Figuring out Remote Communication on the First Day of the Job
Well okay, it’s technically my third day on the job but it took me two days to figure out that on the third day I needed to figure out communication. Thank you Captain Obvious. It’s ALWAYS communication.
I’ve worked remotely before and I’ve had the opportunity to travel to four different continents and the one thing I’ve learned is that everyone communicates the same and everyone communicates differently all at the same time. It’s a conundrum. Just today, my best friend sent me a screenshot of the contact options under his contact cards and it showed different services from Facebook, to Google, to QQ. People use different messaging services in different parts of the world, and some of these services aren’t even allowed in certain places I’ve travelled do to government restrictions.
All that said, and track with me for just a second, my leadership mantra has been, if you desire to be a leader, you disqualify yourself from leadership. But if you desire to be a servant, you’ve already qualified yourself as a leader. My question on day 3 was, “What tools can I use to serve those that will be operating in different timezones and countries while still taking care of myself?” Jesus said love your neighbor as yourself and you cannot serve your neighbor if you don’t take care of yourself. That’s the tone for the rest of this post.
Email is a given.
The organization I’m working for now uses Google Suite so Gmail it is. I’m not checking email at 3am Eastern Time. And thank goodness no one expects me to. But what do I do to make myself available? I want to make sure I’m serving students, faculty, and staff the best I can via email but how?
An autoresponder it is.
Subject: I have received your email.
Hello, thanks for your email. I check email at 9am and 2pm EST, Monday-Friday and will reply shortly. If you need immediate assistance, please feel free to call or message me at +1 (555) 555-5555.If you would like to schedule a Zoom video/audio call, I've set aside Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 1pm to 5pm for meetings. Please request a meeting here: https://calendly.com/USERNAME. If none of these times work, please feel free to email me and we will coordinate a time together.
Short. Sweet. To the point.
And Gmail only sends this response once every four days once someone emails you. Yay for not being too annoying.
The autoresponder lets people know I’ve received their email and we all know it’s true: Sometimes we get flustered when someone doesn’t respond to us immediately. Let’s cut that off at the head.
Web Meetings
I check my emails Monday-Friday at 9am and 2pm EST. The sender knows I’ll see their email by business day’s end in my timezone. If they need me immediately they can call or text my Google Voice number which reroutes to my personal phone.
But what about F2F (Face-to-face) communication? When you work remotely, you can’t exactly hop on a plane, go meet someone for coffee, and then fly back unless you’re incredibly rich and if that’s your thing, kudos to you. So enter Calendly+Zoom. Calendly lets people look at my calendar, schedule and appointment if I’m free, and then automatically sends a Zoom invitation that allows us to face to face over desktop or mobile, including the ability to share a screen and walk through our LMS (Learning Management System). And oh, it automatically adds it to my calendar. Win win.
A caveat to think about though…
My scheduling times work great if you’re in North America. If I’m working with someone in Europe or elsewhere, we have to have a convo and see what works best for both of us. No problem. If I need to readjust my hours in the future I will. Just take care of yourself while doing so. Set aside a couple of days to get work done where you don’t take appointments. I promise, it’s okay. When things come up, be flexible. But set expectations up front and don’t wait until you’re losing your mind to fix things.
Messaging (and the Kitchen Sink)
Ok, the truth. I secretly hate email.
And so do most people. Response rate to marketing email is 5–10% and it’s not that much higher when you can simply text or call someone to a regular email.
So how do you communicate with those you work closest with during your work hours if you’re remote? Instant Messaging. I propose Slack because of my unique role. But Google Hangouts works just as well. Or if you’re the enterprise type, Microsoft Teams (I think I just threw up in my mouth a little).
I use slack because I’m a Web Developer (and now Assistant Director of Distance Learning). Slack can remind me to do things. Notify me of code changes to different projects I follow, work on projects together with my teammates, as well as let me be a part of communities that discuss different ideas and strategies for all of the different web development tech I use. It’s also a really good place to ask questions in those communities to figure out solutions to different tech problems. It’s the fork, knife, and plate of tools that lets me do my job well as well as lets me send my teammates ridiculous memes throughout the day.
That’s a Wrap
You could summarize this approach as, “I’m available on my terms to make sure I’m serving you the best I can.” It’s not as harsh as it sounds. I’m taking care of myself communication-wise so I can serve others well.
tldr of Communicating Remotely;
- Set an email auto responder of when you check email and that you’ll get back shortly.
- Give people the option to schedule a meeting with you, but not every day all day. Save some time to get work done.
- Make yourself easily available to those you work closely with (not the whole family) through Instant Messaging.
- Follow communication channels with those outside of your org so you can better yourself.
