What does 'professional communication' mean to you in a remote, cross-cultural setting?

Situation

In my first VA role, my client was from Texas and preferred very direct, bullet-pointed Slack updates. Coming from a more indirect Filipino communication style, I initially sent long, polite paragraphs with lots of 'if it's okay with you' and 'just wanted to check.'

Task

I needed to adapt my style to match his expectation of speed and clarity without coming across as cold.

Action

I asked him in one of our weekly calls: 'I'd like to make sure my updates are what you need; do you prefer short bullet points or more context?' He appreciated that I asked and said shorter was better. After that, I switched all updates to a Slack format: a quick 'Hey [Name], here's today's progress:' with three bullet points and next steps. I stopped using hedging words and stopped apologizing for things that weren't errors. I also learned to read his time zone: he checked messages at 7am his time, so I'd have my update waiting.

Result

He said my communication became 'refreshingly clear' and started trusting me with higher-value tasks, like drafting emails to his investors. It improved our working relationship so much that he extended my contract without me asking.