I get fresh college grads in my teams. They all come out smart, ambitious, and hungry to do something positive in the world. But I find they struggle with basic working etiquette.
This guide is intended to hammer down the basic skills necessary to plug into a corporate environment more elegantly. This guide is meant to help you optimize for efficiency given that we’re a globally distributed team.
Effective Written Communication Techniques
Keep it short. We’re bombarded with communications all day. Keep your language simple and get to your point quickly. Don’t include fluff or an overabundance of pleasantries.
BAD EXAMPLE OF SIMPLE COMMSHi Team,
I was wondering if you could all take some time and fill out this form. I think it will really help us be more effective. Leadership also said that they really want this done so that we can make our platform more stable. I understand that we’re all busy but it’s important to complete this soon.
If you have questions, please reach out to me, I’d be more than happy to give you some more context.
GOOD EXAMPLE OF SIMPLE COMMSHi Team,
Can all of you please complete this form by Tuesday 8AM EST?
Completing this form is necessary to improve our platform stability. Leadership will be reviewing this form on Tuesday @ 9AM EST.
Hyperlink relevant information. Use Hyperlinks liberally to give people the necessary information they need. Embed your hyperlinks to make communication cleaner. See a good example of how hyperlinking helps provide context in communication.
For example (from above):
Hi Team,Can all of you please complete this form by Tuesday 8AM EST?
Completing this form is necessary to improve our platform stability. Leadership will be reviewing this form on Tuesday @ 9AM EST.
Use formatting to call out key information. Formatting can be your friend to call out important information in your communication. Formatting should generally be simple (Use Bold, Italics, and Underlines). For ultra critical information, you may use red text.
For example (from above):
Hi Team,Can all of you please complete this form by Tuesday 8AM EST?
Completing this form is necessary to improve our platform stability. Leadership will be reviewing this form on Tuesday @ 9AM EST.
Make actions explicit. Actions need named owners and deadlines. Don’t be fuzzy about who a task owner is and when they should deliver it. In general, assigning things to groups does not work effectively, you need a real person behind each action.
If you’re assigning lots of tasks to lots of people, use a Google Sheet or Smartsheet to outline the ownership of each item. Link to that Sheet/Smartsheet in your email.
You’re global, be clear about timing. We operate in different timezones. When you are referencing specific times in your email (like in the comms above), use timezones to align everyone to a single timezone. As a general rule -
- If all recipients are in the same timezone, indicate the timezone that the recipients are in.
- If there is a mix of recipients, use EST/EDT as a standard timezone.
Don’t bury the lede. In Journalism, the lede is the most important part of the story. Similarly, in communication, you should lead with the lede. State the most important points up front and don’t make your recipients decipher what is the most critical part of your communication.
For chat, say your piece; don’t wait to get synchronous. When you’re trying to initiate a chat with someone, clearly state what your intent is in the initial message. Don’t just say ‘Hi’ and wait for the person to respond. This is a recipe to turn a quick chat message into a multi-day exchange.
When should something be a document? Documents are great tools to help flesh out larger ideas or explain complicated concepts. You should create a document (instead of sending comms) when you have the following criteria:
- You are asking for feedback on a specific work item.
- You expect there will be a long exchange of messages in your comms.
- When the idea needs to be fleshed out over time.
Communicating Visually
Sometimes, it’s easier to show something to people. In these scenarios, you can use video recording tools to help you communicate more effectively. A 5 minute video can get the point across better than a document or an email.
In these scenarios, you should do the following:
- Write up a brief script for yourself to make sure that you stay on message.
- Prepare all the visual materials you’re planning to share.
- Speak at a moderate pace and turn on your camera to allow users to better connect with you.
- You should include an introduction to the video where you state the intent.
- You should have a conclusion to the video where you review next steps.
You can use several tools offered to you to help you record videos.
Threadit (Google Area 120 Product) - This allows you to record a video and for your recipients to reply to you with video. This is great for presenting statuses and asking people for general feedback.
Screencastify (Chrome Browser Add On) - This is a simple screen recording tool that integrates with Google Workspace.
Lucidchart - This is a great tool for creating visual documentation.
Meeting Practices
Running effective meetings is an art, there will be a separate post that follows this to outline how to run them well. But here are some general ground rules.
- Don’t book a meeting in someone’s off hours unless you get an explicit OK from them, or if the person is optional to the meeting.
- Give people at least a 1 day heads up before booking a meeting. It’s OK to break this rule if there is an emergency discussion.
- Create an effective and clear agenda for your meeting
- View your participants’ calendars before booking the meeting - do not overbook the meeting over another meeting.
Do your own research before asking questions
At your place of work, you’ll likely have a place where knowledge lives. Most likely, it exists in multiple places. Before you approach a colleague with a question, do your own research on that topic. Figure out if you can avoid asking the question entirely.
If the documentation seems fishy, reference the document when you ask the question
I am trying to create a TPS report, but the document says I should sharpen my chisel before starting - does this mean we’re meant to write these in stone? That seemed wrong so I just wanted to check with you if that’s correct.