Communications Hacks For The Modern Day Workforce

As the workplace changes, today’s teams need to learn how to communicate across a range of platforms and time-zones.
As the pace of modern business and the digital economy has accelerated, so too have the expectations of the modern worker. Where once all of our meetings were conducted in person, and documents and letters had to be printed in hard copy and signed for approval, these days the workflow of the modern office is designed around pings and pixels. We prize efficiency and seamlessness above all else, and any chink in the workflow armor is seen as an opportunity for disruption and invention of a better process.
Indeed, for many people working in these modern office settings, team communication platforms and project management tools such as Slack, HipChat, Asana, Trello and others have replaced the conference room and the copy machine. Far from the corner office, these platforms are where decisions are made, approvals are given, ideas are sparked, and concepts come to fruition, thanks to teamwork and collaboration. Indeed, the need for human interaction is often so reduced that many modern teams are able to work remotely and geographically dispersed, with team members scattered all over the globe and corresponding only through their screens. Different branches of a company in different cities can work together seamlessly on projects without actually noticing that their colleague isn’t in the same building, or even the same time zone.
The capabilities and time-saving options that these programs and platforms offer can be nothing short of amazing at times. If you were to ask an office worker 40 years ago to imagine how their tasks would have changed 40 years in the future, it is highly unlikely that they would have come close to envisaging the advancements that have been made. Collaborators and co-workers can update each other in real time on what tasks have been completed and what needs working on, and everyone can see where the roadblocks are. However, that doesn’t mean there are no problems with this style of working from time to time. Often, the digital procedures that are meant to cut down on coordinating and administrative tasks can end up increasing those those areas if not used correctly.
Here are some tips on how to maximise the efficiency and value of project management tools and team communication platforms, such as those named above.
Agree on a team strategy: It’s essential for every member of your team to agree on which platform you’re using for what, and to follow it accordingly. So if you use Trello for chat and Dropbox for syncing files, there should be no reason to email documents back and forth the old-fashioned way. Have a stated policy for what kinds of information belongs where—i.e. a status update goes in Trello, but a project delivery to the boss happens via email—so people know where to look for what and you can avoid digital redundancy.
Turn off email notifications: Once you’ve done the above, there’s simply no reason to be receiving status updates for each and every update on your chosen platforms. Tools like Slack and HipChat are meant to cut down on email; getting an email every time you receive a notification defeats the purpose of that. As long as everyone on your team is committed to using these tools and knows where and what to use them for, there should be no reason to clog your inbox as well.
Take advantage of integrations: Slack in particular is smartly designed because it doesn’t assume that its own service is the only one you’ll want to use. Slack offers integrations with numerous other services that you may already use to manage your workflow. Integrating other apps like Google docs and Twitter will prevent you from ever having to leave Slack, giving everything you need—from social media mentions to file contents—right there within the interface.