Open Communication and Asynchronous Collaboration by default

We mostly understand the importance of being honest, of telling the truth in caring and loving ways and by contrast we also understand the cost of not doing so. Let’s call them both positive and negative energies if you will. 

Equally the energy it takes to keep things under wraps or secret is higher. As an example, praise should always be public for maximum impact while correction or rebuke should be private, one-to-one and direct. 

Communication should be by default - unless there’s a specific need - open. And there’s no harm in over-communicating as the purpose of communication is not passing on information but being understood. This empathetic view improves communication for good and helps collaboration. 

Hand-in-hand with this value comes along respecting people’s time and space. Before the United States of North America had trains which connected towns and cities there was no need to have fully synchronised clocks. It’s a relatively modern concept to be fully synchronous. 

So before you send that message, that “hello” without the ask. Have you put in all the emotional effort that is required? Do you need help, a decision or do you need somebody's attention? Because if what you need is someone’s realtime attention then maybe what you need is to call them. 

On the other hand if you require feedback or action then maybe it’s best to put in all the effort for an equally appropriate response. What does this look like in practice?

If you have an idea or a concept then put in the emotional labour of materialising it. Put thought into paper, into a doc, a presentation or a prototype. Once you have it then publish or distribute your craft and only then maybe request a synchronous meeting for feedback. Those invited can review the material in their own time and come prepared with questions and feedback. We no longer require hours of synchronous talent to give feedback. The bulk can be done async and the expensive synchronous time can easily be halved. 

How else can this look like in practice? nohello.org