🎒 Microlesson

🪞 Reflect

As you adopt async practices, what feels easy? When do you slip back into old habits?

💡 Concept

Building strong async habits takes time, intention, and consistency, but a few small tweaks to your routine can add up quickly. Every async-first action you take reduces your team’s reliance on meetings and makes collaborating across time zones easier.

🦛 Use visual cues to reinforce async-first communication.
It’s easy to default back to meetings or DMs for quick answers. Visual cues—such as a designated emoji reaction to celebrate async practices—let teammates acknowledge or respond in seconds without interrupting their flow. Over time, this reinforces async-first behaviors and cuts down on unnecessary back-and-forth. Learn more here. 

📧 “Did you get my message?”
Set team norms for the expected timeframe and method for acknowledging messages. Whether you use an emoji, type a short reply, or update a shared doc, closing the loop reduces confusion and ensures that information doesn’t get lost. Being clear about communication norms helps keep your distributed team moving efficiently. Learn more here. 

👍 Add async steps to decision-making.
Allowing team members to offer their input asynchronously will speed up decisions and make them more inclusive. Try blended decision-making: gather feedback async first, then use synchronous time to discuss any proposed compromises and finalize the choice.. This approach balances autonomy with connection and ensures everyone can fully participate. Learn more here. 

📋 Share daily priorities asynchronously.
A quick daily async update (via chat, shared document, or task board) helps your team stay aligned without a stand-up meeting. Keeping team priorities visible increases accountability and makes it clear how each person’s work supports the bigger picture.  Learn more here.

🎬 Take Action

• Choose one of the actions listed in this microlesson and commit to trying it. 

• Complete your action within the next two weeks. 

• Reflect on the impact that your action has. 

• Share your results.

🧠 Keep Learning

Learn more about how to adopt effective async practices in Async at Work. 

✅ Check In

🎁 Learn with your team!

Refer our weekly microlessons to your team members to learn as a group! Just follow the instructions in the section below to get started.