Effective Communication In A Remote First World

2020 has seen a seismic shift in how we work across the IT industry. Remote working, previously the choice of a small minority of IT professionals, has become the de-facto standard. This trend is likely to strengthen as workers and companies embrace the myriad potential benefits. The companies that will thrive in this brave new world will be those who can adapt most nimbly. Unfortunately, many have lurched into this situation with little deliberate thought on how their approach to communication should evolve to suit this new operating context. Simply substituting in-person meetings for virtual ones misses the major opportunities to eliminate waste, boost organisational memory and enhance engagement.

Join Rob as he shares the lessons he’s learned leading delivery teams across five timezones and three continents on the path towards remote working. We will take an in-depth look at communication from three perspectives; intra-team, inter-team, and finally customer-facing. For each of these focus areas, we will explore:

* How to choose the optimal channel for a given interaction
* Why asynchronous communication is more important than ever and what skills are required to make it shine
* Why tooling represents one aspect of the solution but is far from a silver bullet

Additionally, we will see how leaders can maintain strategic alignment and avoid feelings of isolation within their team. By the end of the session, you will not only understand how to communicate effectively while working remotely but also have the knowledge to put this into practice. If you want to improve the quality of your remote interactions with others, then this is the session for you.

Transcript

1. EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN A REMOTE FIRST WORLD @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
2. COMMUNICATION PROCESS CULTURE WHAT WE’LL BE COVERING @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
3. PROCESS TEAM ORG COLLEAGUE WHAT WE’LL BE COVERING
4. ME NOW: HEAD OF ENGINEERING @VIX TECHNOLOGY PREV: PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT @TELSTRA PURPLE @DDDPERTH CO-ORGANISER RECOVERING RFC ADDICT + = ROBDCROWLEY ARCHITECTURE TRAGIC
5. @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY Remote Working? 3,2,1 JUMP!
6. INSPECT + ADAPT QUANTITATIVE + QUALITATIVE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
7. 70% 70% of colleagues felt more productive working remotely than in the office 92% 92% of colleagues felt aligned with the company mission and have the context required to operate effectively 75% 75% of colleagues believe that Vix is open to new methods of working to improve productivity and effectiveness 84% 84% of respondents felt empowered to do their jobs VIX FLEXIBLE WORKING SURVEY @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
8. 60% 60% of respondents felt that working remotely had not impacted the quality of their interactions with other colleagues. OPPORTUNITIES TO IMPROVE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
9. Colleagues who had been working flexibly had increased their productivity, work-life balance and feelings of empowerment @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
10. The question then became, how could we make remote working a sustainable approach? @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
11. CULTURE MOVING TOWARDS A SHARED TRUTH
12. communication noun the imparting or exchanging of information between two or more people by speaking, writing, or using some other medium. @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
13. ENGINEERING AT VIX CLOUD OPERATIONS TEAM ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT CENTRE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
14. 4 4 COUNTRIES 3 TIMEZONES 103 TEAM MEMBERS 15+ NATIONALITIES 103 15+ 3 ENGINEERING AT VIX @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
15. There are tougher challenges to overcome with remote communication than temporal coupling @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
16. Cultural patterns of behaviour and belief frequently impact our perceptions (what we see), cognitions (what we think), and actions (what we do) ERIN MEYER – THE CULTURE MAP
17. “ “ Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another GEERT HOFSTEDE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
18. CULTURAL DIMENSIONS POWER DISTANCE INDULGENCE UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE LONG TERM ORIENTATION INDIVIDUALITY MASCULINITY HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
19. LOW POWER DISTANCE HIGH POWER DISTANCE POWER DISTANCE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
20. COLLECTIVISM INDIVIDUALISM INDIVIDUALISM @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
21. COLLECTIVISM INDIVIDUALISM LOW POWER DISTANCE HIGH POWER DISTANCE
22. FEMININE VALUES MASCULINE VALUES MASCULINITY @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
23. LOW UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE HIGH UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
24. LOW UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE HIGH UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE FEMININE VALUES MASCULINE VALUES
25. Education tends to amplify the dominant cultural tendencies within an individual @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
26. When interacting with someone from another culture, watch more, listen more, and speak less @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
27. Minimise use of colloquialisms, idioms and localised expressions @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
28. MONOCULTURE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
29. Misunderstandings are inevitable. Nip issues in the bud before they escalate @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
30. CULTURE § COMMUNICATION IS HARD, CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION IS EVEN HARDER § CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT FIRST, THEN PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS § HOFSTEDE’S DIMENSIONS ILLUMINATE THE CULTURAL VALUES OF COUNTRIES § DO NOT TRY AND CREATE A MONOCULTURE, IT WILL HURT IN THE LONG RUN § DISAGREEMENTS AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS WILL OCCUR, MOVE ON
31. PROCESS HOW TO COMMUNICATE REMOTELY
32. “ “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place GEORGE BERNARD SHAW @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
33. TRANSIENT PERSISTENT ASYNCHRONOUS SYNCHRONOUS EMAIL VIRTUAL MEETINGS WIKIS COLLABORATIVE DOCUMENTS WORK MANAGEMENT TOOLS INSTANT CHAT A MODEL COMMUNICATION ARCHITECTURE IN PERSON MEETINGS RECORDED VIRTUAL MEETINGS THE MAJORITY OF COMMUNICATION SHOULD OCCUR WITHIN THESE TOOLS AND CHANNELS @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
34. Codify the desired usage patterns for semi- synchronous tools. Failure do so will lead to existing behaviours being replicated @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
35. LEADERS @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
36. An engaged HR team is a wonderful asset @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
37. ORGANISATION REMOTE COMMUNICATION
38. VALUES ⇒ PRINCIPLES ⇒ BEHAVIOUR @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
39. CASE STUDY: FRAUDULENT VALUES @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
40. Define clear guidelines that codify the rules of etiquette for organisation wide communication @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
41. A company’s goals as well as its scale and maturity will drive the level of guidance required @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
42. CASE STUDY: COMMUNICATION GUIDELINES @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
43. ANNOUNCEMENTS ONE-WAY STATUS UPDATES
44. ANNOUNCEMENTS SHOULD BE... AVAILABLE REFERENCEABLE PERSISTENT @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
45. SO WHY DO WE CHOOSE EMAIL WHEN IT HAS EXACTLY ZERO OF THESE PROPERTIES? @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
46. Email is decentralized so there’s no permanent record in a permanent place everyone can see @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
47. So how can we steer use away from email? @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
48. Hi team, The NDC Sydney agenda is out and it looks great. I’m thrilled be speaking at the event again this year and sharing our journey with remote working. You can find out more about the session on the NDC website. NDC { Sydney } > Agenda > Remote Communication Thanks, Rob BREADCRUMB MENU MIRRORING THE ACCESS PATH WITHIN THE APPLICATION @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
49. Bonus Round: Pay attention to content metadata tags to improve searchability @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
50. CONTEXT TOWARDS SHARED UNDERSTANDING
51. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like bananas. “ “ Groucho Marx @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
52. A Leader’s Prerogative: Hire great people and give them the context required to enable effective distributed decision making @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
53. Effective communication requires context @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
54. Be specific around the context of the update to ensure that shared understand is achieved @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
55. START WITH WHY THE REQUIRED AMOUNT WILL DEPEND ON YOUR AUDIENCE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
56. WHY > HOW > WHAT OUR VALUES OUR PRINCIPLES OUR BEHAVIOUR @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
57. Corollary: The further from where the decision was made, the stronger the focus on the why needs to be @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
58. Short video messages are incredibly powerful @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
59. Write content when it’s convenient for you but publish when it’s convenient for your audience @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
60. EFFECTIVE VS EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
61. Communicating extraneous information between teams is waste @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
62. Over communication of information that is not germane to a team increases cognitive load @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
63. Team boundaries are critical in a remote working environment @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
64. The problem with taking the org chart at face value is that we end up trying to architect people as if they were software, neatly keeping their communication within the accepted lines TEAM TOPOLOGIES
65. TEAM TOPOLOGIES STREAM COMPLICATED SUBSYSTEM ENABLING PLATFORM @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
66. MAKING TEAM INTERACTIONS EXPLICIT X AS A SERVICE FACILITATING COLLABORATION @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
67. ORGANISATION COMMS § COMMUNICATION REQUIRES CONTEXT, SHARING THE WHY IS CRITICAL § CHOOSE CHANNELS WITH ADEQUATE BANDWIDTH FOR THE TARGET AUDIENCE § EFFECTIVENESS IS THE PRIORITY, EFFICIENCY IS AN OPTIMISATION
68. TEAM REMOTE COMMUNICATION
69. In teamwork, silence isn’t golden, ‘ “ “ John Sanford It’s deadly @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
70. The ability to communicate asynchronously is the most valuable skill a team can learn @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
71. Choose the most asynchronous channel that has the required social bandwidth to support the effective exchange of the information @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
72. The Problem Of Now @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
73. TEAM MEETINGS TWO-WAY GROUP COLLABORATION
74. Use meetings judiciously. Consider them a fallback, not the default @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
75. CERTIFY, DON’T BRIEF INCREASED FOCUS ACTIVE VS PASSIVE LEADER-LEADER INTERACTIONS SHORTER DURATION @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
76. GROUP CHAT TWO-WAY GROUP COLLABORATION
77. Newsflash! Group chat considered harmful @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
78. Group chat is like being in an all-day meeting, with random participants, and no agenda @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
79. Rule of Thumb: More than three back and forth exchanges on a design topic, then go long form @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
80. TRUST THE CATALYST FOR HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS
81. Asymmetry of information leads to an erosion of trust @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
82. A CLASSIC CASE OF INFORMATON ASYMMETRY @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
83. Remote workers polling for information updates is a strong indicator of information asymmetry @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
84. TRANSPARENCY IS THE SOLUTION MAKE WORK VISIBLE @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
85. CASE STUDY: EMAIL TRANSPARENCY @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
86. TEAM COMMS § ASYNCHRONOUS OFTEN, SYCHRONOUS SELDOM. THIS IS A SKILL! § MEETINGS ARE EXPENSIVE, SHARE THE CONTEXT UPFRONT § CHAT IS GREAT FOR QUICK EXCHANGES BUT BE WARY OF GROUP CHAT § INFORMATION SILOING ERODES TRUST. TRANSARENCY IS THE BEST DEFENCE
87. TEAM MEMBER REMOTE COMMUNICATION
88. “ “Communication – the human connection – is the key to personal and career success PAUL J MEYER @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
89. Working Out Loud Observable Work + Narrating Your Work @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
90. TEAM MEMBER COMMS @ROBDCROWLEY § MAKE YOUR WORK VISIBLE AND EXPLAIN YOUR APPROACH AND THINKING § SET CLEARING LEARNING GOALS AND LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO SHARE § BE OPEN TO FEEDBACK, IT WILL COME IN MANY FORMS!
91. BEYOND 2020 PREDICTIONS FOR FUTURE ENVIRONMENTS @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
92. Communication worsened within regions but improved across regions @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
93. The shift to remote working had inadvertently democratised communication @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
94. Hybrid working environments offer the worst of both worlds @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
95. Hybrid working environments demand that multiple colleague experiences are delivered @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
96. While companies had little time to prepare for remote working, they should consider any change to stop or change it very carefully @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
97. TAKEAWAYS @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
98. @ROBDCROWLEY | ROBDCROWLEY THANK YOU!
99. QUESTIONS @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
100. RESOURCES @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
101. § The Basecamp Guide to Internal Communication: https://basecamp.com/guides/how-we-communicate § The Gitlab Communication Handbook: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/communication/ § Hofstede Insights: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries § Stripe Email Transparency: https://stripe.com/blog/email-transparency RESOURCES @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
102. § Start With Why | Simon Sinek: https://youtu.be/u4ZoJKF_VuA RESOURCES @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
103. § Outliers | Malcolm Gladwell § To Sell Is Human | Dan Pink § The Culture Map | Erin Meyer § Turn The Ship Around | David Marquet § Team Topologies | Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais READING LIST @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY
104. § Country flag icons made by Pixel perfect from www.flaticon.com § Images source from www.pexels.com ATTRIBUTION @ROBDCROWLEY #NDCSYDNEY