I spent years building culture at a company where you could feel the energy the moment you walked in the door.
People knew each other. Really knew each other. The kind of workplace where someone's work anniversary got celebrated loud, where hallway conversations turned into real collaboration, where the energy of the room was something you could measure. It was not manufactured. It was earned, over time, by people who genuinely liked being together.
Then 2020 happened.
Almost overnight, that company went from fully in-office to fully remote. Then eventually into a hybrid model that we were all figuring out in real time. I was part of the leadership team navigating that shift. We had great intentions and almost no playbook. We tried things. Some worked. Some did not. We kept going.
I will save the remote work debate for another newsletter issue. That one deserves its own space.
What I want to talk about is the thing that made the difference. The behavior that separated the teams that stayed connected and effective from the ones that quietly drifted. The common thread I have seen hold across every working arrangement I have been part of since.
Working Out Loud.
Working Out Loud is not a tool. It is not a meeting cadence. It is not a Slack channel or a status update template.
It is a mindset. A commitment to making your work visible, your progress shareable, and your team included before the work is finished.
In a physical office, a lot of this happens naturally. Someone sees you at your desk. You mention what you are working on over lunch. The ambient awareness of a shared space does a lot of the heavy lifting without anyone thinking about it.
Remote removes that. Hybrid makes it inconsistent. And even in office, plenty of teams operate in silos where nobody knows what anyone else is doing until a meeting forces it.
Working Out Loud is the antidote. In any arrangement.
Here is what it actually looks like in practice.
Give updates before anyone has to ask.
Pick the people who need to know what you are working on. If you have ever used a RACI, you already know who they are. The people you consult. The people you need to inform. Do not wait for a check-in to update them. Do not wait until the work is done.
Send a Slack message. Drop a note in an email. Post a quick update in the channel where the work lives. Do it regularly and consistently enough that people start to count on it.
You think you are over-communicating. You are probably not. Provide so many updates that people would want to unsubscribe if they could.
That is the goal.
Ask questions out loud.
This one is not about performing. It is not about showing off what you are working on or positioning yourself as someone with big ideas.
It is about genuinely tapping the people around you who have knowledge, perspective, or context that would make your work better. Post a thoughtful question in a shared channel related to something you are actively working through. Tag the people who have relevant experience. Invite a small focus group into your thinking.
Two things happen when you do this well. The work gets better because more informed minds touched it. And the people around you stay connected to what you are doing without a meeting ever being scheduled.
Find your show and tell moments.
Most companies have all hands meetings, town halls, or team showcases where people can sign up to share something. Take advantage of them.
Not to promote yourself. To make your team's work visible at scale. Show what your team is building and what they are capable of. Explain how you operate. Let the rest of the organization see the work that usually happens behind closed doors.
These moments build credibility, create connection across functions, and invite collaboration you would never have gotten otherwise.
Make recognition public and specific.
Cross-functional work is one of the best opportunities for this. When someone outside your team helps you move something forward, say so out loud. Name the person. Name the team. Describe the work context so people understand why it mattered.
Do it informally. Post it on Slack. Send an email and copy their manager. Use whatever recognition program your company has if one exists.
The specificity is what makes it land. A vague thank you disappears. A clear, public acknowledgment of what someone did and why it made a difference stays with people.
Give yourself permission to use whatever tools work.
I try to embrace new technology. That means I also give myself permission to use the latest methods available even when it requires trial and error. The tools for working out loud keep evolving. Whatever your tech stack is, find the combination that lets you communicate progress without adding meetings.
Some of it will not stick. That is fine. The behavior matters more than the platform.
Here is the thing about Working Out Loud that I want you to take with you.
This is not just a personal habit. It is a team culture.
When you start doing it, you are modeling something. You are showing your team what visible, proactive, generous communication looks like. And over time, if you bring them with you, it becomes the way the whole team operates.
Do not overthink it. Update someone who has been waiting longer than they should have to hear from you.
That is where it starts.
What founders and execs are telling me right now:
The leaders I work with care deeply about communication. What breaks down is the consistency. Updates happen when things go well or when something is urgent. The in-between goes quiet.
That silence is where teams start to feel disconnected. Not because anything went wrong. Just because nobody said anything.
The fix is simpler than most people expect. More updates. More questions asked in the open. More recognition that names real people doing real work.
You do not need a new tool or a new process. You need a new default.
Before you go, here is something to help you get started. Paste the prompt from the PDF below into any AI and get one specific action built around how you actually work.
First Impressions is a newsletter about the moments that shape how employees experience work. Published by Myke Mansberger.