← Remote Work Glossary

Proactive Communication

Sharing updates, blockers and context before being asked — the defining skill of effective remote workers.

Proactive communication means keeping others informed without prompting: posting progress, flagging blockers early, and writing down context so no one has to chase you. In an office, presence signals this; remotely, your written updates are the only signal your teammates have.

It is the trait distributed teams screen for hardest, because it replaces the visibility an office provides. Master it and you become the kind of remote colleague managers trust with autonomy.