Efficient communication in today’s remote or hybrid workforce needs to be asynchronous.

That means you will need to get good at written communication!

In an earlier video, I provided some tips on efficient communication.

Today, let’s look at the three basic types of written communication: chat, email and formal reports.

And what you need to know to make the most of them.

Good written communication in chat

The first of the three places written communication happens today is in a chat service.

You may use Slack or Microsoft Teams, or some other service to communicate with your team.

Chat providers today do a good job by offering group channels, as well as direct message for individual communication.

And many times, they also provide the ability to get on a video call to make sure the message is being received.

You are not overly worried about grammar here, as chat is informal communication.

Chat is a great way to quickly connect with your team, and offer just-in-time communication.

You can send a message and when your team is ready to respond, they will.

It truly is asynchronous.

I would expect to follow up with someone a few hours or at most a day if I don’t get a response, unless it was clear they were out of office.

Just be polite and don’t send messages out of working hours.

This can be extra tricky if you are on a team that spans several time zones.

But respecting this will go a long way for healthy team relationships.

Written communication in email

One problem I have with chat communications is being able to quickly look up a conversation to remind myself what was agreed on.

This is especially true the further back the conversation was.

This is one hurdle for me in the chat vs email debate that has not been solved.

I have not found as good of a search functionality in a chat service that I have in email.

That is why email is still a very important tool for written communication with your team.

Internal email is generally informal and asynchronous, and should be kept simple and to the point.

I like to use email as a longer response time than I might with chat.

I will follow up if I haven’t heard from someone in a few days.

Another reason I don’t see chat replacing email is the ease of communication outside of your company.

This can be prospects, customers, or anyone outside your company.

If you are communicating externally, you will want to be more formal and pay attention to your grammar.

Written communication in formal reports

The last type of written communication I will mention is formal reports.

I use the word ‘report’, but they are any document that is meant to provide detail on a subject.

These documents can be a health check of an environment, or a proposal for a new project.

They are used to communicate an idea and provide context at a specific point in time.

Its important to know that formal reports will be shared beyond your initial audience.

You will want to put intentionality into proper structure.

And how you structure these reports will vary depending on company or country culture.

If you struggle with grammar for any reason, you can use the suggestions in word processing software like Google Docs and Microsoft Word.

And you might also make use of a grammar service such as Grammarly.

Conclusion

Asynchronous communication is required in a remote or hybrid company culture.

And asynchronous communication is written!

Good written communication will vary depending on which tool you are using: chat, email or formal reports.

But if you learn to master these tools, you will be one step further towards thriving in a remote workforce.