The 1-10 Scale: Communication Hack for Working Remotely

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In every team and company, one of the most crucial elements of cohesive and well-oiled teams is great, clear communication. Every tip and trick and system that teams can put into place to improve communication is worthwhile. Sometimes that can mean just establishing common tools and traditions that are unique to the organization or team, and that everyone clearly understands.

Especially now that a lot of work is done by remote employees, teams have to rely more heavily on email, texting, phone calls, and other forms of communication that are not face to face with each other. That being said, even on video calls or in person, it is still incredibly important to do everything possible to avoid miscommunication.

A 2018 study by The Economist cited that “The consequences of communication breakdowns in the workplace can be seen through increased stress levels (52% of respondents), delay or failure to complete projects (44%), low company morale (31%), missed performance goals (25%), and lost sales (18%).” And those are the stats before the majority of workplaces switched to working remotely.

Here’s an extremely simple communication trick that you can use to help avoid miscommunication, whether that is in person, over email, text, or phone call.

One very simple tool I call the 1-10 Scale.

I'll explain how it works using a real world example from a conversation I had with a client recently. I think we can all relate to having some experience around this because at work, and just in life, we deal with very different communication styles and interpretation styles of that communication.

So here's the scenario: A director of a team was receiving some feedback from their team members, and it came out that some of them were afraid of this leader's communication due to the fact that they often interpreted that the leader was upset about something, but could never tell if the leader was actually upset or not.

Basically, this leader tends to be very directive in their communication, and very “This needs to happen,” without a lot of warm, feel-good language. Due to their very direct communication style, some members of the team often thought the leader was mad, or that something was very urgent, which wasn’t the case and this dynamic has caused static and unclear communication on the team many, many times.

I suggested that they apply this 1 to 10 scale.

Here’s how it works:

If you have a communication with someone else where there is chance that anything may be interpreted as having emotional weight behind it, it's really helpful to frame up that conversation by quantifying and clarifying where things fall on a scale of 1 - 10. So for example saying, “On a scale of 1-10, this is a 2 out of 10 for me in terms of how upset or emotionally fired up that I am, or how urgent this is.” Doing this helps to make it clear to the person on the receiving end what level of frustration or static or emotion is on the table.

“It leaves very little room for guessing or assuming, which can lead to a complete breakdown or miscommunication.”

How someone would need to react or respond based on it being a three vs being a nine are very different. It leaves very little room for guessing or assuming, which can lead to a complete breakdown or miscommunication. And if it is a high number, it opens the door for some dialogue about why the level is what it is and a conversation about what needs to be done about it.

Particularly with written communication, it's a really helpful way to add more information that can easily get missed or misinterpreted without being able to hear tone of voice, or observe facial expressions or body language, and other signals that we use to convey emotions and communication “data” to one another.

This same tool can be used to into several different situations and context, including:

Importance level, urgency level, emotional level, etc.

As you get used to using this tool and becoming familiar with it on your team or in your relationships, you can start to say things like, “In terms of emotional level, this is a 1, but urgency, it's a 10.”

Finally, in order to work, it requires honesty.

“The only way for this tool to be used effectively by teams is for everyone to be able to trust it.”

This tool won’t work at all if it’s not used with honesty and accuracy. In fact, if you try to use it but fudge the numbers and use it without being 100% honest it will do more damage than good to trust and communication.

Do not say that something is a 2 for you if it is something that you are actually really upset about. The only way for this tool to be used effectively by teams is for everyone to be able to trust it. It is not a tool designed to make people good, it is a tool to create more accuracy and clarity, so if you are dishonest with it, it will destroy both of those things.

That's it. Really simple, something you can apply in personal relationships, work relationships, romantic relationships, anywhere. It’s just another great tool to add to the belt in your mission and journey to become better, clearer communicators.

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This article was created by Galen Emanuele for the #culturedrop. Free leadership and team culture content in less than 5 minutes a week. Check out the rest of this month's content and subscribe to the Culture Drop at https://bit.ly/culturedrop 

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