The Rule of 1:1, The Power Pause, Demoing the Impact 🗣️
☕ It’s been one of those weeks where I’ve been thinking a lot about the little things that make a big difference.
Whew, it’s been a long week for me. How is it going for you?
It’s been one of those weeks where I’ve been thinking a lot about the little things that make a big difference.
Just yesterday, during a team sync, I realized I was rushing through a status update so quickly that even I couldn’t make much sense of what I had just said. I stopped ✋, took a deep breath 😮💨, and started over ⏭️ — this time I spoke more slowly and clearly. It felt so much better, and I could tell it landed well with the team too.
I feel that small tweaks in how we communicate can totally change how we’re seen at work. That’s where I’m focusing this week, and I’ve got some thoughts to share with you.
1. The Rule of 1:1
I used to get caught up in over-explaining when I had to walk someone through something complex, especially if they weren’t as deep into the technical weeds. But then one of my colleagues told me about a great way to simplify my explanations with just one 💡 metaphor and one 👀 visual.
For example, if I’m explaining our system’s performance improvement, I might say, “Our system is like a highway—we’re adding lanes to handle more traffic. Here’s a quick diagram of how that looks.”
That metaphor, paired with a simple visual, makes it way easier for someone to follow along. It’s helped me keep things clear, whether I'm talking to a teammate or a stakeholder, especially for people who may not have the same technical context as I do.
2. Pause for Impact
🙋 I used to feel the pressure to answer questions in meetings right away, especially when they were trivial.
I attended my company’s All hands meeting, which is a meeting where the senior leadership team (think CEO, CTO) responds to questions from employees. There I noticed that leaders would:
👀 acknowledge the question
⏳ take 2-3 seconds to pause before responding
I started mimicking this behavior, and I felt that it gave me a second to think, and more importantly, made me look a whole lot more confident.
I used this strategy during a meeting last week when someone threw a question my way. Instead of rushing to answer, I took a moment to think it through. When I spoke, I felt a lot more clear-headed and in control. I also got a much better response from the team.
It’s a small shift that can totally change how your answers land.
3. Demo the ‘Why’
🥱 Over time, I have found that people don’t usually care about what you did until they learn how it helps someone. When I used to share my accomplishments with my team, I would feel proud of myself, but I noticed others didn’t really show the enthusiasm I expected.
😃 After thinking about this for a bit, I started sharing my accomplishments in a different way - by framing my work around the impact it had on others. Others started showing more enthusiasm as soon as I did this.
I feel like this is such a subtle thing that you can go your entire career without noticing. But, one small change can make all the difference in how your team members view you, and more importantly, your impact.
This hack makes your accomplishments stand out and feel more connected to the team’s goals 🎯. I think that’s the simple reason why it works so well.
Next time, instead of saying, “I improved the API response time,” try framing it with the bigger picture: “By improving the response time, users can check out 20% faster, which means fewer abandoned carts and higher sales.”
Resource Corner
Curated Picks to Boost Your Work & Personal Growth
📊 PowerBI
A solid visual analytics tool
Helps you tell data-driven stories
It doesn’t necessarily work well for every use case, but if you’re diving into visual analytics and already use Microsoft products, it’s worth checking out
💰 Mint
Budgeting app with wealth tracking features.
Syncs bank accounts, tracks expenses, and automates savings.
Offers credit score access, financial goal tracking, and bill alerts
Curated list of 100+ tech conferences happening globally
Covers industries from SaaS to FinTech to startups
Focuses on North America, perfect for planning your conference calendar next year
Celebrating Community Wins
Here’s what we crushed this week:
👏 "Built my first Slack automation to ticket github issues and shared it with my team. They loved it!"
- DevOps Engineer (3 YOE)
👏 "Finally completed that AWS cert I’ve been working on for 6 months."
- Cloud Engineer (1 YOE)
👏 "Posted my first reddit post today mentioning OnboardedHQ!"
- OnboardedHQ Author (4 YOE)
🚀 We’re so proud of these wins! Got a victory to share? Reply to this email or drop it in the comments to get featured next week!
👉 Got a communication tip that’s worked wonders for you? Hit reply and let me know— I’d love to share it!
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I wish you a great week ✨
Until next time,
Sonika