Simple Team Communication Manifesto
When we founded Thoropass (then Laika), we memorialized a “first cut” at company values. Since then, we’ve iterated a ton. But this slide remains one of my favorites
This “communication manifesto” is meant to be simple conversational rails to help balance trade-offs, evaluate options, use shared vocab, stay on point, mutually understand inputs, outputs, reporting methodologies, etc.
When teams can’t agree, when there are different interpretations of a result (e.g. some view a result/outcome as success while others don’t), when priorities or feasibility or resource needs aren’t mutually shared across a team or teams, etc., figuring out the cause of the impasse is key
And, in my overwhelming experience, it’s often that these common impasses are rooted in communication and can be resolved fairly easily with clearer comms where this mini guide can be super useful
** COMMUNICATION MANIFESTO **
1️⃣ We restate our teammates’ points to confirm we understand each other
2️⃣ In debate, we explicitly specify what’s in/out of scope
3️⃣ When making decisions, we (a) establish what the desired outcome is and (b) establish the currency or measure(s) that we will use to compare alternatives
4️⃣ We stay on-point. We don’t switch topics. And we don’t confuse or merge two separate topics into one.
5️⃣ We assume that our teammates’ ideas are informed by valuable knowledge, experience, or data we may not have or know about
6️⃣ We default to the most charitable interpretation of our teammates perspectives in any conversation
7️⃣ We faithfully represent each other’s points-of-view in a way that they would recognize as their own even when they are not in the room
If you found this post useful, you might also enjoy this one: VC Slide 2023: From Wild Party to Hard Reality
I’m on Twitter @austinogilvie and LinkedIn /in/austinogilvie
Learn how Thoropass streamlines digital compliance: https://thoropass.com
