Click bait Line : The one skill you need now

If you want to read the final message and move to the next article, here it is.

Forget everything, pick up the habit of setting calls. It does wonders!

In the remote world, decisions, dependencies, discussions all need meetings to be set on time, run efficiently and if you add the dimension of time zone, not doing them on time & efficiently have cascading impacts. However, there is a lot of inertia to set calls. These are some of the blockers we have to set calls on time and responses for the same.

I really don't know if the other person is free

This is one of the standard problems that happens when we don't have visibility of everyone across different organization. My recommendation is set a standard time every day and agree with everyone to keep that time slot free.

Let me gather all details

This one really hurts - some of us find it difficult to set a timeline, work out details backwards and plan accordingly. Instead, they prefer to collect all details first and then set the call by which time we lose the day or context or sometimes people's availability and this has cascading effect. The worst thing that could happen is that you have to postpone the call or modify the agenda with available information.

How can I invite X to the call ...?

Often, inviting the right set of stakeholders to the meeting makes it 5x effective. Having said that, there is an hesitation if a particular powerful stakeholder should be invited to the meeting, as the stakes gets shifted to a higher level - the decision time comes down when the right stakeholders are involved as the stakes (overall) is high and there is an implicit pressure to make the meeting effective and efficient.

Ah, I don't get any time slots free !

With remote, this problem has exacerbated a lot. We have no choice but to rework some of our calendars by explaining the priority, the impact of the meeting. Unfortunately, there is a mindset that blocks in calendar are brick blocks that can't be moved and results in decisions delayed due to calls no set on time.

Its at odd hours

Unlike others, this is a valid concern, arising out of empathy to colleagues. Unfortunately, this is extended too far to completely ignore a possibility of asking the colleague if it's fine for them (for that instant) and doing some checks if such calls are frequent. Especially, if you are working in time zones that are 5 hours apart, this is inescapable. As far as we take the person into confidence and don't assume his time is a real estate free of cost, this is fine.

Like any other skill, you start doing it more, learning how to do it efficiently and over a period of time, effectively.