So much of how we communicate at work is the same way we communicate in our personal lives: through conversations. Having and managing hard conversations is more important than ever as we move into a world where the workforce is experiencing a high degree of turnover and change, and where people are working in more, different set ups than ever before.
Over the last three weeks I've been sharing thoughts on a variety of ways to communicate and lead in a hybrid work remote/in-person work environment. These have focused how to lead and communicate, how to maintain casual and informal connections, and on how and why we collaborate and gathering with purpose.
For this last installment, I'm sharing some guidance on how to manage and have hard conversations especially around working remotely. This is consistently one of the most challenging topics for clients in my communications practice, and I want to share some thoughts with you.
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TIP 8: REASONING MATTERS: It's not enough to simply announce a policy or a new norm. People want and need to understand the reasoning behind your decisions, and ideally the process you used to get there. For example, if you are requiring work in person for a certain number of days, explain why it's necessary for your business and your team's work, what the interests are that you're balancing in making that policy, and share how you came to make the decision. Who did you talk to? What feedback did you gather? What have you noticed about what's not worked as well in the last 15 months? What makes being in an office unique and worthwhile?
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TIP 9: HARD CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WORKING REMOTELY: Hard conversations are hard because the stakes are high, there are strong emotions involved, and there's some sense of conflict or disagreement. They are often best had in-person. Each of these three dimensions is magnified when we are connected virtually, when it's harder to read body language and harder to make sure we are clear about people's intentions.
The more you can come to a place of shared purpose and mutual respect the more productive these conversations will be. And the more you have them, the easier they will be.
A few tips for how to have conversations, especially about leave and flexibility around different ways of working are:
Be clear about your intent and honest about your motivations.
Be respectful and candid.
Be specific about what you're seeking or what you're requiring and crucially, the reasoning behind it, and the impact it might have on you, the team and the business.
Be actionable in sharing feedback about ways of working and expectations.
Make it feel safe for the other person to share their path or their views. This includes trying to understand where they might be coming from and what arguments they might try to make.
Listen to learn, not to be right.
Repeat back what you're hearing to make sure you've heard clearly and understood what the other person is asking for.
Bears repeating: Focus on making any feedback specific and actionable. The more specific you can be and the more actionable you are the easier the feedback is to give, to receive and adopt, and the less likely it is to be rooted in bias.
Clarify actions and outcomes.