I’ve been working hard to improve my communication skills and tactics in this new highly remote world. I’m glad to have had a great number of experiences principally on Zoom and Microsoft Teams both as a software team contributor and as a Technical Coach that expanded my understanding of methods of remote communication. More important than being able to code or even talk about code, I recognize it is critical for my success as a coach to connect with people deeply with only a laptop camera at my disposal.

I am fortunate that I was already learning a lot about remote collaboration prior to the pandemic. I worked with a high-performing team that found hybrid communication to be very challenging, but full remote work to be much easier. We used MS Teams to plan and design together and tasked out our work that would be executed in pairs or trios.

My Current Approaches

I’m very interested in what cognitive and social sciences have to say about optimizing human interaction. One new toolset I have been practicing is Nonviolent Communication (Dr. Marshall Rosenberg), which includes listening for the “need” behind what people say, avoiding judgmental language that invites defensiveness, and working to clarify understanding in order to maximize empathy for a person. This all enables me to approach solutions with people from a partnership frame.

For video calls, I find that face-to-face with cameras on is still more effective than speaking with cameras off due to the depth of non-verbal communication that humans do. A recent epiphany I’ve had concerning video chat is that having your camera on is an expression of vulnerability. Inviting collaborators into your home, which is a very personal space, takes courage. A team or organization needs a very high level of psychological safety to accomplish a cameras-on culture.

Having your camera on is an expression of vulnerability.

In a technical coaching context, modeling effective communication is my primary tactic. I try to model asking more than telling, asking only one question, saying more with fewer words, keeping my camera on, and not apologizing when my dogs invade my camera (I instead introduce them). Teams also benefit from learning to explicitly integrate “play” time, doing small entertaining activities and games together. I have used games like Skribbl.io or Geoguessr to build social cohesion through fun.

In the greater pedagogical context, I think about using explicit learning arcs where teams are introduced to an idea, take the time to learn with a hands-on approach, and followed by an explicit period of discussion to reflect and let the learning sink in. Communicating new ideas can fall flat if the final step of reflection is skipped.

I believe there are more experiments to be run in the new remote working era. While there are organizations who have already solved for remote- and even asynchronous work, most have a long way to go and I personally am excited to see what I can still learn.

Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash