WLP286: The Challenges of Adopting Asynchronous Communication
Today’s episode features Tammy Bjelland founder and CEO of Workplaceless, and features a deep-dive into their new product Placeless Coach.
Tammy created Workplaceless in 2017, following an academic and edtech background. She first worked remotely in 2011, which led to her wanting to help others improve practice in this space. They offer a range of remote work certification programmes and workshops via online and blended learning, and Placeless Coach is their latest creation.
Tammy Bjelland
The speed of remote work adoption has left individuals and organisations facing challenges in adapting how they work to the new where, which manifests in overload of video meetings and other familiar symptoms, including the feeling of needing to respond immediately at all times - often at the cost of personal productivity and wellbeing.
Helping teams improve their balance of synchronous vs asynchronous communication can help fix these problems, and it’s more about HOW we use our familiar tools than it is about adopting new ones.
Teams which develop imbalances here tend towards an office-centric way of working which relies heavily on real-time conversations, which are not the most efficient and effective ways to collaborate, especially when a team is hybrid or distributed.
But it takes work to transition effectively to this new and better way of working, and at Workplaceless they talk about a three element model of mindset, infrastructure and capability - all of which are required for successful adaptation.
Mindset is usually the hardest, and is fundamental to adapting async, because it demands a questioning of so many assumptions about the way we work. Capability is required to shift the way we communicate and develop the right processes, but many people want to go straight to the tech and tools - which are vital, but insufficient alone.
It remains so unusual for many teams to even talk about mindset, never mind decide to change it - which means changing our own behaviours and sitting with some discomfort, in the throes of that change. Unsurprisingly then, individuals who make good progress with this are those who have a growth mindset - open to new things, OK with experimentation and occasional failure, because they’re open to feedback and making progress.
You can’t make generational or other generalisations, about who will best adapt, because the mindset piece is the most important. But it needs to come from the leadership role within the team, wherever that is located.
Placeless Coach - a new way of mastering asynchronous skills
Placeless Coach stemmed from research and work with clients, which highlighted common issues that could be resolved with better balance between synchronous vs asynchronous communication. So Tammy and her team have developed this new learning tool specifically to address this, and to embrace one of the key benefits of asynchronous work - that small changes in behaviour compound incrementally, to drive positive change.
The learning experience is itself asynchronous, with self-paced e-learning via familiar communications platforms. Guiding learners through skills development via micro-learning and behavioural nudges, the programme helps learners progress steadily toward self-defined goals. Lessons are 1 to 3 minutes long (reading or video), encouraging reflection and self-assessments as well as improving their own practices (such as reducing the number of real-time meetings). Learning content is geared towards chosen goals, and nudges (like reminders) help to keep them on track for success by putting theory into practice - because behaviour change requires implementation, and repetition in order to stick.
The programme has been extensively tested and piloted, to ensure maximum benefit to individuals and teams, with minimal disruption and demand on their time. This is essential, because no one feels they have time, for learning and development - another mindset issue for sure, but the reality is that everyone needs maximum impact from the smallest investment of time and attention.
Other goals may include increasing deep work time, setting boundaries, developing communication charters, and improving information accessibility by reducing reliance on other people in real-time (the ‘hey, you!’ ‘Can you just…’ work style, that teams default to when not everything is consistently documented and understood.)
This is particularly vital for hybrid teams, to ensure no one is left out, and good documentation creates good habits as well as good processes. This doesn't mean long documents, or worse still, long emails!
Building comfort around the actual behaviours which underpin successful asynchronous communication is what the programme is all about, and developing shared language to discuss HOW we collaborate online, is fundamental to this.
Check it out at Placeless Coach - Reserve Your Spot.
And keep up with Tammy on LinkedIn and Twitter, to see what else she is working on.
Don’t forget to keep in touch with us too - there are many asynchronous options… We have a form for you to contact us, or you can tweet Virtual Not Distant, or Pilar and Maya directly, with your thoughts and ideas about anything we have discussed in this episode or others.
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