Inter-team communication guidelines

Hi,

I hope you enjoyed the first issue of my newsletter. Thanks a lot for the feedback shared as comments and mail.

In this issue, we will talk about communication and ever-growing teams.

When you go from a hand full of people all reporting directly to the founders in one office to 40 people in 3 offices (and remote), communication challenges creep in.

When we were all working on one floor when we saw a fire (contingency), we put it out and moved on with our work. It didn’t take people on a spiral. With additional locations, departments and reporting layers, the news of a fire (contingency) reaches the top,

• more slowly
• affects more people and
• requires more time, effort and energy to put out

We had to consider two things here:

• How to avoid some avoidable fires (contingencies)?
• If and when a fire occurs, how to minimize impact?

Getting people on the same page (literally) has helped us immensely with the above-mentioned questions.

We drafted one-pager guideline documents with clear do’s and don’ts and circulated the same in an organization-wide mail.

Screenshot of the mail:

Note- The guidelines are drafted considering our current context - a growing team with many freshers/trainees and processes still under development. It is not to micromanage people, but to provide handrails until processes are in place.

1. Guidelines for Inter-Team Communication:

General Guidelines

1.??????Treat each other with courtesy and respect

2.??????We are all here to serve the customer

3.??????Keep personal egos aside, always put the organization above everything

4.??????Don’t assume anything. When in doubt ask for clarification or details

5.??????Maintain TOPPGEM- in all your dealings, and lead by example. (Trust, Openness, Poise, Patience, Genuineness, Empathy and Maturity) ?

Specific Guidelines

1.???Document all communications by mail (cc to both teams’ managers)

• All requests for details, documents or other information should be through mail only.
• All documents are to be shared via mail only.
• No documents or information should be shared without sending and receiving team managers on cc.
• Deadlines and other expectations must be communicated via mail, not MS Teams or WhatsApp. (MS Teams is for quick updates only, it doesn’t substitute mail.)
• For urgent matters, if communication happens through mobile (example- when a person is in the client’s place), a mail should be sent documenting the conversation for common understanding.
• Acknowledgement of all emails within 24 Hrs is compulsory

2.???All Tasks/Deadline to have 4 components –

• Date
• Specific Time (Deadline invalid if only date is available) Example – Evening is not acceptable – Say 4 PM or 6 PM
• Primary Responsibility (Compulsory) and Secondary Responsibility (When Possible)
• Escalation – Reporting manager (Both teams) (When required)

3.???Urgency and Importance:

• Share information on the work’s priority (importance) and urgency. A, B or C for both Priority and Urgency.
• However, don’t transfer your fear or frustration to the other party in your tone. Maintain Poise.

4.???When a deadline cannot be met or it is doubtful, inform concerned parties at the earliest that there might be a delay and the reason.?

5.???Delay in escalation or updates about challenges, deprives concerned managers of valuable time to deal with it. Therefore, keeping people updated is critical. We don’t like surprises.

Common Understanding-

1.???If it is not documented, it did not happen

• We don’t like to get into “he said”, “she said” arguments?

2.????Escalation of unresolved points is not complaining or snitching, or talking behind?

2. Behaviour Guidelines

Will be shared in the next issue :) Click subscribe to stay tuned!

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