March 16, 2021

145: Communication Beyond Email, Slack and Zoom with Josh Little

30 minutes

Our modes of communication have grown seemingly exponentially over the past few decades. From email to texting, Slack to Zoom, we’re communicating faster than ever before. Yet, even with the combination of tools at our disposal, there are still moments when none of them are quite right.

While you might be thinking, oh no, not another communications app, consider this: We have yet to harness the power of video in asynchronous communications at work. It’s grown in popularity for social connecting so consider how it might enhance your existing communications to build relationships and move work forward.

Today’s guest is Josh Little. Josh is the founder of four tech companies–Maestro, Bloomfire, Qzzr, and Volley–that have collectively been used by hundreds of millions of people. His work has been featured in Tech Crunch, Mashable, Entrepreneur, Inc., and Forbes. With two successful exits and a third pending, he’s currently on a mission to save the working world from death-by-meetings with his fourth creation, Volley.

Josh and I talk about how to connect with your team using video messaging. We talk about how to make our communications more effective, efficient and inclusive, plus more good stuff.

Members of The Modern Manager get my guide to team communication tools. In it, I share my approach and tips for which apps are best suited to which types of communication needs. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.

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Read the related blog article: Why Email and Zoom Are Hurting Our Teams And What Else To Use

KEEP UP WITH JOSH

Website: https://www.volleyapp.com/

Key Takeaways:

Historically, asynchronous communications are written like email and text is; we read and respond at any time.

Historically, synchronous communications are meetings; we need to be present with each other at the same time to communicate.

The Volley app offers a unique opportunity for asynchronous, video communication.

The problem with communicating via text and email is that it wastes a lot of time. The average person types 19 words per minute but can speak 150 words per minute.

We lose about 93% of the communication that comes from voice, tone and body language. This often leads to miscommunications or the need for many back-and-forth messages.

In person or Zoom meetings require us to set aside chunks or our day and disrupt our ability to get into deep work.

Asynchronous communications allow people time to think before responding which can lead to greater engagement from introverts and deeper thinking overall.

Teams using Volley have experienced a strengthening in relationships and more “water-cooler” type talk.

Managers have also used Volley with individuals on their team which has enabled more natural conversations to unfold, leading to continued alignment and faster speed of work.

Different work tech apps serve different purposes. Slack is good for simple information sharing. Zoom or in-person meetings are best for emotionally charged topics, complex discussion, as well as weekly team meetings.

Introduce Volley to your team as an experiment. Try it out for one topic to get your team excited about what it has to offer instead of demanding a transition onto the platform as the new way to work.

Additional Resources:

Episode 45: Invest in Meaningful One-on-Ones

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By Mamie Kanfer Stewart

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