Best practices for WeSalute Communications

Communication

People who work on remote teams face communication challenges consistently. As more and more of our interactions happen digitally, we will continue to experience new forms of miscommunication and misunderstanding. The solution lies in building a skill set that reflects the demands of our digitally-driven age. For instance, when communicating digitally, don't assume that others understand your cues and shorthand. Spend the time to communicate with the intention of being ultra-clear. Don't bombard your team with messages -- it's ineffective, and counterproductive. Consider creating team acronyms for digital communications like "Four Hour Response (4HR)" and "No Need to Respond (NNTR)" that bring predictability and certainty to virtual conversations. And remember to create space for celebrations and socializing with remote teams, which can strengthen relationships and lay the foundation for future collaboration

When remote teams communicate well and leverage their strengths, they can actually gain an advantage over co-located teams. Here are some best practices to master:

• Don't conflate brief communications and clear communications: Don't assume that others understand your cues and shorthand. Spend the time to communicate with the intention of being ultra-clear, no matter the medium. Indeed, you can never be too clear, but it is too easy to be less clear than you should.

• Don't bombard your team with messages: Do you tend to ask people if they got your previous message? Abusing those access points can be a form of digital dominance, a relentless and uncomfortable form of harassment. The medium you choose creates different demands on the time of the receiver.

• Establish communication norms: While we often tend to regard human predictability as a defect, few qualities are more sought-after at work, especially in virtual collaborations. We are all unique, but our consistent behaviors help others predict what we do, and in turn help them to understand us --- and we all benefit from being understood. You can make that easier for others by establishing a clear personal etiquette and sticking to it consistently.

• See the hidden opportunities in written communications: Being behind a screen can create new opportunities for certain team members, making space for those who might be less inclined to speak out in groups. Text-based communication places less importance on interpersonal skills and physical appearance, offering an effective way to share power and decision-making.

• Create intentional space for celebration: Creating virtual spaces and rituals for celebrations and socializing can strengthen relationships and lay the foundation for future collaboration. Find ways to shorten the affinity distance. One company we worked with celebrated new talent by creating a personal emoji for each employee who had been there for six months. You can find your own unique way to create team spaces for social connection. How you do it is less important than whether you do.

Healthy Methods

In a remote-first work environment it is key to have a healthy perspective on the words you type. You should consider if your communicational skills need to be more effective, efficient or create clarity when delivering a message.

For Managers of multiple people, you may find that one Team Member prefers a certain communication delivery while another has a different idea of what is ideal. There are multi ways to deliver a message. Similarly, there are multiple ways to interpret a message. It's worth being proactive to ensure that your intentions are clearly delivered.

The way you communicate is critical. You are held responsible for your own delivery of communication. Be cognizant of how your speech can impact others negatively and positively. If you're surprised by how a given communiqué impacts someone, ask for clarification without being combative. These moments are ideal for learning more about yourself, and how you can tweak your approach to communicating to be more considerate of others.

We judge ourselves by our intentions, but people judge us by our actions.

1. Assume Positive Intent Always be in a position of positivity and grace.

2. Kindness Matters You are looking at a screen, but you are really talking to a person. If you wouldn't say it to a person's face, don't send it to them in a text message.

3. Express Your Thoughts We live in different locations and often have very different perspectives. We want to know your thoughts, opinions, and feelings.

4. Own It If you say it or type it, own it. If it hurts the company or an individual, even unintentionally, we encourage you to look at things from other points of view and apologize easily.

5. Feedback is Essential It is difficult to know what is appropriate in every one of our team members' locations. We encourage team members to give feedback and receive feedback in a considerate way.

6. Don't Underestimate a 1-on-1 Asynchronous communication (e.g. via text) is helpful and necessary. In some cases (e.g., to clarify misunderstanding) it can be much more effective to jump on a video call.

7. **Always Adhere to our Code of Conduct and Policy Against Workspace Harassment Everyone should be comfortable in their work environment.

Guidelines

As a remote-first company that defaults to asynchronous communications. WeSalute relies heavily on textual communication. This can feel unusual or even uncomfortable for those who come from a collocated environment, where in-person meetings and communications are the norm. Embracing text communication and learning to use it effectively requires a mental shift. Mastering this should be seen as a long-term project, though there are trips to breaking down barriers and experiencing the benefits.

Sharing information transparently is essential to good communication, operations, inclusivity, culture, and more. Team members at all levels should be able to see how work happens and problems are solved. 

At WeSalute, we are transparent by default. Work happens on issues that are visible to all team members, and conversations are directed to open Slack channels where anyone can drop in and participate. Our success with remote teams is due to our focus on collaboration achieved through strong, transparent communications.

For us, communication breaks into two types, asynchronous or synchronous.

At most companies, synchronous communication is the norm. Everyone is online at the same time, chatting with the same tool, attending the same meetings and calls, etc.

In a remote-first culture, asynchronous communication becomes more critical. Asynchronous means not everyone needs to be online at the same time to have work continue or to have a meeting. WeSalute communications should always focus on being as asynchronous as possible.

For those not familiar with the difference between asynchronous and synchronous, think about the difference between a face-to-face conversation and sending an email. Moreover, consider the motivations for using either technique in your workspace. If you have an urgent request and you're in need of an immediate answer, which one would you choose? What would you choose if you're okay with hearing a reply sometime later?

Synchronous is used to describe a sequence of events that happen one after another, with the beginning of each step dependent on the completion of the previous step. A face-to-face conversation is an example of synchronous communication. Person A speaks and Person B gets the message immediately.

Asynchronous (or async) is often used to describe a non-blocking sequence of events. Person A sends an email and Person B receives the email in their inbox, however, both parties are free to do other things in the meantime. When ready, Person B can check their email and see a message from Person A sitting in their inbox.

WeSalute Writing

Our written communications drive the WeSalute value proposition.

Our value proposition is WeSalute recognizes and rewards those who have served and family members creating exclusive offers from our partner brands. WeSalute manages offers through a membership-based program, giving the greater military community and their families a frictionless path to offer discovery and redemption.

Our mission and vision are key messages in written communications with our audience:

• Our mission: To drive socially-responsible, connected commerce experiences with our partner brands that are easy, secure, and enjoyable to use, and lead our military community to value that serves to enhance their everyday lives.

• Our vision: To deliver outstanding customer experiences and everyday value exclusively for military community members and create lifetime customer relationships with the companies who share our vision.

At all times, when writing for WeSalute, the copy must reflect our brand attributes:

• Sincere: We are a customer first business and always have our customers' best interests in mind. We are passionate and heartfelt, which comes from a genuine place of caring for our stakeholders.

• Effortless: We are transparent and clear in our practices and work hard to create services that are easy for the customer to understand and use. We never ask too much from our customers or establish practices that can frustrate the user.

• Trusted: We advocate for our customers by creating real offers of the highest quality and outstanding benefit programs through established, longstanding, trusted relationships with our business partners.

Team Communication

Most companies communicate from top to bottom through a chain of command. This communication flow often empowers Managers, but it also introduces inefficiency, Team Members may not be able to to connect directly with those who can help them get their work done. At WeSalute, every team member is encouraged to reach out to whomever is the correct person (or people) to quickly unblock issues, solve problems or receive support. Be courteous of your direct Manager and copy them on the request. We don't encourage unnecessary friction in asking Team Members to escalate through managers and wait for responses to come back. What matters is efficiency in getting to results. Slack the CEO, Slack a VP, or Slack a peer. Do what you need to do to make WeSalute successful.

Managers should not be bottlenecks or silos for communication. All Team Members should feel comfortable contacting anyone to become unblocked. Communicating should be simple and easy. This is an efficient, transparent, and collaborative way to communicate in a remote-first culture.

Email Communication

At WeSalute, we rarely send emails internally. Email is not a great resource for collaboration or communication. Communicating via email is not transparent. Communicating via Email will prohibit Team Members from receiving important information that is necessary to be mutually goal-focused.

Email is best used to send communications to contacts outside our organization. Externally. Email continues to serve as an important and effective method of memorializing customer and non-first party communications.

Make sure all email contacts are recorded and stored in Copper (our external Customer Relationship Management platform) so that other Team Members can follow the outside email communications chain for that contact. Also, please be sure to save any important email documentation from an outside organization to our Shared Google Drive.

Text Communication

The internet is forever. Words have impact long after they are written. When you're communicating internally, the manner in which you speak with one another should be viewed through an external lens.

For those who struggle with this, consider what you would type if a journalist, your manager, or a family member were in the room observing the conversation. This tip will not serve all scenarios, but it's worth considering if the stakes are high in a conversation.

Why text communication can be difficult

1. Cultural and communication style differences
2. Delay in immediate feedback (due to time zones or other meetings)
3. Lack of non-verbals
4. Emotional distance
5. Personality types
6. Tough to fully consider the scope of your audience(s)
7. Stress factors outside of work contributing to emotional communication

Low-Context Communication

At WeSalute, we communicate assuming others have low content. We provide significant detailed context to avoid confusion.

1. The goal of low context is to be considerate of the people or audience you're speaking to. It's important to recognize that what you write --- either internally or externally --- may be read in the future, or by someone who is coming into the conversation at a time after the initial thread began.

2. This is one of the more challenging elements to master, particularly for those coming from careers in collocated spaces. In collocated environments, high context communication is the default. High context is less direct with an emphasis on human relations, and it's more sensitive to non-verbals and the feelings of others.

3. Getting oneself in a low context frame of mind can be useful. Start by assuming that recipients of your communication do not know anything about the topic, and need to be informed as much as possible.

4. It's easy to imply your experiences with text communication, but remember that not everyone has similar life experiences to relate to, hence the need to be precise.

5. By being specific, you're forcing yourself to think through what you're saying. In general, there is value in taking the time to be deliberate about communications. Re-read communications before sending, particularly if they may be perceived as negative or inflammatory to certain parties. The ability to self-edit before sending is a boon to text communication. Vocalized words cannot be unsaid once uttered.

6. Aiming for precision in communication requires you to put yourself in another person's shoes and try to understand their current perspective and worldview. It's important to view text communication not as a way to impose your will, but as a means to listen, understand, and collaborate.

7. Everyone is a unique author that has a specific writing style when communicating text. WeSalute is a global remote-first working environment. Please consider that Team Members come from different cultures, countries, and living environments which ultimately makes us all different. Keep in mind that being different is a very good thing; therefore, be respectful and understanding of how a certain party or individual communicates. By doing so, this will produce a better outcome, collaboration, clarifying key objectives and perfecting work flows.

8. This isn't suggesting that your communication should be cold or soulless. In the WeSalute #annoucements-shoutouts Slack channel, for instance, we encourage team members to be specific about what they are thanking someone for, prior context should not be needed. Deel Appreciation is also a great alternative for sharing employee recognition.

Values

Text communication can be easily derailed, and assumptions can lead to good-mannered communiqués being viewed as slight.

Values to guide communication

1. No Ego. Don't defend a point to win an argument or double-down on a mistake.

2. Assume positive intent. If a message feels like a slight, assume positive intent while asking for clarification. A HighFive video conference can clarify communication, correct misunderstanding and bring Team Members closer together.

3. Get to know each other. Building a rapport enables trust and eases communications.

4. Say thanks. Taking every opportunity to publicly share praise creates a climate where feedback is viewed as a gift rather than an attack.

5. Kindness. It costs nothing to be kind, even if you do not believe someone deserves it.

6. It's impossible to know everything. You cannot know how your words are interpreted without asking.

7. Create a safe environment. WeSalute is a place where everyone should feel comfortable with others contributing to their domain of expertise.

Tips

1. All written communication happens in English; regardless of one-on-one communication.

2. Use asynchronous communication when possible. Communication is operated in the appropriate Slack channels so Team Members can work without interruption by chat.

3. You are not expected to be available all the time. You have no expectation to respond outside of your scheduled working hours.

4. Please update Slack status to "away" or "do not disturb" mode so Team Members are notified that you won't respond until your status has changed.

5. Sometimes synchronous communication is the better option, but do not default to it. For example, a video call can clear things up quickly when you are blocked.

6. **If you find yourself confused, please ask lots of questions. **Team Members are here to respond with documented support to help resolve your questions. WeSalute Open is a great example of links that provide sufficient feedback to questions you might have; however, if the question isn't documented then please immediately submit a request to PeopleOps to update WeSalute Open.

7. When you communicate (a document, ticket, issue, webpage, comment, etc.) please attach a link with it.

8. All company data should be shareable by default. 

9. When a Team Member asks for your support on a project, please respond with a deadline or that you completed the task. Answers like: 'will do', 'OK', 'it is on my todo list' are not helpful. If the task is small then it's better to spend a minute by completing the task so your teammate is unblocked. If the project is large then open a Jira ticket and set a deadline so it is clear to all parties when this task will be completed.

10. Please CC ("cc @user") when you need help from a Team Member, but CCs alone are not sufficient if a specific action is delegated to someone. The mentioned user needs clear action on what to do. Please communicate an @ mention explicitly to a Team Member and what you need help with.

11. Avoid creating private groups for internal discussions:

    1. It's disturbing (all users in the group get notified for each message).

    2. It's not searchable.

    3. It's not shareable: there is no way to add people in the group (and this often leads to multiple group creation).

    4. They don't have a subject, so everyone has to remember the topic of each private group based on the participants or open the group again to re-read the content.

    5. History is lost when leaving the group.

12. It is perfectly fine to create a channel, even for a single customer meeting. These channels should be named "a_customer-name-internal" to indicate their "internal" nature (not shared with customers).

13. Use low-context communications by being explicit in your communications. We are a remote-only company, located all over the world. Provide as much context as possible to avoid confusion. Relatedly, we use ubiquitous language for communication efficiency.

14. When discussing concepts, be careful not to lean too much into hypotheticals. There is a tipping point in which it decreases value and no longer becomes constructive at helping everyone come to a unified decision.

Contrition Communication

At the speed of business, it's possible for even the most well-mannered of colleagues to say something regrettable when their heart was typing faster than their brain could regulate. In the event that you think you could have written something better, contrition is advised.

Say Sorry. It's simple, yet powerful. Saying sorry via Slack or email, or quick video call if you're both online at the same time, enables trust to be rebuilt. When using asynchronous collaboration tools such as Jira, feel welcome to reply atop your message/comment if you feel that you may have written something offensive. This will send a follow-up notification to the person tagged, whereas editing your original message will not.