With so many people working from anywhere, effective remote team communication has never been more critical. But with so many digital distractions and competing priorities, how can you ensure your team is paying attention to what matters most?
In our leadership development programs, we help managers improve remote team communication by using four key principles of memory: recency, repetition, recall, and emotion. By understanding and leveraging these principles, you too can become a master of the art of remote team communication.
recency
Recency is about igniting memory through recent experiences. By ensuring your messages are timely and relevant, you increase the likelihood that your team will remember them.
Marketers know the “Rule of 7” which states that people need to see a message at least seven times before they are going to remember it. That’s why you’ll see the same billboard for ice cream going both ways on your drive to the grocery store.
Once to prompt you to remember that rocky road, and once to get the kids to remind you of what you “forgot”—an emotional pull that might make you more likely to cave the next time.
What this means for your remote team communications is that if something is important, it will take longer than covering it in your Monday morning team meeting, you need to keep those important messages in front of them. If your message is really important, make sure they’ve heard you talk about it recently.
return
A close cousin of the latter period, repetition is another powerful memory enhancer. The more often you deliver key messages, the more likely they will stick in your team’s minds. Like a catchy song, hearing the same information over and over can make it impossible to forget.
Additionally, by repeating an important message you differentiate it from the rest of the noise. Your team thinks, “Gosh, this must be important if they keep talking about it. You should pay attention.
Of course, repeating the same message in the same way will get annoying, and your team will tune out. Effective communication in a remote team mixes it up, more on that later.
remember
Recall is about accessing information. When your team members need to remember information to answer questions or do their jobs, they’re more likely to retain it. So, be sure to give them opportunities to use the information you’ve shared.
If you’re familiar with our basic leadership concepts, you’ll know that we’re big fans of protesting for understanding. One of the many reasons a comprehension check is so powerful is that it requires your team to recall what they heard. You don’t leave understanding to chance.
emotion
Finally, emotion is a powerful memory trigger. When we experience strong emotions, we tend to remember more about our surroundings. By using your team’s emotions, you can make your messages more memorable.
Emotion is one of the missing ingredients in the most remote communication of teams. And, a message doesn’t have to be emotional to be communicated in an emotional way.
For example, recording a funny video or writing a haiku about a strategic priority is memorable because it contains the element of surprise and silliness, all of which trigger emotional memories in the minds of your team.
Communicate five times, five different ways in your remote team communication
So how do you put these principles into practice?
Using one of our 6 concepts you can’t lead without, five-on-five communication. If something is critically important, you don’t want to communicate it once or twice.
Mix it up with the principles of recency, recall, repetition and emotion, and communicate five times, five different ways. By using a variety of remote team communication channels and creativity, you can keep your team engaged and improve their recall of important information.
5 x 5 in practice
Let’s say you’re a sales leader and you want your team to remember to offer a new product to every customer. Sending five emails is not much more effective than sending one.
way 1
But imagine starting with a big town hall where you bring everyone together in person, with balloons, and tell some strategic stories about how this new product helped customers in your pilot launch (that’s the way). There is some emotion in this because it is not every day that people are asked to come to the office and dig up the helium tanks.
Ways 2 and 3
Then, you might mix up your team’s remote communication by making this topic the first topic in your virtual one-on-one. Second way, you change this week’s one-on-one calendar invitation to “Bring your product launch ideas.” It makes for a recall, when they think back and review their notes from City Hall, and then when you have a one-on-one, you talk about it again.
way 4
Your fourth communication might be launching a recognition program, for the top sellers of the new product’s first month, which you celebrate with a running leaderboard on your intranet.
way 5
And your fifth way can be another way to ignite emotion as you dress up in costume and visit each of your faraway places. Before you laugh and say, “Who would do that?” Karin did. This is her dressed as Leia along with her direct reports, visiting 110 stores in a nine-hour radius to get them excited about selling Android phones back in her Verizon days.
As a remote leader, mastering team communication requires a deliberate and consistent effort. By focusing on recency, repetition, recall and emotion, you can ensure that your messages are heard, understood and remembered.
your turn What are your best practices for helping your remote team pay attention and remember important messages?
