At the outset of any professional relationship, there’s a period of definition. A time when both parties are figuring out “how this is going to work.”
Each person goes in with their own set point and expectations, based on their preferences and experience.
Their behaviors at the outset communicate how much this relationship will be similar to / different from those expectations. Things like:
- Content: what topics are in or out
- Tone: how formal or informal
- Communication style: pithy to verbose
- Pace: how quickly we respond (communicates: how important are these things versus all my other things)
- Energy: high or low
- Structure: high or low
- Deadlines: are hit early / always / sometimes / never
- Follow up: airtight / pretty good / loose / terrible
Especially with remote working relationships, our first few interactions are amplified.
They communicate what sort of path we are both on.
So it might be worth thinking twice: what are you communicating with that second email, that third Slack message, the time you propose for a first call, or how good your first deliverable is to someone new?
Human beings are hard-wired to fill in the blanks.
You can use that to your advantage.
