The Secret Sauce of Effective Conversations

Hi there,

It’s the end of the year, and we’re all pulled in so many directions. 🌪️

End-of-year reporting, retrospectives, 2024 planning… The list can feel like it never ends.

So today’s supercharge is short and sweet.

Remote Octopus will be back in your 2024 inboxes on Thursday 1/4! 📬

⚡ Supercharge of the Week

Start and end on time.

That’s it. That’s the secret sauce.

Whether you’re connecting 1:1 with a colleague or leading a major cross-functional retrospective, Remote Octopus recommends always starting and ending conversations on time.

Starting and ending on time demonstrates respect for colleagues’ schedules and commitments. When you consistently start and end on time, you’ll be building psychological safety and reliability.

A quick note from the real world: Yes, some calls will start a few minutes late. This is often due to back-to-back calendar scheduling. Strive to make these the exception, not the norm. If this is a pattern in your calendar, consider how you might rethink your call schedule and experiment with 25-minute meetings to allow for transition time.

🚀 Remote Octopus Resource of the Week

You spend a lot of time every week in meetings – whether it’s 18 hours or 32.9 hours, it feels like too much. 

So many of these meetings feel unnecessary or unproductive. 

Maybe you’ve even tried canceling recurring meetings or standing the entire time, but your conversations are still feeling unproductive.

Try supercharging your cross-functional conversations with a quick agenda template.

Check out The Agenda Template!

Looking for additional Remote Octopus resources? Explore here. 

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