The teams of the future are working asynchronously. They're dispersed geographically, working remotely, and primarily connecting digitally.
Whether your experts are spread across the country or different countries, not everyone will likely have the same working hours.
Teams that embrace flexible hours will want to develop a similar capability to accommodate individuals who work best at night, as well as those who work best in the early morning, and so on. Asynchronous working has become an essential skill for diverse teams, especially as remote work has become the norm.
Instead of trying to maintain a chat-like, synchronous communication style, embrace asynchronous communication. Let's dive into our top tips for working asynchronously with flexible hours and teams across different time zones.
Table of contents
- Approach Communication as Pen-Pals
- Get To Know Your Team's Schedule
- Get to Know the Night Owls
- Carry Half the Conversation: Say Everything You Need to Say
- Share Information, Links, and References
- Build Your Asynchronous Message as You Work
- Leverage a Virtual Assistant
- Take Advantage of Mutually Online Moments
- Maintain and Respect Offline Time
- Let People Know When You're Up Late (or Early) on Their Behalf
1) Approach Communication as Pen-Pals
In an asynchronous remote environment, consider your interactions with remote teammates as a continuous exchange, similar to exchanging thoughtful letters with pen pals. If you're familiar with writing detailed letters or comprehensive emails to someone who isn't available right away, you're well-equipped for this type of communication. The main point is to communicate your message fully without anticipating immediate responses or real-time interaction before proceeding with your request.
Your goal in each communication will be to frame your piece in a way that allows them to give a full-bodied response the next time they are online and able.
You probably won't receive responses immediately, and if you do, consider it the exception rather than the norm. Accept that you won't be available at the same time, and this way, everyone's schedule is mutually respected.
2) Get To Know Your Team's Schedule
When on an asynchronous work schedule, it's essential to understand your team's online availability and response times. You don't need to modify your schedule to accommodate everything, but knowing when you're likely to get responses from your coworkers can be very helpful.
You may become accustomed to receiving the answers you need while dining out, or expect to wake up to a full inbox of information and task updates each morning.
Even within the same country, your entire team may not all be on the same schedule. Some may be a few hours offset from the others. Learning schedules can help you coordinate with everyone more effectively, and possibly even catch a few when they are online.
Times when your schedules overlap are often the best for collaboration, so knowing your colleagues' schedules can be extremely useful for catching these important moments.
3) Get to Know the Night Owls
If you're on the opposite side of the world from your team, you'll naturally become familiar with the night owls. Remote work and flexible hours enable those who excel at night to work accordingly, making them your synchronized colleagues.
In an international team, night owls are especially valuable for bridging time differences. You may notice a coworker halfway across the world who is consistently online during your daytime, responding to emails promptly when others are unavailable.
Get to know your night owl coworkers and enjoy their company.
4) Carry Half the Conversation: Say Everything You Need to Say
When you send work messages asynchronously, you want to frame everything your coworkers need to provide a helpful answer. Instead of asking "Hey, do you remember that project?", give all the information you have and take the time to frame any questions you want to ask fully.
Carefully articulate what you need and what you want to convey. Recognize that your message stands on its own rather than relying on the usual support of an interactive conversation.
You can submit multiple questions at once or share a full report of information that will be waiting in your team's inboxes or group chat when they wake up. This enables them to take their time and craft a thorough, helpful response for you to read later. Writing clear messages can also help improve your skills in remote asynchronous communication.
Try to be complete in your messaging so that large chunks of work can be done as a result.
5) Share Information, Links, and References
Whether you are sharing information or asking questions, be sure to include the resources you are using. Share details, links, and references. It always helps to link to what you are talking or asking about, and to provide supplementary information if you need someone else to make an informed decision and get back to you.
A more direct and valid link is better. Relying solely on referencing a previous document may not be sufficient, so feel free to re-link and attach files to ensure everyone has the necessary information to understand your messages and complete their tasks.
This enables you and your schedule-offset colleagues to communicate through asynchronous messages and send actionable responses without relying on real-time chat.
6) Build Your Asynchronous Message as You Work
It might be most effective to compile an asynchronous message gradually. If you know your questions will remain unanswered for several hours, take the time to draft an email with a list of questions. You can add a separate list of helpful information that you would typically deliver in a conversation.
Depending on the native workflow of your group chat, you may leave a series of messages for others to respond to, or it may be more effective to compile a single large block of messages each day that you create over time during your shift.
It's understood that these messages are built through hours of work and not just a rapid-fire set of questions that you could answer for yourself. Your coworkers will then have their entire shift to address your half of the conversation and provide helpful information in return.
7) Leverage a Virtual Assistant
If your coworkers frequently need information or documents when you're offline, consider using a virtual assistant. It can respond to common questions and provide support even when you're not available.
You can also grant your assistant access to files and documents for ongoing projects, allowing them to give updates and share links on your behalf.
A virtual assistant can also act as a receptionist. They can answer calls during your off-hours and take notes digitally on an online notepad for when you are back online.
Read More: 26 Virtual Assistant Tasks and Duties to Outsource
8) Take Advantage of Mutually Online Moments
There will be rare moments when you and your team are both online. When this happens, seize the opportunity. You might even schedule these times for activities like early morning or late afternoon meetings so that all team members across different time zones can be online at once, between meals, shifts, and sleep periods.
This is your chance for real-time conversations, screen-sharing meetings, and other interactions that need live synchronous communication to succeed. These meetings also help build rapport among team members who usually communicate via email and information packets.
9) Maintain and Respect Offline Time
That said, don't let your asynchronous work schedule throw off your team's right to personal time. Everyone has the right to specific times with their family or for themselves, regardless of the team schedule. This is especially important in teams spread across a wide range of time zones.
Make sure everyone can set aside a few hours that are always 'personal time' so that the around-the-clock nature of a schedule-diverse team doesn't start to jeopardize the sanctity of work-life balance and personal hours.
Offline time is essential.
Fortunately, asynchronous working skills make it possible to respect that time without requiring employees to log in at any time there is work to be done outside their designated schedule. While flexible hours enable people to work at their optimal times, asynchronous flexibility also allows for family and personal time to be scheduled as needed.
Instead of an always-online policy, build a slightly offset schedule so that everyone can be online with the team at least once a week.
10) Let People Know When You're Up Late (or Early) on Their Behalf
Lastly, it's perfectly fine to let everyone know if a team member is up very early or awake unusually late to meet with the rest of the team synchronously. In most cases, your team will understand if you don't want to turn on your webcam because it's 5 AM your time for their 11 AM meeting, or if an offset colleague is jittery from caffeine because they were up late to make the weekly collaboration meeting.
Your team will be more understanding if they know you are making an exception for them. Remember to greet your night owl buddy with warmth because they, too, are out of their element in the mid-morning sun of their own continent. This will bring an element of genuine connection to team meetings where several people may be off their usual schedule to come together for a live conversation.
Asynchronicity Efficiency at Its Finest
If you're looking to build an asynchronous team or hone your asynchronous skills within the time-zone diverse team you're already part of, don't hesitate to reach out.