Communicate, Don't Suffocate or Isolate: Tips for Improving Work With Colleagues in Other Time Zones

“There’s only so many times people will accept ‘jet lag’ as an excuse for being late or for doing a terrible job.” ― Anonymous

Remember when one of the biggest things everyone dreaded coming to the office for on Mondays was the mandatory meeting to update everyone else on everyone’s individual activities and to hear any news for everyone? Try having that Monday morning meeting on a video conference call with people in several different time zones, such as in India, the Philippines, Tanzania, and several U.S. time zones. Yes: it’s not Monday morning at 9:00 in the office for everyone still wishing it were the weekend; some people are up past midnight when it’s technically Tuesday for them, or up at 6:00 in the morning EST for a 9:00 meeting PST.

With remote work and global collaboration the norm of the 21st century, as well as professionals fighting for fair expectations for their work commitment, a popular workaround for a meeting with everyone at the same time might be breaking things up into smaller meetings with relevant participants to accommodate schedules or sending pre-written or pre-recorded updates to be shared. On paper, this works, but more informally, people may end up either scheduling regular weekly meetings that may not be optimal or efficient, as it can get in the way of someone’s workflow, or may not be necessary when adequate information is exchanged via e-mail or even a Slack channel. Alternatively, you might even see people not engaging and communicating enough.

One suggestion that works in a less hierarchical organization instead of having regular meetings weekly is to instead give everyone the chance to make meeting requests: anyone can put in a request for a group meeting with relevant individuals for their respective responsibilities, going both ways, such as a manager and their charges and vice-versa. In a small group of 5-10 people, this may save time instead of having everyone sync up their schedules, it allows people with relevant overlapping duties contingent upon others and their contributions to organize their collaborative efforts together, for example: financial reports necessary for budget planning or for communicating with donors in a newsletter.

This is not a novel idea–it already happens, but what’s different here is to turn those meetings into less of a dreadful kind of anxiety-inducing situation from “How’s your work coming along?” or “We need to have a talk about your performance” and turn it into a “Hey, I need some help from these people for what I’m working on now and wanted to meet and talk about it, could you make some time to chat?” Yes, we are talking about both formal and informal meetings.

By encouraging people to initiate requests with both the people whom they report to and those who report to them, you erode some of the barriers that exist when people feel like meetings are a dreadful waste of their time. This helps because while some people, especially younger Millennials and Zoomers may prefer more guidance and can take advantage of the open door approach, others who are less-inclined to seek help and are more independent will appreciate it if meetings are more freeform and not obligatory. It’s especially important to operate this way when working with people internationally.

Here’s a few more short tips for following the two-way request when working with your international colleagues remotely:

Make sure your communication is more than just transactional. If you’re only talking with a colleague because you need something, your name will become associated with favors or demands. Even if your colleague may be shyer or more private, you can still give them a nice compliment for something like the t-shirt they wore that made you laugh or a comment they made that you appreciated. This creates more rapport.

When you are requesting a meeting, propose an outline in your e-mail request so people know what to expect and so you can stay within a time frame. Most people who are called into meetings don’t like being surprised or ambushed, so letting them prepare allows them to prepare their questions and feedback.

Don’t force people to adapt to your time zone or you to theirs–find a middle ground. Nobody wants to be awake at six in the morning or at eleven at night for a meeting on a regular basis. But if you spread the misery, you’ll at least have good company since you show that you’re willing to reciprocate and adjust for them from time to time.

Remember that not all Internet connections are top quality worldwide. Some people may have the best Internet service their country can offer, but it will still be far below what you expect. If you find a lot of frozen videos, poor audio quality, or dropped calls, give some time to adjust because the Internet is not considered a human right yet, so your patience is appreciated.

Don’t rely on only one application for your video calls or messaging. Remember that some applications are banned in certain countries or may not even be available due to local laws. Try to allow people to participate without being bogged down by their limitations, such as how Google Hangouts is not available for clients in China, but Zoom and Skype both are.

Don’t be too strict with meeting times. Remember that besides being in another timezone and that the quality of Internet service may be below your standards, your colleagues may be dealing with things such as countrywide blackouts or local weather conditions such as typhoons that might knock out power lines and telecommunications towers. It also helps to remember that people in the southern hemisphere don’t have the same seasonal cycle as the northern hemisphere, such as summer in Australia and New Zealand being in the months that people in the United States and Europe associate with winter.

There’s always a chance to re-schedule. When all else fails and assuming something isn’t urgent, you can hopefully find and make an opportunity to meet when things are more doable. One individual attempted to continue the meeting he was hosting during a raid when his city was invaded by a foreign military, and all the participants were more interested in his well-being than him continuing the seminar he was hosting that they paid for. People are happy to accommodate if it’s reasonable, so try to be reasonable yourself as well.