Understanding Genuine Appreciation

You can never fully appreciate someone’s work unless you’re in the same field. You simply won’t know enough about what they do.

One relationship where this commonly crops-up is between “operations” and “creative deadlines” (or makers and managers). Silence can create misunderstanding where there shouldn’t be.

In reality, they both want the same thing: Empathy, not leniency. Professional people want to be pushed. Anyone worth working with desires mutual success and wants to see the team succeed. Regardless of your role, appreciation comes from knowing a bit about each others’ struggles and contributions.

You can’t have this connection without communication, and that’s why you shouldn’t let things get too quiet.

Having Better Conversations

Great communication leads to a positive dynamic. Both sides feel that their contributions are understood; both sides feel plugged-in and part of the outcome as a whole.

Mutual understanding lays a strong foundation. There is no need to question intent, and anything left unsaid is assumed positive—all achieved by talking it through.

Starting more conversations

When you get busy it can feel like to-do lists are just dropping from the sky. But you won't get people to open-up if you don't seem receptive. It’s a two-way street, so do your part to speak up.

Asking about teammates’ challenges

“How is everything?” isn’t enough; surface-level questions get appropriately shallow responses. Be curious about what people are up against, and show enough interest to check-in. 

Giving and getting better context

Being informed means it’s less likely you'll ever feel left out. But you also give context to other people, and part of communicating well is recognizing the things they might like to know. You’ll get better feedback by giving better feedback.

Scheduling water-cooler moments

Remote teams, this one is important. It’s easy to feel like you’re interrupting people with this stuff. It’s easy to feel awkward when talking about your work, challenges, struggles, and uncertainty.

But it’s better than the alternative. The silence creates confusion, which causes disconnect, which inevitably leads to friction. Friction with those you respect must be worked out, or it will eventually rear its ugly head through conflict.

Better to break the silence than to let the silence break you.