🎒 Microlesson

🪞 Reflect

Dangling email and Slack threads, unresponsive coworkers, overdue tasks—how do you manage communications effectively on a distributed team?

💡 Concept

This microlesson is a roundup of small—yet mighty—actions you can take to prevent your message threads and teammates from disappearing. 

➰ Set expectations for acknowledging receipt, closing the loop, and following up on all communications.

When you spend time wondering whether and when to follow up after sending a message or email, you’re wasting valuable mental resources. Instead, establish universal expectations for async communication in a team charter, with clear protocols for how and when team members should acknowledge receipt of a message, complete relevant tasks, and follow up. Learn more here.

🎁 Give the gift of a closed loop today.

Speaking of closing the loop… in case you’re one of your team’s disappearing acts, take 15 minutes to follow up on pending communication threads. Learn more here.

👻 Combat ghosting in remote teams.

It’s easier for someone to go completely silent in remote and hybrid teams since team members don’t see each other every day and delays between communications are expected. However, you can take steps to prevent ghosting from disrupting your team’s progress. Learn more here.

📣 Default to public communication channels. 

Make communication and information more accessible by defaulting to public channels for communicating with your team. This transparency helps hold team members accountable, making it less likely for communication to slip through the cracks. Learn more here.

🎬 Take Action

• Choose one of the four actions listed in this microlesson and commit to trying it. 

• Complete your action within the next two weeks. 

• Reflect on the impact that your action has. 

• Share your results.

🧠 Keep Learning

Learn more about communicating in remote and hybrid teams in the Workplaceless Remote Work Certification program.

✅ Check In

🎁Learn with your team!

Refer our weekly microlessons to your team members to learn as a group! Just follow the instructions in the section below to get started.