwhelmed. Well, getting angry about it won’t work. My last paragraph notwithstanding….I was venting to you, my readers; I do point out the failure of a person’s logic about the communication snafu, but getting angry about it won’t help. Instead, over communicate. And, don’t over communicate with the same style. You sent an email and got no reply; pick up the phone. LEft a phone message…probably should sent a text quickly too just to alert the person you need a reply.
Last thought is this—realize with written communication, the potential for error or gross assumption is huge. Two recent examples. My friend and worship leader Chris and I were planning our next church service when the potential was there that he might miss. When they didn’t happen, it wasn’t clear who would lead the singing, he or I. We both assumed the other and it took continued discussion to get straight what was the plan. Had we not kept at it, we might have showed up Sunday morning with no music at all, and also probably hurt feelings or negative thoughts about the other person. My buddy Rob has a rule of sorts where any text communication that goes beyond three or four texts leads him to picking up the phone to call. And so, today, we were trying to make a plan for next week and our communication left us with errors in our thinking. Finally, the phone ring…as I thought it might once I sent my last text. We had a quick five minute call and all was cleared up. Easy.
As 2015 rolls into its second month, just realize that if you want to be successful in your work, or in your class, or just have good relationships with your friends….take these communication ideas to heart.