I’ve been researching and writing on virtual meetings for almost twenty years. I’ve heard a lot of complaints, but the one that most amuses is, “I just sat through another meeting that could have been an email.” Sure, it’s funny and looks great on a coffee mug. And we have so many meetings it might be lovely to have alternatives to yet another hour spent staring into a webcam … [Read more...]
Put it in Writing: The New Generation Gap?
For the first time in human history, two-thirds of our daily work communication and a growing amount of our interpersonal and social communication is being done in writing. Texts, e-mails, and collaboration tools are asynchronous and ubiquitous. How you respond to this probably depends on how old you are. Is this good news, since electronic text can cover time, space and … [Read more...]
Just Sending Messages Doesn’t Work
Have you ever wondered why it’s so hard to get a message through to your remote and hybrid team members? “I told them.” “I put it in an email last week.” “I know this meeting could have been an email. But nobody reads the darned emails! Then we have to have the meeting anyway.” It can be frustrating when you spend time delivering a message, only to feel like … [Read more...]
Are You Practicing Linguistic Racism?
What is linguistic racism? Of course, racism is such an emotive word, we need to use it cautiously. "Bias" and "racism" share many similarities. I believe that even the most fair-minded of us are biased to some degree - it's an inevitable consequence of our life experiences. But racism takes it a step further by introducing the notion of "superiority." When we're talking … [Read more...]
Giving and Accepting Peer Feedback
When you think about what makes a high-functioning team (whether in person, remote or hybrid) really click, several factors come to mind. In our research for The Long-Distance Teammate, we discovered one of the most important things that contribute to a really solid, trusting, team culture: a constant flow of feedback from and to our colleagues. Giving is as important as … [Read more...]