Remote team communication is one of the top challenges to solve as you make the transition.
It isn’t as simple as switching all your conversations to digital. When you are co-located, people talk to each other by default. But in remote teams, they don’t. In fact, if you don’t communicate on a remote team, you don’t exist.
Mike Knoop, co-founder at Zapier says, “The biggest downside you have to solve with remote work is communication. Everything else gets pretty easy.”
But to get good at remote team communication, you can’t just find little hacks here and there; you need to take it to a whole new level.
Remote team communication is fundamentally different
Remote communication must be intentional, planned, and organized. It switches from primarily talking to writing. Claire Lew, CEO of Know Your Team, points out that remote company cultures are “write-first”, while co-located teams are “speak-first”.
DHH, CTO at Basecamp, said, “Being a good writer is an essential part of being a good remote worker.” You will not succeed at remote work unless you write well and have good communication practices.
Virtual team communication challenges
There are three unique challenges that leaders must solve when they think about how to communicate with remote teams. The solutions aren’t easy or simple. They take constant adjustment and diligence. You never solve the problem fully, but only find a better way to solve it than you did before.
As a manager of a remote team, your job is to provide the best framework to solve these challenges, and constantly adapt it to new situations.
For each challenge, leaders need to set ground rules and set the example. Ground rules for how to communicate with remote teams are very important, but nothing matters more than demonstrating healthy communication practices.
Remote team communication challenge #1: Response time
These are the expectations for how quickly a message is responded to. But, it’s much more complex than it seems.
At the heart is the difference between synchronous and asynchronous communication. Synchronous means happening in real-time (like a live conversation). Asynchronous means people can jump in and out of the conversation (like a Reddit page).
Synchronous communication is great because it gives a sense of instant alignment. The real-time nature also is important for remote team members who might feel lonely throughout the day. Decisions can happen much faster; a ten minute phone call can replace three days of email exchanges.
However, synchronous communication is really demanding on your time and attention. If your conversations are text based, you’re probably drowning in notifications all day long.
Asynchronous communication is a calmer approach. People can take time to respond. It also encourages a slow thinking mode, which can be very helpful. Asynchronous communication doesn’t force your whole team to be active at the same time, which helps with time zones and personal preferences.
However, asynchronous conversations can elongate discussions and make people feel disconnected.
Who wins in a fight?
Communication in most organizations defaults to speed, which means synchronous wins.
Solving the response time challenges
Ok, so video calls are definitely synchronous.
Snail mail is definitely asynchronous.
But what about messaging? Email? Discussion boards?
Welllllll… it depends, right? Email seems obviously asynchronous, but remember the days of constantly refreshing your inbox and having one line messages go back and forth?
Or a chat tool like Slack seems like it is synchronous. Instant desktop notifications scream that you need to reply NOW! But other features like Status, Do Not Disturb, or Remind Me Later, suggest that it’s also trying to be asynchronous.
Remote teams need both options, and most digital communication tools can be used both ways. That’s why it’s so important for remote team leaders to set the ground rules for each tool.
- Which tool (singular) will you use for synchronous and asynchronous communication?
- Is there a particular window of time when you should expect a shorter response time than others?
- How will you handle synchronous communication for those who work in different time zones?
As an example, here are Buffer’s rules for how they use Slack.
Remote team leaders also need to set the example for good communication practices.
- How quickly do you respond to different communication types?
- Are you unconsciously rewarding people who respond faster than others?
- Have you ever apologized for interrupting someone when they respond too quickly?
Remote team communication challenge #2: Durability
Some remote team communication needs to have a long shelf life and be quickly accessible. Other communication is ephemeral and fleeting.
Think about all your archived email conversations, text messages, and chats. If they all were suddenly deleted, how would that affect you? Hopefully not too much. Email, text, and chats are all typically fleeting communication.
Conversely, losing all your documents about policies, core decisions, and important meetings would more negatively impact your work.
Remote teams generate a lot of communication, and a great manager needs to solve the problem of what needs to be placed in a highly durable format, and what can be tossed away.
Who wins in a fight?
Organizations default to ease, so fleeting communication usually wins. That’s why we tend to just leave important information in inboxes or messaging channels.
Solving the durability challenge
You need to help your team clearly distinguish between the two types, and where durable remote communication should be stored.
Set the ground rules. Get your team used to asking the question, “Will I need this later?”. If the answer is “yes”, then you want to pull that out and store it somewhere else. This might be a Google document in a shared folder, or on a remote communication tool that is more geared towards durable communication like Notion or Coda.
Set the example. When you finish a meeting, write up the notes and put them in a durable place that can be easily searched.
Remote team communication challenge #3: Context
Think about the difference between a telegram (if you kids know what that is) and a face-to-face conversation.
The telegram provides only words to convey a one-way message.
A conversation includes:
- Tone of voice
- Inflection
- Volume
- Gestures
- Facial expressions
- Real-time reactions to the other person
Face-to-face conversations are high-context communication because they have lots of additional cues to help encode the correct message.
Remote team communication primarily uses digital tools, most of which sit between telegrams and conversations. Video-calling is very high-context, while an SMS is fairly low-context, although emojis and GIFs are good to add more context.
Who wins in a fight?
If the default for organizations is speed and ease, then low-context communication usually wins.
Solving the context challenge
Have you ever heard someone talk about an argument they had while trading text messages? Many of those conversations deescalate when people actually talk to each other on the phone or in person. Text-only conversations leave a lot to be (mis)interpreted and if you don’t assume good intent, you can easily read bad things into what someone said.
High-context communication is best when there is a chance for misunderstanding, or the message can be highly emotional, especially for virtual team communication. Situations include:
- Giving feedback
- Meetings
- Addressing touchy subjects
However, high-context communication is not very durable and often needs to be followed up with something written.
Set the ground rules. Encourage people to switch to high-context tools when the situation starts to escalate. Turn video on for meetings to give more context for others.
Set the example. When you sense a text conversation is about to get heated, ask, “Can I call you about this now?”
Level up your communication
If you don’t do anything, your communication is probably going to be dominated by synchronous, fleeting, and low-context communication. This is good for doing work quickly, but sets your remote team up for failure in the end. Productivity on remote teams requires you to make a change.
Digital leaders have to put in the work to offer solutions that understand the nature of virtual team communication.
Set the ground rules, but most importantly set the example and seek to improve the way you communicate remotely.
Remote team communication is one of the top challenges to solve as you make the transition.
It isn’t as simple as switching all your conversations to digital. When you are co-located, people talk to each other by default. But in remote teams, they don’t. In fact, if you don’t communicate on a remote team, you don’t exist.
Mike Knoop, co-founder at Zapier says, “The biggest downside you have to solve with remote work is communication. Everything else gets pretty easy.”
But to get good at remote team communication, you can’t just find little hacks here and there; you need to take it to a whole new level.
Remote team communication is fundamentally different
Remote communication must be intentional, planned, and organized. It switches from primarily talking to writing. Claire Lew, CEO of Know Your Team, points out that remote company cultures are “write-first”, while co-located teams are “speak-first”.
DHH, CTO at Basecamp, said, “Being a good writer is an essential part of being a good remote worker.” You will not succeed at remote work unless you write well and have good communication practices.
Virtual team communication challenges
There are three unique challenges that leaders must solve when they think about how to communicate with remote teams. The solutions aren’t easy or simple. They take constant adjustment and diligence. You never solve the problem fully, but only find a better way to solve it than you did before.
As a manager of a remote team, your job is to provide the best framework to solve these challenges, and constantly adapt it to new situations.
For each challenge, leaders need to set ground rules and set the example. Ground rules for how to communicate with remote teams are very important, but nothing matters more than demonstrating healthy communication practices.
Remote team communication challenge #1: Response time
These are the expectations for how quickly a message is responded to. But, it’s much more complex than it seems.
At the heart is the difference between synchronous and asynchronous communication. Synchronous means happening in real-time (like a live conversation). Asynchronous means people can jump in and out of the conversation (like a Reddit page).
Synchronous communication is great because it gives a sense of instant alignment. The real-time nature also is important for remote team members who might feel lonely throughout the day. Decisions can happen much faster; a ten minute phone call can replace three days of email exchanges.
However, synchronous communication is really demanding on your time and attention. If your conversations are text based, you’re probably drowning in notifications all day long.
Asynchronous communication is a calmer approach. People can take time to respond. It also encourages a slow thinking mode, which can be very helpful. Asynchronous communication doesn’t force your whole team to be active at the same time, which helps with time zones and personal preferences.
However, asynchronous conversations can elongate discussions and make people feel disconnected.
Who wins in a fight?
Communication in most organizations defaults to speed, which means synchronous wins.
Solving the response time challenges
Ok, so video calls are definitely synchronous.
Snail mail is definitely asynchronous.
But what about messaging? Email? Discussion boards?
Welllllll… it depends, right? Email seems obviously asynchronous, but remember the days of constantly refreshing your inbox and having one line messages go back and forth?
Or a chat tool like Slack seems like it is synchronous. Instant desktop notifications scream that you need to reply NOW! But other features like Status, Do Not Disturb, or Remind Me Later, suggest that it’s also trying to be asynchronous.
Remote teams need both options, and most digital communication tools can be used both ways. That’s why it’s so important for remote team leaders to set the ground rules for each tool.
- Which tool (singular) will you use for synchronous and asynchronous communication?
- Is there a particular window of time when you should expect a shorter response time than others?
- How will you handle synchronous communication for those who work in different time zones?
As an example, here are Buffer’s rules for how they use Slack.
Remote team leaders also need to set the example for good communication practices.
- How quickly do you respond to different communication types?
- Are you unconsciously rewarding people who respond faster than others?
- Have you ever apologized for interrupting someone when they respond too quickly?
Remote team communication challenge #2: Durability
Some remote team communication needs to have a long shelf life and be quickly accessible. Other communication is ephemeral and fleeting.
Think about all your archived email conversations, text messages, and chats. If they all were suddenly deleted, how would that affect you? Hopefully not too much. Email, text, and chats are all typically fleeting communication.
Conversely, losing all your documents about policies, core decisions, and important meetings would more negatively impact your work.
Remote teams generate a lot of communication, and a great manager needs to solve the problem of what needs to be placed in a highly durable format, and what can be tossed away.
Who wins in a fight?
Organizations default to ease, so fleeting communication usually wins. That’s why we tend to just leave important information in inboxes or messaging channels.
Solving the durability challenge
You need to help your team clearly distinguish between the two types, and where durable remote communication should be stored.
Set the ground rules. Get your team used to asking the question, “Will I need this later?”. If the answer is “yes”, then you want to pull that out and store it somewhere else. This might be a Google document in a shared folder, or on a remote communication tool that is more geared towards durable communication like Notion or Coda.
Set the example. When you finish a meeting, write up the notes and put them in a durable place that can be easily searched.
Remote team communication challenge #3: Context
Think about the difference between a telegram (if you kids know what that is) and a face-to-face conversation.
The telegram provides only words to convey a one-way message.
A conversation includes:
- Tone of voice
- Inflection
- Volume
- Gestures
- Facial expressions
- Real-time reactions to the other person
Face-to-face conversations are high-context communication because they have lots of additional cues to help encode the correct message.
Remote team communication primarily uses digital tools, most of which sit between telegrams and conversations. Video-calling is very high-context, while an SMS is fairly low-context, although emojis and GIFs are good to add more context.
Who wins in a fight?
If the default for organizations is speed and ease, then low-context communication usually wins.
Solving the context challenge
Have you ever heard someone talk about an argument they had while trading text messages? Many of those conversations deescalate when people actually talk to each other on the phone or in person. Text-only conversations leave a lot to be (mis)interpreted and if you don’t assume good intent, you can easily read bad things into what someone said.
High-context communication is best when there is a chance for misunderstanding, or the message can be highly emotional, especially for virtual team communication. Situations include:
- Giving feedback
- Meetings
- Addressing touchy subjects
However, high-context communication is not very durable and often needs to be followed up with something written.
Set the ground rules. Encourage people to switch to high-context tools when the situation starts to escalate. Turn video on for meetings to give more context for others.
Set the example. When you sense a text conversation is about to get heated, ask, “Can I call you about this now?”
Level up your communication
If you don’t do anything, your communication is probably going to be dominated by synchronous, fleeting, and low-context communication. This is good for doing work quickly, but sets your remote team up for failure in the end. Productivity on remote teams requires you to make a change.
Digital leaders have to put in the work to offer solutions that understand the nature of virtual team communication.
Set the ground rules, but most importantly set the example and seek to improve the way you communicate remotely.
