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. 🥅
Here are a few suggestions on how you can avoid damaging your work or client relationships while working from remotely:
✅ 𝘼𝙙𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧. 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.
✅ 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙛 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙. 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.
✅ 𝘼𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨. 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. What’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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