How to improve asynchronous communication for hybrid work 

Hybrid workplaces are the future of work. To adopt new work patterns, companies need to introduce new work policies and repurpose several practices used in the traditional work culture. One such primary aspect that has seen significant transformation is – Workplace communication.  

With remote work becoming mainstream, employers have tailored the way they collaborate with their teams. Apart from emails, several video conferencing and instant messaging tools have become an important part of a team’s communication process in workplaces today.  In the pre-pandemic era, a workplace meant a physical office with employees, an environment where team communication was heavily synchronous. Meetings and conferences added to the hustle of the workplace. Synchronous communication allowed employees to communicate in real-time without any delay in response. For example, video calls could be made in an instant, and meetings could be called on short notice.  

But does synchronous communication work for hybrid team communication? 

A Harvard Business Review study reported that workers spend 80% of their days in meetings and on emails and calls. With synchronous communication, employees were deprived of time to focus on matters that required their undivided attention. Several pieces of research have revealed that fatigue and burnout are the ill-effects of frequent team meetings among remote workers. Long meetings without an organized agenda can confuse employees and lead to dead ends.

Hybrid workplaces are the future of work, so is Asynchronous Communication! 

Asynchronous Communication refers to communication that is not immediate or does not occur in real-time. If utilized rightly, asynchronous communication in a hybrid work environment has many benefits: 

• Facilitates one-stop collaboration for both on-site and remote workers
• Increases employee focus and productivity
• Improves employee engagement and work performance
• Stimulates well-thought ideas and productive interactions during team meeting
• Acts as a permanent back-up of work-related communication for future reference  

Hence, establishing effective asynchronous communication practices is vital in hybrid team communication. 

Best practices to elevate asynchronous communication in a hybrid workplace 

In a world where hybrid workplaces are the future of work, implementing these tried and tested practices can improve asynchronous communication:

1. Establish a shared documentation system

When a team works hybrid, the scattered nature of the workforce makes it difficult to keep all team members in the loop at the same time. This is where document sharing tools come in handy.  

Using cloud-based file-sharing tools like Dropbox or OneDrive, projects can be accessed and worked on simultaneously. This ensures that all work done, or changes made on a file are visible to all the team members. It fosters transparency and eliminates silos within the group.

2. Keep a check on collaboration overload 

 With the shift to distributed working models, communication and productivity tools have become inevitable for collaboration. But increasing collaboration as a means to improve productivity has led to an overload of communication in recent years.   

According to a Harvard Business Review article, workers in most companies spend 80% of their days in personal collaboration – spending time in frequent meetings, emails, and calls leading to ‘collaboration overload’.   Be it synchronous or asynchronous communication, the constant need for employees to be on call, attend long meetings, or immediately respond to emails can deteriorate the quality of communication. Therefore, it is important to encourage employees to keep boundaries so that they can focus on completing assigned work. For example, the productivity tool, Basecamp has a ‘Work can Wait’ option to snooze notifications for a specific time. This feature can significantly help people to focus on the work at hand without being overwhelmed by notifications.

3. Set goals with Objectives and Key Results (OKR) methodology for better collaborative teamwork 

An Asana Goals Report showed that only 16% of employees feel that their companies are effective at setting and communicating company goals. And only 26% have a clear understanding of how their individual work contributes toward company goals. This leads to a lack of clarity, lesser productivity, and lesser intrinsic motivation among employees. 

OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results, a framework used for goal setting in companies. When working in a hybrid environment, the OKR methodology is highly recommended to communicate objectives and how the objectives must be achieved.  This goal-setting approach helps leaders set clear goals and assign tasks that can eventually lead to meaningful accomplishments for the team.

Adopting the OKR formula to set targets is highly beneficial when employees are working across different time zones and locations. It helps them focus on key tasks and is an effective technique to avoid information overload.

4. Provide a clear definition of the roles and responsibilities  

One of the key essentials of distributed team communication is that team members should be clear of their roles and responsibilities in the team. With the use of the right productivity tools, tasks can be assigned, and the role of each team member can be clearly defined, avoiding confusion and creating a sense of accountability in the team.   

Using productivity tools, team members can collectively witness the progress of the project and each team member can continue the project from any phase without having to be kept in the loop separately.  

It is also important that managers clearly articulate where the project needs to begin and when it is ‘done’. In this way, no project is left halfway without closure. In hybrid workplaces, asynchronous communication tools can be used to keep all employees in the loop regardless of their location.

5. Set designated check-in times or deadlines for hybrid workers to respond

Many studies have pointed out that hybrid workplaces are the future of work. This also means flexibility in work schedules will be expected in such workplaces. Especially with distributed teams working in varying time zones, communication could be a hassle.   

Formulating an effective asynchronous communication strategy allows the uninterrupted flow of communication without everybody being online at the same time. For example, setting a deadline or timeframe to receive a response to an email can be an ideal way to tackle the time lag that team members encounter while working in varying time zones.

6. Brainstorm ideas in the asynchronous mode and cut team meetings short

 Spontaneous brainstorming in meetings can be ineffective because ideas could be spurned without much forethought and research. Similarly, expecting immediate answers to emails or via a call could result in panicked or off-guard responses from employees. Synchronous communication does not allow employees the time to organize their thoughts and give meaningful responses or ideas.  

Keeping in mind that hybrid workplaces are the future of work, major companies have begun to adopt an async-first approach to teamwork. If a hybrid team needs new ideas for a project, use a team collaboration tool like Trello or Slack where employees can take sufficient time to present their thoughts and ideas. An in-person meeting can eventually be held for team leaders to articulate finalized decisions and take the project forward.

7. Have an Emergency Communication Protocol for urgent matters

When employees from different time zones need to collaborate, synchronous communication is a rare occurrence. Communication tools like Clariti and Microsoft Teams enable asynchronous team communication for remote teams. However, if there is an urgent matter that needs to be addressed, managers must ensure that there is a protocol in place.  

For example, it is best to include the word – ‘URGENT’ in the email subject line to alert the recipient that it is a ‘High priority’ email that needs immediate action. Doing this will help bring individual attention to the urgent assignment amidst the clutter and ensure that the matter is taken care of on time.

8. Be specific and concise in written communication

For decades, emails have been a mode of formal communication in the corporate world. If hybrid workplaces are the future of work, written communication is bound to be essential to communicate with the team effectively. But too much-written information creates a lot of communication. Hence, it is important that emails are specific and straightforward.

For example, in a case where one email is sent to the entire team, be specific about the requirements, objectives, and tasks to be completed. Specify the name of the employee who needs to take action, so the email is not neglected. Provide details to answer all the concerns employees may have. In the same way, keep all work-related communication concise and compact, so that it is easy to understand and can be tagged for future reference.

Asynchronous: Workplace communication in hybrid workplaces of the future 

As workplaces transform, companies need to reinvent the way they communicate. There is no doubt that hybrid workplaces are the future of work. Consequently, managers handling hybrid teams must ensure that employees have all the necessary tools to collaborate efficiently. Asynchronous communication should be streamlined and organized to ensure better clarity. Transparency and straightforward communication are key to ensuring that relevant information is not lost and has the highest level of clarity. Using asynchronous communication for teamwork and reducing frequent team meetings can greatly impact employee productivity and motivate them to get more work done.