It has been more than a year since we started working from home, that has become the new normal. Though there are tons of benefits of remote working and time management it would be the future work trend for the corporate world, there are several disadvantages of this concept too. One of the major disadvantages is continuous video meetings, zoom calls, team meetings, and too many messages from the team.
Though team meetings are important, they do break the flow of work and hamper your time management skills in various ways. How can we manage time and communicate with our team members at once? The answer lies in asynchronous communication. With the help of asynchronous communication. Companies can use various tools including chat software, time tracking tools, project management tools, and the like to establish asynchronous communication.
Types Of Asynchronous Communication
Asynchronous communication is an indirect method of communicating with team members during work time. Here, you do not have to remain constantly on video calls or attend meetings, and can still give regular updates to your managers. Here are some of the types of asynchronous communication that you can use. We will go through these methods in brief.
1. Email
As we say, if a meeting can be done over an email, then why bother wasting the internet over zoom calls? Emails are the simplest form of asynchronous communication. You can write an email to your entire team and avoid wasting time over elongated meetings. Moreover, the response rate of emails is faster as compared to other modes of communication. You can even attach PPTs, word files, documents, and different types of data or content in an email.
Email tools can easily be connected with a CRM system. There are some systems where email and CRM functions are connected, like CRM integrated with Outlook.
2. Forums
Forums are basically channels created for asking questions and establishing discussions. Here, you can ask a question or raise your doubts, and any team member who knows the answer will reply to that question. It avoids wasting time over phone calls and texting several people for clearing doubts. There are various software and forum tools that many companies have used and got good results.
3. Chatting
This is not WhatsApp chat. When it comes to asynchronous communication, it is necessary to keep in mind that instant chat always remains handy to give updates or get instructions. Project managers and employees can leverage the benefits of professional group chats or instant messaging alike. Most task management software can provide this feature.
Apart from this feature, we can also consider more professional platforms for group chats including Discord, Slack, and other such tools. Here, you can directly communicate with people and ask a question in the group. Even if the tagged person is not present, other people would be able to clear your doubt.
4. Time Tracking Tool
Instead of asking for regular updates and the amount of time spent on the project, companies can shift to time tracking tools and have a proper idea about how their employees are working. It would save time for both employees and employers. Employees can do their work easily without being required to give any updates every day, and the project manager would be able to view the status of individual team members without any difficulty. A customized time tracking software with user-friendly features can increase the efficiency and productivity of users or team members.
Companies Using Asynchronous Tools
Before “Work From Home” became a norm, several companies have provided remote working facilities to their employees and have mastered it. Here are some of the most famous companies that use unique ways of Asynchronous communication to converse with their employees.
1. Zapier
Zapier has one of the unique modes of communication that you would have ever seen. Instead of having calls and group chats, Zapier has shifted to the company’s blog for communicating with employees. The employees write a blog about their projects, updates, and other important things that everyone can read. It helps in getting regular updates without having to make any calls or meetings. The company’s blog can be a highly effective communication medium as everyone is connected to it and employees like to read their company’s blogs regularly.
2. Doist
Doist has acquired the idea of assigning unique folder names for better viewing of the projects on hand. Most of the time, we have the same names for documents which can confuse other team members and managers. To make it simpler, Doist provides a unique serial number for every document that enables transparency and eliminates the chances of confusion among team members.
3. GitLab
GitLab uses Slack for all types of communication. However, they have one rule: do not message anyone individually. You need to tag the person in any channel and then ask your question or doubt there itself. By doing so, other people having the same doubt would also get it clearer easily. Besides, other people knowing the answer can give an answer to the question as well. It saves team members from remaining busy in unnecessary chats or gossip.
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4. Invasion
Invasion uses video messaging instead of video calls. By doing so, the managers effectively deliver the message and leave little space for doubts. Besides, video messages give a wider scope for explaining things to the employees so that there are no mistakes. You can present a small topic, new project, deliver important messages, and more through video messaging. Instead of going on zoom calls and waiting for everyone to join, you can simply send a video message for the same.
Concluding Lines
If remote working is going to be the future, then asynchronous communication would be the catalyst for better performance and productivity. With time management technique everyone can achieve their task on given time and boost their productivity level. There are various software and task management tool available that can help you to communicate with your team members effectively without wasting any time.
Asynchronous communication doesn’t have any effect on time management and would rather help in increasing productivity by a higher margin. Companies who switch to such communication methods make it easier for their employees to work easily without having to attend several calls and meetings. Asynchronous communication can keep your team members away from work-related distractions effectively.
