Should this meeting have been an email?
Or...bear with me me for a second...should this email have been a lo-fi podcast? 🎧
A thought for you: For coaching conversations, pep talks, or explaining the “why,” have you considered establishing a practice of sending a quick voice memo (aka a lo-fi podcast)? It’s more personal than email or chat messages, less disruptive than a live call, and more human in tone and energy than written text alone. It can be sent to an individual or multiple team members across time zones.
Just yesterday, I shared this idea with the executive team at a multi-site organization that is scaling rapidly and retooling their onboarding to increase retention. One senior leader who has a ton of wisdom to leverage with new hires can’t be everywhere at once, and can’t accommodate more standing 1:1s. I suggested he try regularly sharing in a medium that’s more conducive to the current needs of the organization. All it takes is a cell phone and a voice memo app, and he’s got the makings of lo-fi voice memo podcast for the team to listen on their own schedules. It was an immediate hit.
An easy-lift way to keep mentorship alive while folks are moving in different directions.What it comes down to is sometimes your team doesn’t need another meeting or another long email, they just need to hear your voice.I believe the future of work will need to look a lot more creative. If you want to explore what that looks like for the particulars of your organization, give me a call or send me a voice memo.