How to Implement an Asynchronous Communication Culture in Your Startup
Building a startup from scratch is not an easy task. So much goes into succeeding as a startup, as it is often replete with various challenges. One of the most common startup challenges is communication, especially in this era of remote working. Interestingly, asynchronous communication has proven to be a potent way to deal with communication barriers.
Asynchronous communication is the type of communication that can occur between two or more people without requiring the other party to be present when the communication takes place. In other words, asynchronous communication is done on a non-immediate basis. For instance, you can send emails at any time, but the recipient has the choice to reply to your email at their convenience. Once you get a reply, the conversation can be an email thread. This is not the case with synchronous communication platforms like the phone or video calls that require both parties to be present in real-time.
While asynchronous communication is essential for succeeding as a startup, many people are not familiar with how to implement it in their startup. Therefore, this article will discuss the various ways to seamlessly implement an asynchronous communication culture in our startups.
How to Implement an Asynchronous Communication Culture
1. Be more focused on making progress and not achieving perfection
Asynchronous communication can feel almost frustrating when you are stuck on a single task and waiting for other people’s replies and contributions. Therefore, when implementing asynchronous work, you can pick up additional jobs while waiting for others to reply to their mail and other asynchronous communication channels. For example, if you have about three ongoing projects, your best bet would be to start working on one, tag a person or team for desired input or action, and switch to another ongoing project while waiting for their response. This way, you make more progress and avoid wasting so much time on a single task.
2. Celebrate the little wins
Workers and team members need to stay motivated to have a successful asynchronous workflow. You can do this by introducing a culture of celebrating little wins. For example, if a worker responds promptly to emails and chats, the team managers should ensure they applaud and commend their actions for keeping them motivated.
3. Make thorough documentation
One of the major benefits of asynchronous communication is the ease of creating proper documentation for future reference. Therefore, to implement an asynchronous communication culture, you should be good at making accurate documentation. If your organization lacks a standardized method of documentation, you should work towards establishing that first.
4. Use the right tools
If you are implementing an asynchronous communication culture in your startup, you should ensure you have the right tools. Team managers should decide their preferred communication channels and other devices they need to implement asynchronous communication. One of the most common organizational encounters with asynchronous communication is the chaotic fragmentation of communication. Projects frequently end up strewn across email, chat, text messages, unrecorded meetings, design tools, Google Docs, etc. It’s best to choose a single system for communicating project progress.
5. Remove time zone bias
Team managers should avoid live sessions that favor only one-time zone. Doing so could give the impression that asynchronous communication is not taken seriously. In a situation, where there are live sessions, appropriate recordings should be made to ensure that workers in other time zones benefit from the meetings. This would help to boost asynchronous workflows in the organization.
Conclusion
There is so much to gain from implementing asynchronous communication in the workplace. It is more convenient, effective, and favors workers from different time zones. However, to get the best results from asynchronous communication, you should follow the tips discussed in this post.
