Improving Remote Work Communication Part I

When I launched this company I worked 100% remote with clients. As business grew, services expanded, and the budget allowed, I was able to begin meeting with clients and getting to work with them 1:1. Suddenly I find myself back to remote work, communicating with clients via phone, email, and text.

My return to working completely remote has caused me to reevaluate how I communicate and constantly work to improve communication methods.

This measure is one of my personal self improvement goals during Covid-19, and if you are anything like me, we all need to be careful with how we communicate to others because the non-verbal ques such as posture, inflections, and expressions are not available all the time. The last thing I, or any of you want, is come off as curt, passive-aggressive, or ambiguous. Tone can be construed differently by different people. ๐Ÿฅ…

Here are a few suggestions on how you can avoid damaging your work or client relationships while working from remotely:

โœ… ๐˜ผ๐™™๐™Ÿ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™™๐™š๐™ง. If you are emailing a close colleague, you can be more informal and casual. They most likely know your quick reply means you are in a hurry or efficient.

โœ… ๐™‹๐™ง๐™ค๐™ค๐™› ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™™. How many times have you read your email or text and thought, "That doesn't sound like how I meant for it to sound." Reread what you wrote to make sure it expresses your thoughts correctly.

โœ… ๐˜ผ๐™ซ๐™ค๐™ž๐™™ ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™œ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™™๐™จ. Think of how you feel when you read an email or text like, "Your solution didn't work and we've got a problem." Defensiveness takes over. Consider rewording it to: "We have an issue and need your help."

These are just a few tips and focus on communicating via email, text, and messenger. Whatโ€™s great is these same guidelines also apply to corresponding with recruiters via email and I cover them with clients in the Interview Training and Job Search Training I deliver.

In Part 2 of this series, we will be covering improving remote communication via phone and video conference.

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