So many organizations are looking for the next piece of tech that will improve their workflows and make their team more efficient when they could easily get the same boost, or more, by training their people to use the tech they already own.
But, here it the real world, this doesn’t always work out very well. You really need the culture to be one where everyone is used to working asynchronously and checking the public channel for chances to help out the team. It sounds like that is both the expectation and the reality at this company but for a lot of us the reality is very different. Posting something in a public channel where no one gets a notification that a message is being posted generally means no one sees it. So we go back to using private channels or tagging people in the public channel in order so that we purposefully interrupt them. We haven’t developed a culture where asynchronous communication works and I suspect it’s because we don’t really want it. We want people to respond to us now. We don’t trust them to get back later and, to be fair, we don’t give our peers reason to trust us because we spend all of our time putting out fires and frequently forget to get back to people.
In many cases, it’s a humblebrag. “Oh I saw your message but then I got involved in important things because I’m an important person and never got back to you”.
These are significant numbers for business leaders to consider.
“The vast majority of workers—eight in 10—are seeking workplaces that offer mental health support, according to a survey of employees from the American Psychological Association. The organization’s 2022 Work and Well-being Survey was conducted online by the Harris Poll among more than 2,000 working adults between April 22 and May 2. The survey also found that 71% believe their employer is more concerned about the mental health of employees now than before the pandemic, while 39% of employees have stated that their workplace environment has had a negative impact on their mental health.”
This statement is an important reminder regarding the people you work with.
“1 in 6.8 people in the average workplace experience mental health problems. Working whilst living with depression can be exhausting. There is a lot that people don’t see. Sometimes it can feel as though we’re almost living two different lives. When others understand our experiences, it can help us to feel less alone.”
Suppose you or your management forces staff back into the office because you need the face-time. Or because you don’t think your team can collaborate, you don’t know who is being productive, etc. Instead of forcing it and running the risk of losing your best performers, ask yourself if what you need to do is manage differently.
There’s no reason for promotions to be based on face time. With all of our technology, there is also no excuse for not collaborating or communicating effectively. Managing a remote team is not impossible. It’s just different. It requires that you change the way you manage.
It’s true. There are times when we need to meet virtually. With each other, or with a customer. A lot of our work, however, simply doesn’t require us to be in a meeting to get it done, and yes, that includes reporting on the status of projects. There’s no reason much of our work can’t be done asynchronously, and if people felt free to work that way, they would get more work done instead of showing up to meetings just to be marked present.