🎒 Microlesson

🪞 Reflect

When you need to provide an update, ask a question, or gather feedback, what’s your default mode of communication? Do you typically send a quick message, write a detailed document, or schedule a meeting?  

💡 Concept

Strong async communication is key to reducing meeting overload and improving productivity in remote and hybrid teams. However, adopting async communication takes time, and many teams fall back into old habits. 

Here are five warning signs that your async communication practices might need an audit:  

1. You rely too much on chat tools for important updates.

Real-time chats are great for quick conversations but can easily become chaotic. Key information can get lost in long chat threads, which is one clear sign that async communication isn’t working effectively.  

2. Your team doesn’t document decisions.  

If your team makes decisions in messages or meetings without maintaining a clear, accessible record of them, people will need follow-ups, causing unnecessary back-and-forth and additional meetings.  

3. There’s no clear expectation for response times.

If it’s unclear when to expect a response, people may feel pressured to drop everything and reply immediately—even when async communication could allow for more flexibility. This can cause constant interruptions and derail progress.  

4. You don’t use structured formats for async updates. 

Vague or unstructured updates make it hard to skim communications for key takeaways, often leading to confusion, additional messaging, or even a meeting for clarification.  

5. Schedules are overrun with meetings. 

If team members are bogged down with back-to-back meetings, it means that they’re relying on synchronous communication for any and all objectives.  

By improving async communication, you can reduce unnecessary meetings and create a more efficient, balanced workflow for your team.

🎬 Take Action

Audit your async communication habits:  

• Review recent conversations and updates. Are important takeaways easy to find?  

• Clarify response time expectations so people know when to expect replies to calls, emails, and chats.  

• Use structured formats (bullet points, templates) for async updates to make information clear and easily digestible.  

• Encourage team members to document key decisions and discussions to reduce the need for repetitive explanations. Model this practice! 

• Audit calendars using the Placeless Taxonomy to see what meetings might be converted to async processes.

🧠 Keep Learning

Learn more about how to adopt asynchronous communication practices in Async at Work. 

✅ Check In

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