In a single paragraph, we can describe the painfully complex morning routine of many workers without a team collaboration platform: You turn on the computer, open the email and connect to Whatsapp, Messenger, Telegram or Skype. Then you read incoming messages, open Google Calendar and access the first meeting of the day on Zoom. While waiting for the video call, you reply to chat notifications. Have you noticed? One simple paragraph with more than five different communication platforms. That’s probably the reason for asynchronous communication having become part of the business vocabulary.  This post will show you how why asynchronous communication, when combined with the right team collaboration platform, can increase your company’s efficiency.

Freedom to reply when you're available: Wave hello to asynchronous communication 👋🏻

Asynchronous communication is basically the type of communication where the receiver of the message responds only when they are available, which usually occurs when we communicate via email or messaging apps. 

Synchronous communication, on the other hand, implies communicating with synchrony (e.g. live conversations, over the phone, face-to-face or online meetings). The problem? Constant communication can be tiring and counterproductive. 

The publication “Collaborative Overload” states that employees spend around 80% of their working hours answering calls, messages and participating in meetings, which leaves very little time for daily strategic tasks. That’s where asynchronous communications comes into the picture. 

Being online is different than being available

People have always communicated asynchronously in their personal lives. However, this communication format gained popularity because of simple aspect: it distinguishes being online from being available. By doing so, asynchronous communication increases the productivity and efficiency of high-performance teams because it reduces interruptions in remote work. 

A study by Mark Murphy, “Interruptions At Work Are Killing Your Productivity”, was published in Forbes states that more than 71% of employees recognize that they experience frequent interruptions during their working hours, disrupting the pace of work and affecting their ability to concentrate on priority tasks.  

Benefits of asynchronous communication for your company's growth

RescueTime, a productivity software, recently shared that people who work remotely and adhere to asynchronous communication have an average of 58 hours more focused on their main tasks. Their study showed that people tend to spend 256 hours less in communication. Besides productivity, a few benefits achieved with async communications are:

  • Greater capacity for self-management and organization of the employees;
  • Communication records that can be accessed at any time;
  • Fewer distractions and greater control over the workday;
  • Effective communication of teams distributed worldwide.

The best asynchronous communication practices

A study conducted by Stanford University showed that employees working remotely increased their productivity by a full shift (or more). The study subject was Trip, one of the largest travel agencies in China. They saved US$2,000.00 per team member in rent by reducing the space of the headquarters. 

Here are the key steps to achieve the same remote productivity today:

1) Communicate in detail

If you are going to request something, make it clear everything you need to continue in one message: data, questions, relevant information, even though you believe the person already knows. If you answer, do not save the details, send everything you believe can be used to solve the issue.

2) Plan for the long term

Remember that, in this case, the return is not immediate. You need to consider that what you are asking for may need a slightly longer deadline to be answered, so it’s better to send everything in advance.

3) Before and after meetings, document the discussion

When scheduling meetings, make sure everyone involved knows all the subject’s key topics to avoid mismatching information. After the meeting, write down everything that was said in order to make a record of the communication, so that you are able to share the detailed information about the definitions with everyone.

4) Turn off notifications during office hours

To be productive, you need to give time for your creativity. Turn off your mobile apps’ notifications to avoid getting distracted by notifications on your phone as soon as new messages come up.

5) Adopt the right team collaboration platform for your company

In order to avoid the numerous extra tools used for communication (Whatsapp, Skype, email, etc) consider adopting a tool to integrate all applications in one place. In this way, you can integrate all channels in one place, keep the communication simple and centralize information.

Chats, files, video calls, and much more on a single platform: we have the answer

With Rocket.Chat’s team collaboration platform, you can have your entire workplace centralized on a single place. This means you’re able to manage your team, projects and discussions quickly and avoid the extra work and time spent on numerous and different communication platforms. Also, team members’ dismissal or relocation is no longer a problem: Rocket.Chat saves chat history, so the information will always be available to your company.

Alongside asynchronous communication, Rocket.Chat has boosted the daily productivity of 12M+ users of all kinds of companies worldwide. Try it today!

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