Communication Standards

SKIP TO NEXT TOPIC: OBJECTIVES The following standards are put in place in order to make sure that everyone has access to the information they need, and knows where to go and how to find it.Items marked with 🎪 are directed towards Catering Crew specifically, but the same general principles will apply to Wait Staff and Kitchen Staff. 🎪 Core Standard: Have conversations on Discord Check e-mail for tasks assignments & instructions. Use comments so that others can see what happened 🎪Catering Crew Assignment🎪: Turn on notifications for all messages in the Event Thread on Discord. For planning arrangements or logistics leading up an event, use the event thread on Discord. When sharing photos of an event, use the event thread on Discord For all conversations occuring while team members are on-site at an event, use the event thread on Discord. Shared Group Inboxes Sharing Contact Info with Shows: Event applications and showrunners contact is through events@sushitomodachi.co Recieving Info for Shows: You will recieve instructions and training e-mails leading up to, and during the con, from crew@sushitomodachi.co 🎪 Communicating with Tina A few notes about me and my communication style! 🎪Please check for instructions before asking! I have been doing my best to make as much information available to you as possible so you can find answers on your own using the Team dashboard or by asking others. I try to include links to related help articles directly within workspaces, such as: sushitomodachi.co/team has a Help section at the bottom Discord Help is built into Discord (!help) Con materials contain laminated print outs Work spreadsheets will always include Instructions or an Instructions tab. Team Resources Articles will include links to related materials, and visa versa. If you were unable to find instructions, please bring it to my attention and use the specific statement: "I was looking for instructions on {thing} in {location}, but didn't find what I was looking for." 🎪If you ask, ask the team first! If you cannot find any guidance on the Team Resources blog, ask in the #staff-work-chat channel on Discord and consult the hivemind to see if anyone else might be aware of something you've missed. If you ask me, remember that I am an introvert! This means I have a very limited social battery and struggle to juggle many social demands at once. Here are a few things to keep in mind when speaking with me. I tend to lose DMs! If it does not need immediate, emergency attention, please write it down and bring it to the Tuesday Team Meeting where I can be prepared to plan ahead for incoming requests. I may be brief - This is done in the spirit of efficiency and clarity and is not an indicator of my emotional state or feelings about your performance! I use emojis! I will use emojis as acknowledgement without response often, (see above) - If a deeper response is needed please ask me a direct question! I will be direct! I will do my best to provide honest feedback on your performance when my expectations are not being met. Those who are able to accept this feedback in the spirit of growth that it is intended in are best suited to thrive here. I appreciate when you can be direct with me as well! I like folks who let me know what they need to succeed. I want to help, and it's hard to do so when I don't know something is wrong. I'd rather know about issues sooner and find a solution together than be told yes and have someone upset with me later! Failure is expected! Failure is how we identify problems in the process or education. Additional communication standards include: Whitelist Emails: Upcoming event openings and instructions will be e-mailed to you, so make sure we're whitelisted so you don't miss them. 🎪Use Discord to have conversations: This is when you need to ask questions about something. This is not considered proper documentation though, so make sure that once you have an answer, you... 🎪Use comments for documenting: Part of the work includes ensuring that -anyone-, even a day one newbie, will be able to open up the order or customer and have all the information they need to make progress. For example... Working on an order? Comment on the order Working on a customer who needs help with multiple orders? Comment on the customer profile. Have a question about an article? Comment your question in the article itself! Reference the Commenting Guide for templates for specific scenarios ✅Emoji Use: In cases where it seems that no response is nessecary, Tina will do her best to react to messages using a ✅ emoji in order to indicate acknowledgement. If you recieve this reaction to a message where a decision or direction was expected or needed, please clarify directly. 🎪For Immediate Responses: If an immediate response or decision is needed, call Tina or your lead on the phone. Assignment: Provide Tina/your lead your phone number so she can add it to her white list so she will pick up! 📝 Mandatory Tuesday Team Meeting Details The call is mandatory for Wait & Kitchen Crew Join even if Tina is not available, each person must answer the following questions: What was your area of focus & primary goal last week? (i.e. I was on Automations last week, and my primary goal was to investigate and resolve the Selection bug that was assigning selections to the wrong orders.) What did you do, and was it effective?(i.e. I checked the triggers, and I found some clues there.) What is your next step, or if you completed your goal, what will you focus on next this week?(i.e. I was able to fix it! I will watch the logs to confirm it's resolved but I'm confident enough to start on the other bug reported with...) Team Meeting should take no longer than 50 minutes, and should end if all attention items have been discussed. If a topic will take more than 5 minutes to discuss, ask to schedule a 20 minute meeting with whoever you need to talk to after the Team Meeting. Tuesday Call Schedule: General Team Meeting is always 9AM pt (11am CT) 🎪CATERING CREW 🎪call is always at 11AM PT (1PM CT) the Tuesday before an event 🎪Interpersonal Communication with Guests and Crew As a representative of Sushi Tomodachi, you are expected to behave professionally at all times when in a public setting. Please bring concerns and problems with the team or leadership up privately, such as back in the hotel room, or via a direct phone call when you are away from the booth. Emotional outbursts in front of the public are grounds for immediate dismissal and termination of any employment or work agreements. We understand that people are human, and that humans can become stressed - With this in mind, we do encourage constructive feedback regarding any problems or concerns you have while working at the Sushi Bar, provided that you commit to professionalism and maintain your composure while working at the Booth in front of Guests. That said, if something has caused you enough stress to be unable to contain your emotions, we will not punish anyone for showing emotions privately as long as they respect these communication standards. Note regarding social media: Behaviour and words on social media advocating for abuse against any party of any kind, regardless of any percieved justifications, is not in alignment with our shared goal of cultivating kindness, joy and happiness in the world. "Opinions are mine" is not considered suitable protection, and we reserve the right to curate our relationships with folks who uphold standards of professionalism and tact in public settings. This is not an expectation to hold any specific opinions or beliefs, only an expectation to behave with awareness. Website Color/Emoji Code We have a color/emoji code in place across the website as follows. When you see these frames around content on the website, it means this content is only visible to logged in users who have the proper credentials. ✨ VIP Content✨ This content is visible to accounts that have the 'vip' tag 🍤 Tasting Room Member Content 🍤 This content is visible to accounts that have their "Membership Status" metafield set to "Membership Active" 🔪 Team Content 🔪 This content is visible to accounts that have the 'team' tag Additional Communication Tips Set Clear Expecations Clear communication will include: In your own words, repeat the topic or issue back to verify unified understanding. What you did, if you already took any action What the next step will be How you ensured that the next step will be taken care of. How the next update will be recieved When to expect the next update DO THIS "I looked into why you didn't recieve your shirt after you ordered it at the last convention! I viewed the order history, and found that a step was missed, so it didn't get flagged properly. I corrected this now and shared your order in our staff chat to get it moving. You will get an email with your tracking number once the label is printed." NOT THIS "I looked but I didnt see anything so I just told chat. They'll get back to you later." DO THIS "I want to work the booth at Anthrocon! I need to verify that I can get the time off before I commit to any travel. I can put in my PTO request when I go in tomorrow. I will let you know what the status is by 5PM Friday, sooner if I get approved before then." NOT THIS "Do you still need someone for the furry con? I just got my work schedule and I might be able to go on Sunday after my panel." Documentation is King Always leave a comment on the customer profile, including any file attachments (i.e. Discord Ticket Transcripts): Notate any interactions with the Guest so that we have a complete interaction history. These comments are broad and can provide context when multiple orders are affective. Any order comments should be noted on the individual order. Comment on orders if changes are made: Provide context for anyone reviewing the order in the future so they understand why something is the way it is. You are responsible for enabling your own follow through. Tina seeks to avoid micromanagement as much as possible, so everyone is encouraged to use whatever methods are most effective for them to follow through while still using group team tools to communicate progress & status. DO THIS You told Tina you wanted to make a pin design for a specific holiday. Tina said to follow the Pin Making SOP to see what to do. You review the SOP, which lists what the deliverables and deadlines for each are. You wrote the deadlines into the paper planner you already use, and schedule a one hour block of time where you commit to preparing the 3 Taste Test Sketches Deliverable. You work on them during the time block you set for yourself, just like you would with any other project. You join the weekly Team call on Tuesday and share what you prepared with the team, and check the blog for next steps. DO THIS You told Tina you wanted to make a pin design for a specific holiday. Tina said to follow the Pin Making SOP to see what to do. You create a card on your personal Trello board that you already use for managing your commissions to remind yourself to review the SOP later. You update the card with details when you review the SOP, just like you would if you were recieving commission details. You check the blog to find out how to turn in your work and proceed accordingly. NOT THIS You told Tina you wanted to make a pin design for a specific holiday. Tina said to follow the Pin Making SOP to see what to do. You figured you'll just sketch when you come up with an idea and worry about the SOP after you make the sketch. Three days before the holiday, you see another artist post about it on your feed so you suddenly remember you wanted to do it, so you scramble to sketch something now that you remembered (93 days after the due date needed for the pin to be made in time for the holiday.) NOT THIS You told Tina you wanted to make a pin design for a specific holiday. Tina said to follow the Pin Making SOP to see what to do. You wait for Tina to send you the link to the SOP. You figure Tina will send it when she's ready for you to start. She doesn't because she thought you had read the Communication Standards article as part of your onboarding, and had trusted you to start based on the guidance provided in the SOP alone. You erroneously presume Tina wasn't interested after all because she didn't personally follow up to ask about it. Your genius recipe idea is lost to lack-of-clarity hell. :( NEXT TOPIC: OBJECTIVES

Communication Standards

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