Asynchronicity and Remote Working

Asynchronicity. Fantastic word, and a crucial concept in communication and engagement with a remote workforce.

A great twitter thread (https://twitter.com/chris_herd/status/1313202750818312192) detailed lots of learnings re: remote working. Lots to learn. For me, one key challenge.

We know that synchronous comms, requiring presence/response at fixed times, are grossly inefficient.
There are many channels that can be used asynchronously, allowing more reflection, collaboration and control of when you respond.

But, we have bad habits, reinforced by notifications. We enjoy the notification buzz (I'm needed!); we respond urgently. When we all respond to everything urgently, it keeps coming.

THE CHALLENGE: If you keep responding around the rest of your life, without the structure – physical and temporal – of the office, you suffer.

So, synchronous communication must be used solely for two purposes:
1) For the genuinely urgent – where people must listen and respond
2) For the emotional or social – where people are brought together, and again there’s a new emphasis here
 

Remote working is staying. So, for everything else - that’s a lot of everything - it’s time to break habits, use new channels or old channels differently, with a focus on the written word. We must allow people to respond – better – on their own terms.

2020 - The year I didn't go anywhere

 

 

Loads of thoughts on this chart.
1) It's not surprising Richard Branson has a Caribbean island
2) Liking how I've eliminated driven miles
3) How little I spend on hotels and food - I'm truly a cheap date
4) I saw a lot of the UK in 16-17...

But two things stick out:
Firstly - I'm no longer in front of clients and their people. So, what do I lose in terms of understanding? There's lots of smart ways to gain insight remotely from people - and I've added to that list. But, undoubtedly, a little is missing. You can't read the room in the same way, you can't spot that bit where there was hesitation or vigourous agreement. You can miss the cues that show you where you need to probe again. It calls for harder listening, more ways to make sure you are flushing out all that really matters to employees. That's my challenge.

Secondly - It's a long time spent within these compact and bijou home office walls. Each of those trips away might have meant me leaving domestic chaos behind. But they also represented a change of scene and pace, an opportunity to recharge. Often physically tiring; mentally they were a fillip. Without that option I need to find other ways to be in a different place, while staying right where I am.
Ideas welcome!