At Colere, we all work remotely and heavily lean on effective and inclusive communication. Our teams are diverse and members bring in various backgrounds and perspectives. Below are some guidelines and tools that everyone can practice utilize during their time at Colere. We encourage members to use their best judgement to use the right tool/resources at the right time.

Effective and Inclusive Language

• Use simple and inclusive language. Members come from all walks of life. They may be more confident or familiar with a language that you are not familiar with. When in doubt, consider using the language so that everyone can excite themselves.
• Help each other out. If there are members who are not confident with a language, a team mate should help out by relaying or translating important information. What matters is that everyone is playing their part in trying to understand the intent behind the communications. It should not be one-sided.
• Preferred language. ****As we grow, we are aiming to use English as our primary language for internal communication. However, we acknowledge that not everyone you communicate with is comfortable with it. In the meantime, we are in the process of utilizing both Japanese and English.
  • Project leaders may choose the right language for their projects. For example, the members in the Product Market Fit team may want to encourage using English as a group.
  • Try to write documents or presentations in English. Relying on visuals may help to communicate your intentions without sacrificing language barriers.
  • Whenever vocally presenting, use Japanese if needed.
  • We encourage everyone to use English to communicate in Slack’s general channel.

<aside> 💡 Resources: • DeepL - A Google Chrome extension for translation help • Slack Stickers - For English and Japanese

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Tools

Slack
Slack is our office! Just like when you see someone in the hallway, say hi to your coworkers or respond to their posts. React with colorful emojis. Questions or specific requests to the team? Post them in the 'General' channel. That is our primary channel to share important announcements. Make sure you are in at least the 'General', 'Random', and relevant project-related channels. It's also helpful to indicate your time zone in your profile. Your coworker may be sleeping when you have a rough idea that you want to share. Don't hesitate to Slack them, they will check your message when they are in their 'core business hours'.

Notion Notion is our primary documentation tool. We use it to write and store important information about Colere and running projects. Meeting notes are typically stored here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA7si7AmPkY

<aside> 💡 Resource: Notion Training Video: The basics

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G-Suite (Email, Presentation, Calendar, and Meetings) Our secondary communication tool. Use this to email mainly external stakeholders, create presentations, or schedule meetings.

Meetings We all work across different time zones, so it could be challenging to find a time that fits all necessary team members. Turn on the time zone function on your Google Calendar - that will help you see availability across time zones. Schedule a meeting when you see a time slot where all members are free. If not, feel free to send them a Slack message to coordinate further.

Keep in Mind

<aside> ⚠️ Drop a Slack message even if it’s a small thing. Allow time for response! Even if someone didn't react, it doesn't mean that they ignore you entirely. They could be offline, in a meeting, or be having a rough day. Someone will respond when they can - just be patient or mindful that we all have lives. If it's an urgent request, try tagging someone specific in the message to get their attention.

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<aside> ⚠️ Use Slack channels Use channels instead of DMs to communicate with each other so that others are on the same page. This goes back to how we value transparency. If you have a thought or idea, feel free to post in a channel where all members can see it. Working remotely can feel isolated, but the more we are transparent about how we communicate, the more we feel connected to each other. Even if it's small things like a last-minute thought about projects, make sure to use the channel. We want to disclose the information so that members can see it when they want to. It's part of inclusive communication. No surprises. We want to minimize gaps between information sharing.

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