Don’t forget one of the best ways to collaborate within a busy organization

Making sure that we’re using the right tools at the right time is key to avoiding collaboration overload.

Email is best suited for quick, asynchronous communication. Cal Newport recommends limiting emails to five sentences and adding a respective explanation to our email signature. Group chat works best for even quicker, slightly less asynchronous communication. And meetings are ideally used for consensus building.

Yet, one of the best ways to collaborate within a busy organization is often underrated. According to collaboration expert Rob Cross, “[...] while one-on-ones are so crucial for successful teams of any size, they’re not always prioritized in a busy work schedule.”

One-on-ones – most notably calls – are the channel of choice for three kinds of issues (while I refer to calls in the remainder of this post, the three tips also apply to in-person interactions). First, calls are great when communicating about complicated topics. Hands down, if explaining something takes more than five sentences, have a call instead of writing an email or text.

Second, calls are best for communicating emotional issues. Anyone who has had a WhatsApp discussion escalate into an outright fight (with a family member, say) probably knows what I mean. To avoid something similar at work, resort to a call instead of email or group chat for communicating “hot” topics.

Third, calls are the tool of choice for urgent issues. While we should limit email and group chat to predefined times during the workday, being able to reach each other for time-sensitive topics directly is crucial. When it comes to calls, reconciling this tip with focused work is simple: Configure your smartphone to ring for specific contacts even when in silent mode.

Pro tip: For highly urgent issues, agree on an emergency protocol with your colleagues. In my teams, that's calling two times in a row. Even if I'm not able to take the call as it comes in, having that protocol makes sure that I come back to the caller as soon as possible.

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Until next week,
Christian