Keep it SIMPLE to Communicate WELL

To connect, inform, and inspire, keep it simple. 

To communicate well, simplify. 

The most powerful, timeless wisdom is conveyed in few words, simply.  

The most powerful advertising, the most influential messages, the most easily understood communications are elegantly simple. 

At work, the most efficient and productive way to communicate is to be simple. Too often we make things far more complicated and complex than they should, or need, to be. And that results in lost productivity and increased frustration.

One recent communications survey showed that business leaders estimate their teams lose an average of 7.47 hours a week to poor communication. That's nearly a full work day. Often our communication is poor because we don't slow down and take the time, or do the work, to think carefully about what we need to convey, and do it simply.

When we lead and when we speak, resist the urge to make something more complicated than it needs to be. Sometimes simple and obvious is RIGHT.

Simple doesn't mean lacking nuance or context. It doesn't mean shying away from sophistication or complexity. In fact too often, some people -- even some of the smartest and most thoughtful leaders I know -- over-index on short and simple on social media when what's really needed is more nuance, less black-and-white and more shades of grey. 

More Twitter and LinkedIn wisdom isn't what we need more of in a world of distraction and media saturation. We need more thoughtful, clear, distilled conversation.

Simplifying DOES mean doing your best to distill your thoughts and ideas into shorter, more organized words and patterns that are easily understood and internalized by others. 

Somewhat counter-intuitively, keeping things simple isn't easy. It's hard to keep your thoughts succinct and without unnecessary complexity.  I know that in my own writing and speaking, when I tend to get really wordy that's a signal to me that I haven't quite sorted out in my own head what I'm trying to convey. The length and the wordiness conveys confusion because, well, maybe I'm still a little confused.

In your own writing and speaking a few practical tips to keep it simple:

• Limit yourself to one main point per communication (at most, two). We've all been on the receiving end of an email that is paragraphs long and contains multiple announcements, priorities or value propositions. People's eyes glaze over, or the skim or just delete. And you've missed the chance to convey anything that's important. Ask yourself: "In one sentence, what do I want my audience to feel, to know, or to do?" And then be disciplined in keeping your communication to that.

• Use simple, easy-to-understand language. Limit the use of jargon and terms of art, even if you're communicating with an audience you know well and you think will know the terms.

• Use bullet points and lists. I love bullet points -- they are a self-disciplining mechanism to have just one key fact or point you're conveying, and they make it easier to be more organized and for readers to consume.

• Use headlines. Use written and verbal headlines in your written and verbal communications. It helps your audience follow you and helps you keep yourself honest about sticking to your main point.

• Limit your explanation of context -- be judicious. Ask yourself, "What does my audience really need to know in this situation?" Not -- what do I want to tell them?

• Write it out. Especially when it comes to reflecting on major milestones, transitions, and important initiatives, take the time to write out what you're trying to share -- and keep asking yourself: what is the one thing I really want my audience to know, to feel, or to do based on what I'm sharing?

We work through all of these topics and others like them in our Leaderships Communications at Scale workshops. The same recent communication study I mentioned above revealed that 72% of business leaders say that their teams have struggled with communication over the last year. If you're one of them, reach out. Let's get better together.

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2022 COMMUNICATIONS AND LEADERSHIP OFFERINGS

• COACHING: If you or someone you know would like to explore leadership and career transitions or how to communicate more effectively, I'm taking on a couple additional coaching clients this winter. This is for people ready to do some work and exploration around professional and personal development over a few months. Reach out or feel free to connect me and we can chat more.

• COMMUNICATION SKILLS: I'm continuing to offer two interactive workshops tailored for teams around Leadership Communication at Scale and Having and Managing Hard Conversations. These are a few hours long and can be done virtually or in-person. If you're thinking about communication skills as a learning edge for 2022, this is a great place to start.

Recent praise from our January 2022 leadership communication workshops:

"This session was GREAT! So many notes!! It’s time to reflect and discuss/recommend to the team I work in and my peers."

"Amazing session today and I really appreciated the different tools/framing. It's super helpful as I work towards becoming a people manager again."

"Thank you for the session - it was so helpful. I really related to what you said about, "When I am unclear about the purpose of why I'm sharing I tend to get wordy. The tools you shared will really help me there."

Communication Superpower Skill: The Effective Check In

Happy New Year! For many of us, the start of a new year is a time of reflection and intention-setting. Whether setting resolutions for the year ahead or coming up with a set of self-reflection questions or standards we set for ourselves and our teams, the practice of taking a step back and checking in with our lives and our work on a big scale is a powerful life skill and an effective communication tool.

This practice is useful when it's done on a more granular level, and more regularly, too. The practice of a regular check-in is a powerful tool any leader can - and should -- use, both for ourselves and for the teams we work with.

I start every coaching session and every workshop I lead by asking, "How are you feeling today? What are one or two words that describe how you're showing up to our session today?" 

Simply checking in -- asking yourself and your teams "How are you feeling today?"  --  gives us a lot of useful information:   

First, it lets me know how my audience is doing. What's the mindset and the approach most people in my audience are bringing before we dive into this meeting or this presentation? If everyone is feeling stressed and tired, I might calibrate the timing and content of my message so as not to add to the stress, and to make sure people know that as I leader I care about them and want to help them feel good about being at work. If everyone is excited and enthusiastic, that might require a different way of engaging.

Second, the check-in data lets me know how *I* am doing.  The way we communicate, and the ways we show up as leaders, are colored significantly by our own feelings and emotions. If I am excited and well rested I am likely to come across differently than if I am distracted, worried or anxious. Knowing how I am feeling helps me calibrate for myself what I say, when, and how. Being honest with oneself about how you're showing up makes you far better at communicating and leading with confidence.

Third, regularly checking in builds the muscle memory in our brains. It helps us and our teams make better moment-to-moment choices, recalibrate and be more nimble and responsive to each other, and it normalizes a sense of vulnerability and openness. The more we are able to be honest with ourselves and each other about how we're doing, the easier it is over time to communicate with confidence, authenticity, and clarity.

And last, regularly checking in is a means of showing care for those we work with. At a time when many people are leaving jobs and managers because of a culture where they feel over-worked and under-appreciated, this is a great, low-stakes way of keeping a good, regular pulse on how our team is doing. If everyone is always tired and distracted, that's different than if most people are generally present and happy, with the occasional day of being stressed or tired.  Having a view over time helps us to be in better touch with our team and how we are feeling, and to calibrate how we communicate far more effectively. 
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CAVEAT: One big challenge to checking in well: most of us were not raised in a way where we were taught to be comfortable talking about our emotions, and especially not in the workplace. In fact most of us don't have a wide or deep vocabulary with which to talk about our emotions. In fact, in a recent Unlocking Us podcast, emotions researcher and author Brené Brown shared that her own research of more than 7000 adults showed that most could name just three emotions: happy, sad, pissed off.  

Yet, when we have the language to describe our emotions and experiences, it's empowering. Since language is the shared basis for how we communicate -- how we find common ground with, and understand each other -- the better we get at naming our emotions, the more likely we are to find ourselves in a place of choice and are able to relate and communicate more effectively. And we are better able to find compassion and empathy for -- to simply relate better -- to those we work with. 

Four resources I love for helping increase our emotional vocabulary:

• Basic: The Feelings Wheel: Specific words arrayed in a wheel that describe the nuance of feelings, organized around the 7 basic emotional states: happy, sad, disgusted, angry, fearful, bad, surprised.

• Slightly less basic: Honestly Speaking: Self reflection is the basis for effective communication, and includes specific exercises and a communication situation grid to help us formulate how to communicate based on how we and our audiences are feeling.

• More advanced: Atlas of the Heart, Brene Brown: An in-depth look at 87 emotions and experiences common to the human experience, and a framework for cultivating meaningful connection.

• Even more advanced: Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, John Koenig: A creative dictionary that defines common emotions in new words that we haven't previously had English words for.

So as we dive into 2022, how might you check in with yourself and your teams?  What might you learn about yourself, your colleagues, and what do you notice over time?

Let me know how I can support you.

AzureNotes 2021 Highlights

As 2021 comes to a close, I'm reflecting on the year that's been and above all, am filled with a sense of gratitude. I am grateful to be here and to do this work with so many of you, to seek better ways to lead, to connect, to communicate in this crazy, ever-changing world we live in.

Here are the five most popular AzureNotes from 2021 -- four posts and our four-part series on hybrid work.

Thanks for all of the great feedback and suggestions. Keep them coming.

AZURENOTES 2021 HIGHLIGHTS:

The Superpower of Being Direct

Six New Guiding Culture Principles

Leaders: Speak the Truth

Conscious Relating and Communicating with Purpose

Hybrid Work Series:

• Communicating and Leading in a Hybrid Work Environment

• Master Casual Conversations at Work As Offices Re-Open

• Working Consciously and Gathering Purposefully as we Return to Work

• Having and Managing Hard Conversations in a World of Remote Working

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PART OF THE GREAT RESIGNATION? I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU.
If you’re leaving your job as part of the great resignation to go off on your own, and you’re interested in working on issues around leadership, culture and communication in the future, I’d love to hear from you.

The great resignation is real, and forecast to continue into 2022. Lots of people are leaving for many reasons, but high among them are dissatisfaction with internal culture and communication in their current/former jobs. Big change is on the horizon and we are the ones who get to shape what it looks like.

If you want to be a part of making a shift, I’m putting together a group of great thinkers and doers. Let’s collaborate, learn from each other, and make some positive change in 2022. Ping me and let’s chat.

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HIGH-IMPACT, INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATIONS WORKSHOPS
In 2022, I am leading two different communications and leadership workshops for organizations globally. Each of these is specially tailored to your organization and is interactive, offered in-person or via ZOOM. They last anywhere from 90 mins to three hours.

I've hosted about 50 of these over the last year, and would love to bring them to your organization.

• Leadership Communication at Scale, and Mastering Conflict and Hard Conversations

• Leading and Communicating Successfully in a Hybrid (Part Virtual, Part In-Person) Work Environment

Praise for our workshops:

"This workshop was AMAZING - thank you so much for bringing it to us. Best 2 hours I've spent in training all year. Efficient, effective and Andrew was incredibly personable and easy to learn from."

"Thank you for training -- we received a really positive response from it and people loved how you made it so relatable."

"This was great. I wish every senior leader in our company would go through this training." 

Let me know if you'd like to talk about how we might bring some of these ideas and practices into your own work. 
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Wishing you and yours a very happy and healthy New Year.

The Superpower of Being Direct

Just Be Direct.

One of the areas I've been working on in my own life (professionally and otherwise) in the last year is being comfortable and confident in speaking my mind.  

This doesn't mean blurting out every thought that comes into my mind, especially without regard to who I'm blurting it out to or how it might come across.

What it does mean, though, is being direct.

Have you ever been in a conversation or meeting and someone says what's been on everyone's mind? What was your reaction? Probably some mix of relief and wishing you'd spoken up. 

I was talking to a friend earlier this week who's been working on something similar. He's built a successful new business during the pandemic and created a deeply meaningful community of people around him, and he attributes a lot of it to being direct, to speaking his mind, and putting people first.

Being direct is one of the most critical ways we can all improve how we communicate. It's one of the most important ways we can all relate better to each other -- how we put people first, and get out of our own ways. And paradoxically, it's one of the best ways to find a sense of self-confidence in a time when many of us are looking for more of it.

Often when we aren't direct it's usually because of one or two reasons:

• Either we haven't quite sorted in our head precisely what we're trying to say. Maybe we're confused, unsure, or speaking just to be heard rather than sharing an idea, specific information, or tangible feedback.

• And/OR, usually it's because we have some discomfort with the emotion around how what we say might make the other person feel. Maybe we're indirect because we're scared of hurting someone's feelings or of how they might react.

But I think being indirect really is a disservice to everybody. And it ultimately risks more hurt feelings and alienation than if we'd just been up front from the start.

People -- each of us -- ultimately wants to know where we stand.

When we are indirect, it increases the risk of misunderstanding and confusion. It also increases the distance between me and the other person -- if I am having a hard time being direct, it will definitely seem that way to others, and I will undermine my own credibility and respect with the other person.

When we're indirect, we are making the person on the receiving end of our communication do twice the work:  they have to try to discern what we are actually trying to day, they have to manage OUR own obvious emotional discomfort with sharing what we are saying, and they then have to manage their own reaction and feelings.  That's not a recipe for a well-balanced personal relationship or an effective business relationship.

When we're indirect, it's also an implicit sign of disrespect: it can come across as though we somehow don't think the other person we're in communication with can handle the truth or what we're saying. And that undermines our relationship and our own credibility and trust.

Be Direct.

The more direct we can be, the more authentic we will be:

• The more real and relatable we'll come across to others, and the better foundation of an effective working relationship we'll have -- because we have ultimately built trust and credibility and connection.

• The more time we've saved, more efficiency we've enabled.

• The more everyone knows where we stand.

• The more of a sense of relief and confidence we will have. It's much easier to be direct in the long run because we are not padding our language, holding things back, trying to come across as someone or something we are not.

We can be direct without being rude:

• To be direct, put the main point in a sentence or two right at the start of your communication. What is this email about? What is this conversation's main purpose? This requires a bit of self-discipline at the start, and saves you a lot of time in the long run.

• And make clear your intentions. Is it to clarify? To share feedback? To simply share how you feel and how you hope others will feel? What is your intent?

• Listen fully to the reactions. Listen to learn, not to be right.

The more we can be direct -- to really share what we're thinking -- the more power we find in our own voice, and the more power our voice holds with others. When we speak what's on our minds and in our hearts, it conveys a level of self-confidence AND vulnerability that is inspiring and that people are attracted to.

It also clears up space in our own minds to focus on what really matters, what's most aligned with your priorities, goals, and really who we are as leaders and friends.


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HIGH-IMPACT, INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATIONS WORKSHOPS
Heading into the first half of 2022, I am leading two different communications and leadership workshops for companies globally. Each of these is specially tailored to your organization and is interactive, offered in-person or via ZOOM. They last anywhere from 90 mins to three hours.

I've hosted about 50 of these over the last year, and would love to bring them to your organization.

• Leadership Communication at Scale, and Mastering Conflict and Hard Conversations

• Leading and Communicating Successfully in a Hybrid (Part Virtual, Part In-Person) Work Environment

Recent praise for our workshops:

"This workshop was AMAZING - thank you so much for bringing it to us. Best 2 hours I've spent in training all year. Efficient, effective and Andrew was incredibly personable and easy to learn from."

"Thank you for training -- we received a really positive response from it and people loved how you made it so relatable."

"This was great. I wish every senior leader in our company would go through this training." 

Let me know if you'd like to talk about how we might bring some of these ideas and practices into your own work. 

Navigating Conversations over the Holidays with Confidence in a Post Pandemic World

Two years ago at around this time, I shared some thoughts on how to navigate challenging conversations over the holidays. As many of us prepare to perhaps gather with family (biological or chosen) for the first time since then, I wanted to share some thoughts about how to approach these gatherings after a period of so much change.

Challenging conversations may not ever go away, but how we show up in them may have changed, and so it’s worth revisiting here.

How we communicate with intention can make them positive experiences, rather than just something we endure. 
 
A DIFFERENT MINDSET
Start with the idea that communication is more about the relationships we build than the words we speak. Certainly words and precision with language matters. But what matters more is viewing how we communicate as a way of seeking to find common ground with those we communicate with – whether at the Thanksgiving table, over FaceTime, or over text.

It’s less about pushing out an idea or getting something off your chest, and more trying to do our best to help people hear what we want them to hear. That requires being honest, brave, and vulnerable, which can be especially hard when it comes to family or relatives.
 
The political landscape has changed, and many of our own relationships with health and family have changed. The last 18 months has shown a spotlight on how important it is to be more explicit about communicating and gathering, in ways we maybe took for granted previously.

This time has also made many of us reflect in a more purposeful way about what matters, who matters, and how we want to show up. And it’s given us permission to be more direct and explicit in ways we never were, or never had to be, before. And it’s forced us to, in some ways, go back to basics for how we listen, speak, and show up around others.

NEW TIPS

• Start with gratitude. Recognizing what you’re thankful for, naming it for yourself explicitly, has been proven to create more of a sense of safety, comfort, and connection with others. And it's infectious.

• Frame conversations as debates rather than disagreements. A debate signals that you’re open to changing your mind and open to feedback, which encourages others to be in conversation with you. Framing a conflict as a disagreement is more likely to feel personal and make us feel threatened and defensive, which shuts conversations down.

• Agree to terms of the debate. If you’re hosting a gathering, it’s ok to communicate directly in advance what topics of conversation are off limits. And, make an effort to set expectations explicitly for what you want the conversations or the gathering to feel like. This could include having topics or questions ready and initiating these conversations early in your gathering.

• Be clear about - and share - the reasoning behind your decisions. Many of us are making choices based on our health, which is personal and in many cases private. Maybe someone isn’t invited to Thanksgiving because she or he hasn’t been vaccinated. Maybe we don’t feel comfortable traveling or don’t want to participate. Whatever it is, the last 18 months has given us permission to be more direct and communicate our choices less out of a sense of obligation and more out of what we feel comfortable with for us and those closest to us. When we do, try to explain the rationale behind your decision. This helps people feel like your choices are not purely personal, and even if others may disagree, help them to understand and still respect where you are coming from.

• Center yourself. The simple act of pausing, taking a deep breath, has a direct effect on calming your nervous system and helping pull yourself out of the fight/flight mode that many of us default to in challenging situations. Before you arrive, before you speak, try to name how you’re feeling, what position you’re starting from, and name how you want the best version of yourself to show up.

 
For my part, I’m excited to be hosting 10 of my closest friends in my home for Thanksgiving dinner next week. We are going to have a variety of dishes, some traditional and some less so, many vegetarian-friendly, and we’ll play a few games. I am really grateful to be able to gather again together in my home, and for so many blessings in my life -- those I see and those I don't. 

Conscious Relating

The last 18 months have really held a magnifying glass up to how each of us relates and communicates with others. Nothing like stress, zoom boxes, and global reckonings with deeply embedded social ills to make us confront directly how each of us shows up and speaks with others.

Especially at work, but in all aspects of our lives, how we communicate and how we lead has to be rooted in the idea of connecting with others. Else it's really just noise. In the communications workshops I have developed and lead, I often say "communication is more about the relationships you build than the words you speak."  

How do you connect, how do you relate to others, to build a sense of connection and a culture of inclusion? By stepping out of our habits and thought loops and stepping into relating more consciously. 

At a recent immersive leadership program I participated in, we talked about the concept of Conscious Relating. In the formulation we worked with, there are 5 commitments each of us makes to relate, communicate, lead more consciously. Each of these commitments are the foundational core concepts of so much of the work around communicating as a leader working effectively in a hybrid work environment.

So what are these five commitments?

1. I commit to taking full responsibility for my well-being, and I commit to helping others take full responsibility for theirs.  This is important because taking full responsibility means 100 percent....not 80 percent or not 150 percent. We want to take our own, and help others feel  a sense of ownership and agency over theirs. 

2. I commit to grow in self-awareness. Curiosity is a way of learning. This is about being curious about ourselves, our own habits and our own concepts of self identity (watch out for "I am ..." statements), and to come to conversations from a place of curiosity rather than certainty.  

3. I commit to allowing grace. To work with what is. This is really about the power of attention. We get used to the push, the hustle, and the frenetic pace, we really don't notice what's happening around us. When we do, it gives us perspective on ourselves, on others, and on where we want to end up.

4. I commit to seeing others as allies an equals. This doesn't mean you have to like everything about everybody or be everybody's best friend. It's about seeing the worth, the human-ness in everyone -- and resisting our very common urge to put ourselves above or below others in how we relate. Everyone has something to offer. What is it?

5. I commit to expressing myself with honesty, and to be someone others can express to honestly. So much of communication and leadership is about relating. It's about credibility, reliability, and relatability. Without being honest with ourselves and others, and without creating and environment where people can be honest with us, we create more of a disconnect and fail to find the common ground which is what we seek to achieve when we lead and communicate.

I'd love to hear what you think. Do these commitments resonate with you? 

Thanks to Janet Stone for introducing these concepts so eloquently.

Having and Managing Hard Conversations at Work Post-COVID

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.

Working Consciously and Gathering with Purpose in a Post-COVID Work Environment

One of the great opportunities we have coming out of the last 15 months is we get to choose how we re-emerge, re-engage, and how we lead and work. 

We can either rush right back to the way things were, the way we always used to operate -- or we can choose to do something different. We can choose to make a change in how we lead, communicate, and collaborate.

Right now is a potent time to ask:

• What are the lessons we've drawn from the last 15 months and how should we act accordingly?

• What is the purpose behind gathering and how do I want people to feel?

Over the last two weeks I shared the first installments in a month-long series of tips for how to lead and communicate in a new hybrid remote/in-person work world and how to maintain casual and informal connections that are so much of the glue that binds us at work. 

This week I'm focusing on choosing HOW and WHY we COLLABORATE and GATHER. Whether you're working remote-first or some hybrid version, how and when we come together in person -- and what we do when we're together, requires a more sophisticated, deliberate approach than we've had before.

As a reminder, gathering is any time people come together --  for a meeting, a conference, a workshop, a training, or informal coffees, social events, and team-building opportunities.

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TIP 6: MAKE WORK ABOUT CONNECTION AND COLLABORATION, NOT JUST OUTPUT: How can you make work not feel like it's just about output and results, but about connection and collaboration?  People want to feel like they belong and are empowered to do their best work and make meaningful contributions. Remote work has necessarily meant a lot of focus on work and output.

Getting back to some in-person connection gives us a chance to think: what really makes being in an office unique and worthwhile? How can we be explicit about the types of connection and collaboration that are worthwhile, special, and worth having?  Related, are there ways you can empower people to own their own schedules?  Can you provide guidance to people about what kinds of work you want them to do in-person versus which they can do at home?  What kind of work must be done in a meeting, and what work can be done without a meeting?  Treating gathering and meeting as a precious, valuable, expensive commodity may help re-prioritize how we work and collaborate.

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TIP 7: BE MORE DELIBERATE ABOUT BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER: In a world where people have a choice about where and when they work, it's important as leaders to be deliberate about what we do when we gather in person.  What makes gathering together in person necessary or important?

Here are my four pillars for leaders to anchor in whenever gathering in person: 

• INTENTION: SHARED AND KNOWN. There should be a shared purpose and it should be known by all participants. If you can't articulate and share the intention behind requiring an in-person meeting or event, re-think and re-assess.

• CONNECTION: DELIBERATE AND PERSONAL. It should be deliberate and personal. Connection in and of itself is a worthwhile purpose for gathering. But, don't just assume that putting people in a room together, especially after 15 months of pandemic, automatically results in meaningful connection. Be deliberate about how you encourage and cultivate connection, through the content and activities you share to the ways you seat people, to the expectations you set. The more personal you can be the better.

• COLLABORATION: USEFUL AND INCLUSIVE. Bringing people together at work is often done so people can collaborate with each other. So they can learn from each other. Collaborating requires a shared set of clearly-defined goals and ideally a shared process for how people can work together. Collaboration needs to be inclusive. Design processes and projects you want people to collaborate on in a way that intentionally includes everyone.

• INSPIRATION: EMPATHY, EMOTION, DIRECTION. Inspiration comes to us from so many places. At work, the most common and powerful way to inspire, especially now, is through a clear direction toward some inspired future, and through empathy and emotion. What are the feelings you're trying to elicit in your colleagues? What excites them? What might make them feel cared for? Think: honest and real connections and a broader purpose.

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The world of hybrid working is here to stay. Some companies are remote-first, some are in-person, some are both -- but we are all going to be working with people in each of these three categories from now forward. Being thoughtful and conscious about how we come together and what we do when we do is a core part of communicating and leading with purpose and success, and in a way that includes everybody.

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I want to hear what you're thinking about and what you want tips on. Let me know what's on your mind.  Navigating the new ways of communicating and and leading at work takes everybody's ideas and experiences, and I want to share the best of them with you.

Master Casual Conversations at Work in a Post-COVID World (part 2 of 4)

Today in San Francisco, where I live, all COVID-related restrictions have been lifted and seemingly it's back to business as usual. As we re-emerge from 15 months of lockdown and restrictions on gathering and working, how we gather and how we communicate is top of mind for just about everybody I talk to.

Last week I shared the first in a month-long series of tips for how to lead and communicate in a new hybrid remote/in-person work world.

This week I'm focusing on informal interactions -- those serendipitous run-ins, casual interactions that are so much of how work actually gets done at work and how relationships actually evolve.

How we gather and communicate is just as much about structures and formal policies as it is about informal interactions, and….just the way we come across to others. As we move into a world with more virtual meetings and more in-person interactions, how do you make sure you master both and don't get left our or behind?

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TIP 4: INFORMAL INTERACTIONS AND CONVERSATIONS MATTER: The pandemic meant replacing any and all informal, unplanned, casual conversations with a scheduled, dedicated time to talk by video or phone. The informal has become much more formal -- and in many cases it became nothing.

Think about all of the informal questions, conversations, and collaborating that just didn't happen because of the barrier created by having to coordinate and schedule time to talk. Lots of relationship-building, lots of collaborating just didn't happen or happen nearly as smoothly.

In a fully remote way of working, those conversations either happened or didn't, but everyone was one the same playing field. In a hybrid work environment, it's likely that they will happen with much more varying degree and -- and that some people will be left out of them.

People may be left out of those informal quick chats about work -- often where decisions get made -- if they are at home that day or have chosen not to work in an office. And worse, it's likely that being left out of these conversations can be an unintended consequence of biases -- either rooted in bias, perpetuating bias, or both.

So for every one of us the work is:

• What are the habits and norms you can establish around what types of conversations are best had with everyone present?

• Set norms for how decisions are made and communicated out to everybody.

• How can you create a standing regular check-in conversation with the right people or teams that allows in-person and virtual participation?

• Make time for the informal interactions and conversations. Even if it means occasionally extending a standing 30-minute meeting to 45 minutes to allow the time to connect.
  
  

My favorite tip for mastering actually having casual conversations, if you don’t like to have them: Ask a question. What are your two or three questions that you like to ask people? Simply checking in on someone and asking how they are, if there's anything they need, is the best way to create a connection -- especially when you really listen to the answer.
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TIP 5: BE ACCESSIBLE WHEN REMOTE: If you are working remotely, whether permanently or just a couple days a week, it's important to make sure you're engaged and people know you're available. You want to avoid becoming "out of sight, out of mind."

This means not just being seen as "online" but may mean being a bit more proactive about setting up times to talk and meet with people who are in an office, and using the days you're in the office to develop and cultivate relationships and connections with people.

Make sure to stop by people's desks, have lunches or coffees or in-person conversations whenever you can -- so that people continue the habit of connecting with you and keep collaborating with you. When you are remote, make sure to try to speak up in meetings, use your video, and try to go the extra step of making sure people see you and can hear you.

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If culture is the sum total of everyone's behavior and how a system works, these informal interactions and relationships are just as important as any structure, agenda, written mission statement or branded t-shirt.

As I shared last week, two truths are clear, even as company cultures and the economy as a whole are undergoing a massive shift right now:

First, the world of hybrid working is here to stay.

Second, communication and empathy are the way to effectively manage this major shift. The tips especially around informal interactions and thinking about how you show up and engage when some people are remote and others aren't is how you build your empathy muscle.

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I want to hear what you're thinking about and what you want tips on. Let me know what's on your mind. Navigating the new ways of communicating and and leading at work takes everybody's ideas and experiences, and I want to share the best of them with you.

Communicating and Leading in the New Post-COVID Work Environment Pt. 1

In just about every conversation I have these days, the subject of returning to work comes up almost inevitably. 15 months of working from home busted a lot of norms and expectations we used to hold about productivity and having to be in an office.

It changed a lot of our own perspectives on our preferences: do I like working in an office? Do I want to live in a city, near an office, or somewhere else?

And it's also led to a high degree of burnout. Working from home, it turns out, is no vacation.

It's also meant, for most companies, a total re-thinking of the way we work: as COVID-restrictions ease and we can re-emerge from our homes safely, how do people return to work? Do they have to be in an office? Do they have a culture where people feel valued for more than just their sheer productivity?

Two truths are clear, even as company cultures are undergoing a massive shift right now:

First, the world of hybrid working is here to stay. Employees want flexibility in where and when they work. And they are willing to leave companies that don't have a culture that allows them that flexibility. A recent Pulse of the American Worker Survey showed that more than 1 in 4 people (even more among millenials) plans to leave their job as the pandemic wanes -- because they want flexibility in where and when they work, and because of burnout.

Second, communication and empathy are the way to effectively manage this major shift and to cultivate a culture that's productive and inclusive. I can't teach you empathy, but I CAN share some thoughts on how to communicate effectively and successfully in this new work environment.

In each of the next four weeks throughout June, I'll be sharing some thoughts on how to communicate effectively and how to think more explicitly about redefining your ways of working in this new work of semi-remote, semi-virtual, semi-in-person working. I want to hear what you're thinking about and what you want tips on. Let me know what you need.

A world of hybrid working is inherently more complex and more challenging to manage than an all-remote or all-in-person work environment. It will mean leaders have to be much more deliberate in setting expectations, providing clear guidance and direction, and more disciplined around how to bring people together and why. And much more human in how we approach our interactions.

The tips I share each week in June will be focused on these areas. Topics include principles to guide in-person gathering, having hard conversations about remote work and time away, best principles for personal leadership communications, and more.

TIP 1: REMEMBER THE NEW BASICS OF COMMUNICATION: Successful communication is personal. It's about a common, shared understanding. It's more about the relationship you build than the words you speak. It's also about the truth. All of us have a deep desire for truth and trust -- gained through experience and respect and appreciation. Truth and trust require good listening and seeking to understand. Be clear about your purpose and your audience. It's important to remember that different people have different relationships with their health, their family's health and their sense of security. Being seen as empathetic -- trying to put yourself in someone else's shoes -- is especially important now more than ever.

TIP 2: RE-ESTABLISH RELATIONSHIPS: Going back into an office after 15+ months, especially if you have new colleagues or people in different roles -- requires re-introduction. Re-establish your relationships. Rarely if ever at work do we get a chance to begin again -- and yet here we do. Who are you as a team, and what do you like about working here? What are the areas you want to focus on going forward? What are your expectations around work and time away? How do you want to motivate, inspire, and connect people on your teams?

TIP 3: HAVE AND SHARE YOUR PERSONAL STORY: As a leader, what's your perspective on the pandemic? How have the last 15 months been for you? What words would you use to describe how you're feeling about the last 15 months? What is one thing you've learned about yourself or about how you work? What lessons would you want your colleagues to take from this time? What is still challenging? Especially now, people want leaders to be as human and relatable as possible. Focusing solely on goals, metrics and output makes you less relatable. How can you be more human? It starts with vulnerability, which starts with telling your personal story.