Full Remote Work (Chapter Two: Organization&Communication)

You know from the previous post what tools we use in Fresha to enhance our collaboration. But as we all know, you can have great tools and still use them in a way that won’t benefit you. Those tools are used in particular contexts which should be conducive — therefore, you need to understand the conditions you’re going to work in. Take advantage of strengths, opportunities and prepare for possible difficulties. While speaking of a full remote mode, the biggest challenges (from our perspective) are the facilitation and structure of the meeting. Collaboration next to the whiteboard is not only about the whiteboard itself: it’s about seeing our natural responses, sensing the mood of the room and immediate reactions to those observations. While working remotely, we need to prepare a structure that will support our conversation flow. We also need to slow down a little bit, be aware of possible glitches and make sure that all the voices are heard (not only people, who are technically able to respond quickly).

Design your meeting

Note: yes, those tips are well known and apply in a natural context. But they’re highlighted here because they are even more crucial for remote cooperation.

• Define purpose & agenda — ensure there is a clear purpose known upfront, define what is the expected outcome of the meeting. Or even better, have a list of decisions or questions that you expect to have answered by the end of the meeting. Share them before the meeting and use them to keep the discussion on track.
• Plan short breaks if the meeting will last for more than an hour. Our attention span is limited and participation in online meetings requires us to focus more — because of the glitches, different processing of sound and vision. We put more effort into processing, therefore we got tired sooner and we might need more brakes than during f2f collaboration.
• Discuss who should take part in the meeting and why. It’s helpful to assign such roles as:
  Moderator: a person responsible for sticking to the agenda and making sure that everyone gets a chance to speak up.
  Technical organizer: a person responsible for fixing problems with connection, adding participants. This role is especially helpful when a bigger group participate in the meeting or moderator should proceed regardless of technical problems.
  Scribe: a person responsible for making notes and sharing the outcome
  And yes, each role should rotate within the team, so everyone will get the opportunity to learn such skills in a remote context and the group will organize efficiently without one person responsible for those activities.
• As an organizer, make sure before the meeting that:
  ◦ everyone knows how to connect and the link is visible (it’s a good practice to put it in the event description in Google Calendar)
  ◦ additional tools — e.g. Lucidchart, Mural — are ready to work on and people are informed in advance if they need to create an account.
• Think about the outcome. Reflect on how to assess whether the meeting was efficient and what should happen next. Discuss who should get familiar with the effect of your meeting and decide what are the next actions.
• Get feedback so you can learn about your organization and facilitation. You can do it after your meeting (ask all participants what went well and what you can improve next time), but also well-known Fist of Five will do the job if your camera is on.
• Sometimes it’s hard to join a meeting which is organized at a full hour (because of network overload) — it might be helpful to set an unusual hour of meeting, such as 10.17 a.m., instead of 10.00 a.m.

Take care of communication

Note: it’s very helpful if you agree on the basic rules for your cooperation — before the meeting or at the beginning of it. You might also decide on the rules that will apply to all of your meetings, so you won’t repeat them again and again.

• The more participants, the more interruptions might occur. There are a few basic solutions that will help you structure the discussion. One is that the moderator or current speaker is responsible for “passing the microphone” to the next person. Another is to go in rounds — especially when your meeting is based on hearing all the voices equally. You can also simply raise a hand when you want to add something; if you don’t have a camera turned on, you may create a queue in chat — it’s useful especially during meetings with dozens of participants.
  No matter which rule you decide on, it’s good to assign the moderator that will seek for those signals.
• Agree all together that each participant is using a camera so other people can see natural, non-verbal reactions — facial expressions or readiness to take a voice. Sometimes technical issues get in the way, but we encourage you to pay attention to that aspect when you can — we know from experience that meetings with cameras turned on were more comfortable and satisfying for us.
• Mute your microphone while you don’t talk — it will reduce extra noise, especially when you don’t work in a quiet environment (children close to you, dogs barking outside).
• Make sure to include small pauses after asking questions — people may need a couple of seconds to unmute before answering.
• Communicate with shorter sentences and make pauses — limit the monologue ;) People will hear you more clearly and will be able to add something regarding discussed issues. Also, you’ll notice sooner if some technical issues occur.
• Ask people directly, avoid “broadcast” questions (Who wants to do X? → Michael, are you OK with X? Sam, are you? Susana? …)
• Don’t multi-task during the meeting! During an online meeting we should be as present as in regular context or even more.

That’s all for now, but we’ll update the post if any useful insight came into our view. Be ready for Chapter Three — it will be about individual care that will support you during quarantine to stay productive and energetic. Take care!