Effective communication is one of the pillars of good business practices. It helps us work together, stay true to our goals, and maximize effort in the right places. As such, being always online or always available may seem like a must. The reality is – this notion is not actually correct.
While being reachable is very important, the always-on mode does not equal effectiveness. In fact, more often than not, our productivity suffers greatly from frequent interruptions and lack of focus.
According to workflow consultant Edward G. Brown, interruptions at work can cost a company up to 6 productive hours every day. Which adds up to quite a lot of time over the stretch of weeks and months. This is an issue that can be managed by instilling asynchronous communication practices.
Let us explore what they mean and how they may benefit your cause.
What is Asynchronous Communication?
Asynchronous communication describes all communication efforts that happen indirectly between the involved parties.
This means, there is no live interaction between the people communicating with one another. Good examples of this are – emails, messaging platforms, or leaving comments on documents. All of which allow the sender to reach out to the receiver, without expecting an immediate response.
Similarly, employing CPU optimization software can enhance asynchronous operations in systems, optimizing tasks without real-time intervention.
Contrary to synchronous communication methods such as live meetings and video calls, not all interacting parties have to be present. As a result, this provides a lot more flexibility to those involved and in turn, can boost your team’s productivity.
You may not see the connection just yet, so let’s continue the thought.
How is Asynchronous Communication Implemented?
At this point, you may be saying – ‘Okay, we already use the mentioned tools, so we must be doing the asynchronous communication.’
Well, this may both be true and not true. Applying the asynchronous communication practices within your team or company goes a little further beyond just using the tools that allow it. In fact, such implementation requires a mindset change before any headway can be made.
For example, let’s say your company agrees to try out the practice, but the team members continue to expect their queries to be answered immediately. In such a case, there is no difference whether that is done in person, or in a Slack channel. As it creates a disturbance in the workday and takes you away from what you have been doing prior.
To implement asynchronous communication, you should aim to create new guidelines on the speed and frequency at which each communication channel should be checked.
Similarly to the upward communication practices, this provides your team with guidance on where each request should be communicated and what sort of a waiting period can be expected.
For example, the guide may look something like this:
- Urgent customer requests – Communicate directly to the team member, expected answer time 30 minutes.
- Time-sensitive queries – Communicate through the messaging platform, expected answer time up to 2 hours.
- Task-related queries – Communicate through the project management software, expected answer time up to a day.
Having such guidelines within your team will help you with managing expectations and will create space for more focused work.
So now that we have the implementation part of this practice down, let’s look at the benefits you may expect.
5 Ways Asynchronous Communication Improves Productivity
Implementing asynchronous communication will bring certain benefits to your team. As mentioned previously, there will be a lot more flexibility to your day, fewer interruptions, and pressure to be in the ‘always-on’ mode.
Here is how those benefits will translate to the productivity of you and your team.
1. It Will Create Space for Deep Work
One of the most common causes for loss of productivity is interruptions and not being able to enter the flow of deep work. According to research published in the Harvard Business Review, executives reported being up to 5 times more productive when in flow.
This in turn means that not entering that state of work due to frequent interruptions or an overload of meetings will cost you productivity and extend the time required for your tasks.
A good practice to try out is scheduling deep work hour blocks in the day. This way, no other meetings will be booked for that time, you will be able to turn off notifications and focus solely on the task at hand.
2. It Will Create a Communication Trail
Another important thing to note when talking about asynchronous communication is the fact, that all of it is written and as such immediately documented. By using this method, you will be using asynchronous collaboration tools and creating an instant communication trail that can be used when needed.
For example, you may go back to the discussion you had about implementing certain changes in the process. Allowing you to see what was discussed, when, and what was changed. Since businesses move quite fast these days, having a log of your decisions can be very handy.
3. It Will Improve the Communication Style
When talking about communication practices within your team, it is very important to mention that just the tools and guidelines will not be enough to ensure their effectiveness. A large part of your success relies on being able to communicate clearly.
Having to go back and forth or even worse completing a task to only find out it was supposed to be done differently will end up costing you. Which is a common problem for younger companies. You can learn more about the common struggles in this guide on startup communication.
Having to write out the tasks and requirements when communicating with your colleagues, makes us think about what is written with more focus. In turn, this improves the communication style overall and helps increase productivity.
4. It Will Accommodate Distributed Teams
Long gone are the days when all of the team is sitting in the same office. Now, most of us work in hybrid or fully remote environments. One of the biggest benefits of this is not having to be located in a specific place. Which also broadens the perspective talent pool the company can choose from.
By utilizing asynchronous communication practices, you are also accommodating the distributed team model. Allowing your team members to choose when they work as long as the general rules are abided by and important meetings are attended.
This promotes productivity and boosts morale as everyone feels more in control of their time. Here are some more effective communication strategies for remote teams.
5. It Will Encourage Adjusting Personal Schedules
Lastly, and this was briefly mentioned in the previous point, by implementing these communication changes you will encourage the team to take control of their time. They will have the freedom to work when feeling the most productive and thus will become more effective in delivering their tasks.
Asynchronous communication allows you to take back control of your calendar and put in the time that is needed to perform great work.
Final Thoughts on Asynchronous Collaboration and Productivity
Initially it may seem counterintuitive to say that your team is not required to answer e-mails and various queries immediately. In some departments that is truly the case. However, for most specialist work, there is a level of concentration needed to do the job. Which is always killed by interruptions, frequent meetings, and other requests.
This is a case where asynchronous communication practices become very important. They allow us to make sure that important requests are not being delayed, while at the same time giving the time and space to do the deep-focus work. Improving productivity and overall performance of the team.
Have you tried asynchronous communication? What was your experience?
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