26th May 2020
How to handle tension while working remotely
How to handle tension while working remotely
Bad communication in any circumstances leads to conflict. Add a global pandemic, a struggling economy, fears about job security and many employees juggling the roles of parent, employee, teacher and partner, and tensions are much higher than normal. In addition, employees have had to very quickly adapt to mainly text based communication which makes reading tone much harder and miscommunication and conflict much more likely. So how do you manage conflict at work with the knowledge that employees are likely to be experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety.
Gwen Moran outlines 3 ways to handle tension while working remotely. The advice includes how and when to communicate, setting expectations and how to manage emotions.
From the Article:
Be meticulous about how and when you communicate
Remote working is fraught with opportunities for misunderstanding among coworkers. If your manager casually asks you to meet up later when you’re in the office, her calm and informal demeanor might not trigger any concern. But when you get a Slack message from your boss asking to set up a time to chat, the emotionless text leaves much to the imagination. “And then you respond ‘sure,’ and they don’t respond. All this stuff starts playing in your head,” says Michael Pryor, cofounder of productivity app Trello, which was acquired by Atlassian in 2017.
Almost 80% of Trello’s employees work remotely at least part-time, so in Pryor’s experience, “overcommunicating” is in place to ensure that your tone and messaging are being conveyed correctly. It’s better to add more context and be more careful with language than you might ordinarily be.
Amy Leschke-Kahle, vice president of performance acceleration at The Marcus Buckingham Co., a consulting firm and division of ADP, agrees. Instead of diving right in, use salutations in email and texts. Even if you’re not a fan of emojis, or think they’re silly, they can be useful and effective in adding tone and context, she says.
Weatherup advises remote teams to take a moment to review important communications. “You can never really be 100% certain that whoever you’re communicating with understands fully unless you ask them what you said or what they think you’re asking for,” she explains. Discuss the reasoning behind such recaps, and what could seem condescending becomes a stopgap.
Read more tips and get the full article online: 3 ways to manage conflict when you work remotely.
Make sure to explore Inspiring Workplace’s other content and insights about leadership and communication.