What is Asynchronous (aka Async) Communication & Why It Matters
Understanding and implementing effective asynchronous communication is the key to successful flexible, remote, and hybrid teams.
asynchronous
/eɪˈsɪŋkrənəs/
adjective
In our Remote Work Dictionary we define “asynchronous” as “not occurring or happening at the same time; not simultaneous; sometimes shortened to async.”
Async is a way of communicating and collaborating with team members, but is simultaneously a sign of respect and trust that comes with a placeless mindset.
"True autonomy is empowered by asynchronous communication and collaboration"
- Tammy Bjelland, Workplaceless
Asynchronous Communication Fundamentals
WHAT is the difference between async and sync?
Async vs Sync: Balancing Remote Team Communication
Balancing synchronous and asynchronous communication allows for both autonomous work and meaningful connections within remote and hybrid teams.
Synchronous communication is when information or messages between team members are exchanged in real-time. A message is shared by a sender, and a recipient simultaneously receives it, requiring both participants to be online at the same time. Examples are often spoken messages, such as video conferencing or phone calls.
Asynchronous communication is the opposite of synchronous. Information or messages are not received at the same time as when the sender transmits them. There is a delay. Examples are often written communication, such as emails or shared document collaboration.
For example: let’s say you have an important question that you’d like to resolve quickly. You call your teammate through Microsoft Teams, knowing they can provide the best answer – and the call is immediately declined. “Hey, I’m a bit busy right now – mind sending me a message through Teams?”
Your coworker does not have the bandwidth to accommodate your need for synchronous communication, and instead, needs you to translate your request into async communication. Sound familiar?
In general, synchronous communication necessitates scheduling in advance of a certain time frame. Especially for important meetings, it is a must for every required party to have availability in their schedule at the same time. This can both be a strength and a weakness.
Asynchronous comms, on the other hand, can negate the need for unnecessary meetings. Many meetings of lesser importance can be relegated to things like a collaborative Google Doc or email chain.
When to use synchronous vs asynchronous communication is dependent upon your communication objective. We’ve created the Placeless Taxonomy to help teams classify work tasks and objectives as to how difficult they are to achieve asynchronously, moving from the bottom (easiest) to the top (hardest).
WHY async communication works
11 Ways Teams Win by Going Async
While synchronous work and communication serve a purpose on every team, professionals must learn asynchronous communication to be effective in remote and hybrid teams, especially when time zones differ. Yet, workers continue to cite ineffective communication as one of the biggest hurdles to widespread remote effectiveness in their organizations.
Benefits of Asynchronous Communication include:
- Saving time: With asynchronous communication, you eliminate the need to schedule meetings and wait for everyone’s availability. This saves team members time and allows them to focus on their own work.
- Reducing interruptions during work hours: By communicating asynchronously, team members can respond to messages and tasks at their convenience, allowing for uninterrupted work time and increased productivity.
- Increasing productivity: Asynchronous communication allows team members to work on their own schedule and at their most productive time. This results in higher quality work being produced.
- Reducing reliance on others to progress work: When team members can work on their tasks and projects without being dependent on others to be available, individuals are empowered to take control of their work.
- Empowering trust, control, and autonomy: When team members are communicating asynchronously, they are showing respect and trust for each other’s time and work. The result? A more positive work culture and increased motivation.
- Preventing burnout: Being required to be on call at all times can be strenuous. Using asynchronous communication methods allows team members not to be tied to their devices or constantly interrupted by messages.
- Improving thoughtful decision-making: When communicating asynchronously, team members have more time to think through their responses and decisions. The extra time to interpret and understand a request is crucial for proper decision-making.
- Reducing micromanagement: With asynchronous communication, team members do not need to constantly check in with each other or be monitored by their superiors. This eliminates micromanagement and promotes a sense of trust and autonomy.
- Supporting diverse needs: Asynchronous communication allows for different work styles and preferences to be accommodated, promoting inclusivity and supporting a diverse team.
- Combating inequity, especially on hybrid teams: When some members are physically present, and others are remote, utilizing asynchronous tools and techniques allows all team members to have equal access to information and opportunities.
- Saving companies money: Asynchronous communication is not dependent on time zones or physical location. This can save companies money on travel and accommodation expenses, as well as increase flexibility for hiring employees from different locations.
As you can see, asynchronous communication has numerous benefits that make it an essential skill for today’s remote and hybrid teams. We dive deeper into each of these 11 ways asynchronous communication can benefit your team in a separate article you can check out below.
HOW can async be effectively implemented?
8 Actions for Effective Async Communication
Understanding the differences between sync and async communication, and the benefits of shifting to async-first practices is just the beginning. How can teams implement impactful async communication to start realizing the collective benefits?
We outline the eight fundamental steps to implementing effective asynchronous communication, workflows, and collaboration.
- Establish a Placeless Mindset: Teams, and especially leadership, need to develop a deep understanding that work is not a place.
- Reduce the Amount of Time Spent in Synchronous Meetings: Teams need to build and communicate boundaries for sync time.
- Increase the Amount and Quality of Uninterrupted Work Time: Teams must lean into deep work to unlock productivity.
- Reduce the Number of Interruptions by Setting Clear Expectations: Expectation setting lowers ambiguity and opens the doors for increased productivity.
- Reduce Reliance on Other People’s Time to Gain Access to Information: Teams must commit to documentation and update processes to be inclusive of searchable documentation.
- Convert Synchronous Meetings to Asynchronous Work Processes: Teams can use the Placeless Taxonomy to strategically shift previously real-time communication, like sync meetings, to asynchronous communication.
- Improve the Quality of Synchronous and Blended Meetings: Teams leverage blended meetings to ensure that the time they spend together is efficient and with purpose.
- Experiment and Optimize. Teams need to learn the foundational principles of asynchronous communication, but also be willing to test and learn.
Asynchronous Communication Tools
There are various tools available to facilitate asynchronous communication, making it easier for remote and hybrid teams to communicate effectively.
Text-Based Asynchronous Communication Tools
- Email: A classic tool for asynchronous communication, allowing team members to send messages and documents regardless of time zones.
- Instant Messaging Platforms: Tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Google Chat can be used to exchange messages asynchronously or in real time.
- Document Collaboration Tools: Google Suite, Microsoft Office 365, or Dropbox Paper make it possible for team members to work together on documents, both sync and async.
Video-Based Asynchronous Communication Tools
- Recorded Videos: Platforms like Loom, Vidyard, or Soapbox allow team members to record videos of their screen and/or themselves for asynchronous communication.
- Asynchronous Video Meetings: Tools like Zoom, Google Meet, or Skype offer the option to record meetings for team members who couldn’t attend in real-time.
Project Management Asynchronous Communication Tools
- Project Management Software: Platforms like Asana, Trello, or Basecamp provide a central location for team members to track progress and communicate asynchronously.
- Task Management Software: Tools like Todoist, Microsoft To Do, or Any.do allow team members to assign tasks to themselves and others and track their completion asynchronously.
WHO does async communication affect?
Which Roles Are the Hardest to Shift to Async Work?
Async is a form of communication that benefits everyone. However, the ease of shifting to async-first best practices can vary based on an individual’s role within an organization.
We’ve identified the types of roles that face the most challenges while attempting to shift to async-first work.
- Executives — attitudes and behaviors about getting work done in an office and during meetings may be more ingrained and more challenging to change.
- New Hires — building social capital within an organization can be more difficult to accomplish asynchronously.
- Client-Facing Roles — cultivating relationships and trust with customers often involves personal and live, even if virtual, interactions.
- Culture-Building Roles — Transforming and strengthening culture, both of which HR and People Ops professionals are champions, require a deep understanding and connectivity with employees.
WHY NOT async?
Obstacles to Async Remote Work Adoption
Shifting to async communication practices can help teams overcome common work challenges. Yet despite the benefits, async remote work adoption can be slow across teams.
Here are the top reasons asynchronous communication adoption fails or progresses slowly:
- Deference to leadership or individual preferences for sync. When one person is open to async collaboration and the other prefers a sync conversation, the individual with the most organizational power often wins out—and unfortunately, leadership often struggles with async.
- Lack of awareness of collaboration strategies beyond meetings. During the rapid shift to remote work, many teams simply shifted traditional in-office meetings to virtual meetings. They didn’t have the opportunity or bandwidth to learn new async collaboration.
- Difficulty shifting work culture and mindset. Old sync habits die hard. When teams have defaulted to sync communication, it can feel daunting and confusing to adopt new processes.
- Disbelief that async remote work will improve business outcomes. It’s no longer about believing the evidence that asynchronous communication shifts can improve productivity and prevent burnout. If companies want to attract and retain talent, they must embrace async work to meet flexibility demands.
- Lack of experience in async remote work. Teams don’t have good examples of how to make it work. Even as async-first companies share their best practices, teams don’t clearly understand how that can apply to them. We created the Async at Work eCourse to solve this challenge.
Bonus Asynchronous Communication Advice
5 Work Challenges Solved by Async
This article highlights common team struggles and how shifting to async-first practices fixes these problems.
Anatomy of a Perfect Blended Meeting
Reducing time spent in meetings is a benefit of async communication. This article outlines how to run blended meetings as a perfect solution.
Tips and Training for Async-First Slack
Before you quit your team’s Slack channel, read this article for tips on how to best use the platform for async-first communication.
Can Remote Teams Be Creative? How?
Myth: Working remotely inhibits innovation.
Reality: Async-first work future has unlimited potential for creativity and innovation.
This article walks through how.
Begin Adopting Async Communication
Our newest eCourse helps teams quickly build async-first practices.
“I appreciated that this course goes further than explaining what best practices are for async work. It helps people actually learn how to implement these changes into their day to day work lives.”
Develop essential digital-first leadership skills that empower your team to adopt an effective balance of sync and async communication.
“It opened my eyes to how much our team relies on sync opportunities vs. async.”
Learn About Crucial Facets of Remote Work
Not ready to buy, but ready to take your understanding of remote work to the next level? Here are some of what we consider to be our most important resources on working remotely.
