The teams of the future are working asynchronously. They're dispersed geographically, working remotely, and primarily connecting digitally.
Whether your experts are spread from coast to coast or across different countries, it’s likely that not everyone will have the same working hours.
Teams that embrace flexible hours will want to develop a similar capability to accommodate the night owls, as well as individuals 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 best asynchronous tips for flexible hours and time-zone-separated teams.
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 environment, think of your interactions with geographically dispersed teammates as an ongoing exchange, much like thoughtful correspondence between pen pals. If you have experience crafting detailed letters or writing comprehensive emails to someone who is not immediately available, you are well-prepared for this communication style. The key is to share your full message without expecting immediate affirmation or real-time dialogue before continuing 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 get responses right away, and if you do, consider it the exception rather than the rule. 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
That said, get to know when your team is online and when you will most likely receive replies. You don't have to twist your schedule to fit everything in, but it's helpful to know when you'll get an answer from your coworker.
You may become used to receiving the answers you need while you are out at dinner, or know that you will typically wake up to a full inbox of information and task updates every 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 work on the opposite side of the world from your team, you'll inevitably get to know the night owls. Remote work and flexible schedules allow those who work best at night to do so - and they will become your synchronized coworkers.
When working with an international team, night owls are a gem that bridge the gap. You might notice one coworker across the world who is always online during your daytime hours, who answers emails immediately when everyone else will be gone for half of your day.
Get to know your night owl coworkers and enjoy the 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 fully frame any questions you want to ask.
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 ask multiple questions at once, or provide a full report of information that will be waiting in your team's inboxes or group chat when they wake up. This allows them to take time and craft a complete, useful response that you can wake up to later. Your letter-writing skills can be useful for building your asynchronous communications.
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 your resources. 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.
The more direct and valid a link is, the better. Simply referencing a previous document may not be sufficient, so don't hesitate to re-link and attach files to ensure everyone has the necessary information to understand your messages and complete their work.
This will allow both you and your schedule-offset coworkers to work off of asynchronous messages and send actionable responses without the need for real-time chat in between.
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 might be more effective to leave one large block of messages each day that you compile 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 useful information in return.
7) Leverage a Virtual Assistant
If you find that your coworkers often need information or documents when you are not online, consider leveraging a virtual assistant. Your assistant can answer common questions and offer help when you're offline.
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 job 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 make it possible for people to work at their best times, asynchronous flexibility also leaves room for family and personal time whenever it needs to be scheduled.
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 just 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.