Approach collaboration with deeper intention using these resources

There’s a reason many employees are uncomfortable with the idea of “returning to normal” in the workplace: the old ways of working were inflexible. Recent Future Forum research highlights that a flexible working schedule reduces anxiety, increases satisfaction with working arrangements and improves productivity.

So how do you get there? Enabling a flexible working schedule requires rethinking when, where and how we work together. Below, we’ve provided some resources to help you reimagine collaboration at your organization.

Start with good ol’-fashioned communication

In order for asynchronous, or on-your-own-schedule, collaboration to thrive, working expectations and digital norms must not only be discussed, but documented and reinforced. At a team level, an ideal work environment includes individual working preferences and sets shared expectations to increase cohesion. Curious what this could look like? Download a team-level agreement template.

Remember that intentionality is everything

Think about digital norms as a traffic signal. When a red light means “stop” and a green light “go,” accidents are mitigated because of a shared understanding of how to work together in a collective space.

At either the team—or, eventually, organizational-level, define expected behaviors and meanings behind reacji (an emoji response to a message) to ensure fluid communication. When these norms are defined, your collaboration in Slack facilitates action. We recommend you start by defining your digital norms, and check out an example etiquette message for inspiration.

Pilot asynchronous collaboration at your organization

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If you’re ready to experiment with asynchronous collaboration, read our blog for experimentation ideas and tips for securing leadership buy-in. Also, consider reviewing the situations for—and transition points between—asynchronous or traditional synchronous collaboration.

If you’d like to discuss this information with your team, access this customizable Block Kit template, and then navigate to the top right of your browser, select a channel (or DM to yourself as a test) from the drop-down, and click ‘Send to Slack.’ [# /]