First, implement communication response times. With so many remote team members, it’s hard to find people and pop into their office and say, “Hey, did you get my message?” So, here are a few tips to help you establish some communication response norms:
Let’s start with text messages. I’d recommend setting norms for when your calendar says you are available and unavailable. It might seem safe to assume the answer to the latter is “I’ll respond when I’m free again,” but when creating these norms, I suggest being as specific and clear as possible. One hour response time for text messages when you are available and an 8-hour target for replying when you aren’t is usually achievable, but polling your team for what is reasonable is a best practice.
Emails can be tricky, so it’s good to use response time categories. For example, you could create “Urgent,” “Needs Follow-up,” and “Informative” categories.
Urgent emails might receive a 4-hour response, while Informative emails might receive a 24-hour response. Pick reasonable timeframes; ensure it works for you and your organizational culture.
With missed phone calls and voicemails, you might want to differentiate between clients and team members. If it’s a client, you might want to respond by the end of the day. Amongst team members, I’ve found that a text or email that includes both an acknowledgment of the call and a time when you intend to call back is usually sufficient.
The second type of team norm I recommend is respecting established schedules. Regarding anything scheduled, be it phone calls or meetings, I recommend the “5-minute rule.” If you or any of your employees are going to be more than 5 minutes late, send a text to let someone on the team know that you are running late AND when you expect to arrive. Then, have that person share that info with the rest of the team.
Finally, my last best practice norm is to capitalize on the email auto-reply feature. Frequent use of this feature can be helpful. Set norms for using the feature, such as “if you think you will be unresponsive for more than eight hours, please use an auto-reply.” The purpose of doing this is to provide useful and concise information.For example, “Out for a bit, will respond when I return” is neither particularly useful nor concise. I recommend something like: “I am currently in a meeting and anticipate returning to the office around 3:00 p.m. I will respond to your email at that time. If this is urgent, please get in touch with John Smith at 888-123-4567.”
Just be sure to give John a heads up so he knows about potential phone calls.
Creating these norms can help instill dependability, efficiency and collaboration. Hopefully, some of these suggestions can help you establish your norms and allow you and your team to be predictable.