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ASK QUESTIONS INSTEAD OF MAKING STATEMENTS. Leaping to conclusions doesn’t do your relationships any favors—and as a remote employee with fewer opportunities to build rapport, one bad interaction can color an entire relationship. Instead of making statements, ask questions. Swap “You should have done such and such” with “Did you consider doing such and such?” and “That project should already be well underway” with “Did you have a chance to start that project?” This approach lets you get additional information without putting your team member or direct report on the defensive.
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ASSUME BEST INTENT. Without the benefit of someone’s facial expressions, gestures, and voice, it’s easy to misinterpret their tone on a chat or in an email. Your coworker might quickly write “okay” because they’re running to a meeting, but without that context, you might wonder if they’re annoyed at your request. Not so bad when it happens once…but these miscommunications can quickly add up, which will impact your work relationships. If you’re picking up on negativity, remind yourself to give people the benefit of the doubt.
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DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR CLARITY. Not sure how to interpret someone’s message? Just ask what they meant. This is the quickest way to stop a misunderstanding in its tracks. Write something like “I wasn’t sure how to read your last message. Can you give me more context/would you mind rephrasing?” Your coworkers will appreciate the effort to understand.
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HAVE SENSITIVE CONVERSATIONS ON VIDEO CALLS. These talks are already tricky to navigate, so you want to see the other person’s face and hear their voice. As soon as a conversation goes into tense or delicate territory, say, “Hey, do you have fifteen minutes to hop on a call? I think it would be easier to chat face-to-face.” If you can’t meet right then, say, “This seems important, so I’d love to schedule some time to go through it with you. Do you want to meet at X time (tomorrow, this afternoon) to talk?”
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RESPOND IN AN APPROPRIATE AMOUNT OF TIME. What’s appropriate depends on the platform. When your coworker sends you a message on chat, they’ll probably look for a response within a few hours. But when they send you an email, they won’t expect an immediate answer. Try to answer chat messages the same day you get them and emails in twenty-four to forty-eight business hours. (Factor in the message’s urgency as well; if your coworker sends you an emergency email, you should respond ASAP.)
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ACKNOWLEDGE THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE. When you receive an email or chat, your response doesn’t have to fulfill the request or answer the question—it can simply acknowledge you’ve read the message. Of course, if the ask is urgent or small, address it right away. But if it’s not timely and will take more than a few hours (or even a few days), letting the sender know you’re working on their request is an acceptable response. Say, “Thanks for reaching out. I’ll look into this and will get back to you by (reasonable date) or sooner.”
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SAVE TIME WITH A TEXT EXPANDER TOOL. Creating templates is a great way to save time while still getting your message across. Software like TextExpander (Mac, Windows, and Chrome) and Alfred (Mac) lets you insert text snippets into whatever you’re typing using custom keyboard shortcuts. To save time, create templates for your most-used responses. For example, you might create a “/late” snippet that expands into this message: “Hey there, my meeting is running over, but I’ll be there in five.”
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CREATE A “HOW TO WORK WITH ME” GUIDE. This guide will help your coworkers work with you more effectively; plus, the process of writing it might give you some valuable insights into your preferences. You can include anything you think your team members and/or direct reports should know, such as the communication methods you prefer for giving or receiving updates, your optimal meeting times, any scheduling limitations, the best way to give you feedback, and other pertinent information. Aim for one or two pages. You want your manual to be short and sweet so your colleagues can quickly digest it.
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ENCOURAGE YOUR COWORKERS TO CREATE THEIR OWN “HOW TO WORK WITH ME” GUIDES. Just like there are cheat codes to working most effectively with you, there are cheat codes for your team members and manager. This is one shortcut you should take; knowing your colleagues’ individual work preferences will improve your relationships overnight. To make it as easy as possible, share a template they can fill out. And then, most importantly, do your best to follow their preferences and reference their guide often.
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SCHEDULE DAILY “STAND-UPS.” Without random interactions at the coffee machine or conversations at your desks, your coworkers may feel distant. A daily ten-minute “stand-up” when everyone shares what they’re working on will keep you in the loop. If your coworkers are on different time zones, making a morning stand-up impossible to schedule, try an asynchronous one: Everyone records a quick video update or writes a three- to four-sentence update in your team channel. You’ll feel a bit more connected knowing exactly what everyone is working on that day.
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DON’T FLOOD YOUR TEAM MEMBERS WITH MESSAGES. When you’re in the office with a quick or urgent question, it might be easiest to walk over to your coworkers’ desks to ask them in person. But if you’re working remotely, you have to rely on the technology at hand…and your coworkers’ willingness to respond in a timely manner. So make sure you’re using that technology in the most effective way possible. Few things will stress out (or irritate) your coworkers faster than getting pelted with the same question or notification on text, chat, and email. Pick the right medium for the message—which depends on how urgently you need a reply—and send it just once.
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GIVE PEOPLE A CHANCE TO RESPOND BEFORE YOU SEND A FOLLOW-UP MESSAGE. Like all communication, how long you wait depends on the context. If you sent your coworkers a time-critical question, and they don’t respond in an hour, give them a nudge. But if you emailed them yesterday about a low-priority project, wait at least one more day before following up.
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ADD CONTEXT TO YOUR FIRST MESSAGE. Do you ever start with “Hey, so-and-so, how’s it going?”—or, worse, just “Hi”—and wait for a response before getting to your point? Whether you’re remote or not, this habit is annoying: It forces your coworker to engage without knowing what you need. (They might even ignore you until you explain!) Not only will your conversation take longer; you’ll also ruffle some feathers for no reason. Luckily, there’s an easy fix. Explain why you’re reaching out in the first or second message, then pause for your team member’s answer.
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USE PUBLIC CHANNELS OVER PRIVATE CHANNELS. To promote transparency and trust, have conversations in public chat rooms whenever possible. This also cuts down on confusion and information silos; when a new hire or employee from another department is looking for something, they can search your company’s chat instead of bugging you for the info. Only move discussions to private channels when they involve sensitive or confidential information.
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MAKE IT CLEAR WHAT YOU NEED IN YOUR EMAIL SUBJECT LINE. It might seem obvious what you’re looking for and when, but the people you’re emailing have less context. Adding a label to your subject line will help them see at a glance if they need to open and respond to your email immediately or if they can give it some time. Not only will you avoid confusion and unnecessary follow-up questions, but you’ll get a better response rate. To give you an idea, here are some labels to include in your subject line:
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ASK YOUR BOSS HOW MUCH TRANSPARENCY INTO YOUR SCHEDULE THEY’D LIKE. Some bosses want a heads-up every time you’re stepping away from work for more than thirty minutes; others couldn’t care less if you’re offline for hours, as long as your work gets done and you don’t leave your coworkers in the lurch. Not sure where your manager falls on the spectrum? Ask them.
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RECORD A VIDEO INSTEAD OF SCHEDULING A MEETING. Have you noticed your calendar fill up with meetings since you started working from home? You’re not alone. Remote employees tend to default to meetings for communicating, since it’s the closest replacement for in-person conversations. But it doesn’t take long to burn out on meetings. Not to mention, they can be inefficient. For updates, detailed instructions, project overviews, and similar types of communication, try filming an informal video instead. Free recording tools like Loom, CloudApp, and Vidyard make this easy. Try encouraging your coworkers to do the same.
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USE PRIVATE MESSAGES SPARINGLY. A direct message (or one-to-one communication between two-plus people) should be your last resort. Use these for conversations where an appropriate private channel doesn’t exist. Private messages are also ideal for random or nonwork-related discussions your other coworkers won’t care about. For example, if you see a funny video that reminds you of a team member, a direct message is likely better than a post in your team channel. (But take your cues from the people above you. If your boss posts funny videos in your team chat, you’ve got the green light to do so too.)
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USE YOUR CHAT STATUS TO SET EXPECTATIONS FOR YOUR RESPONSE TIME. If you’re going on a midday walk, picking your kids up from school, or running errands, add your activity to your status with an expected return time. Here’s an example: “Lunchtime jog—back by 1:30 p.m.” This tells your team members when to expect a reply. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing what you’re doing, simply write when you’ll be back online, like so: “Away from my computer until 1:30 p.m.”
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STEP UP YOUR COMMUNICATION CADENCE SO YOU’RE MORE VISIBLE. In a regular office, you’re visible by default. When you work from home, you need to go out of your way to gain visibility. How you do that depends on the internal culture and communication style. Do most discussions take place over chat? React to and comment on more posts. Is the wiki where everyone goes to share news, project updates, experiments, and so on? Like more pages, leave more responses, and look for opportunities to document your own takeaways. Treat participating in your team’s culture and discussions as a part of your job.
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GIVE YOURSELF VISIBILITY GOALS. “Be more visible” is a vague goal. To make it more attainable, set concrete visibility goals for yourself. To give you an idea, you might commit to attending one online social event per month, having a virtual coffee chat with a coworker twice per month, and sharing an interesting article with your coworkers on chat three times per month. Track your progress in a spreadsheet.
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KEEP CHANNEL CONVERSATIONS ON TRACK. Chat messages feel more casual than emails or even meetings, so it’s easy to forget you’re having conversations with your coworkers—not your friends. But bringing up a topic that doesn’t belong in that channel will make you look out of touch with professional norms. If you’re in a channel dedicated to a new product launch, don’t start a discussion of your company’s latest office opening. If you’re in a channel for diagnosing product issues, don’t ask about everyone’s weekend plans. When in doubt, read the channel description and pay attention to the topics other people in the channel are (and aren’t) discussing.
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ASK YOUR BOSS FOR FEEDBACK AROUND YOUR VISIBILITY. Next time you’re discussing your professional development or remote work experience, say, “I’m working on raising my internal profile. I know remote employees often suffer from the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ effect. Can you give me any insights on how ‘visible’ I am right now within our team and/or the business? Do you have any recommendations on what I could do to increase my visibility?” (This is also a great question to ask other people who work from home—they’ll probably have strategies you can copy.)
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CREATE A DAILY OR WEEKLY “WINS” LOG TO REFERENCE WITH YOUR MANAGER. Thanks to that “out of sight, out of mind” effect, it’s important to proactively share your progress and accomplishments with your boss. At the end of each day or week (depending on the cadence of your projects), document your wins. Review this list before one-on-ones so they’re top of mind—and then mention them! For instance, you might say, “We talked about X client last week, so I wanted to share an email they sent me. They’re thrilled with the results we sent them. I think they’re going to refer another branch of the company to us too.”
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ADD YOUR TEAM TO YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOL. If you use Asana, Trello, Airtable, or another project management app to manage your workload and deadlines, give your boss and/or team members access to it. You can add them as users if they have an account, or send them the “view only” link if they don’t. This hack saves you a ton of time: When someone needs an update on a task or project, they can quickly pull up the app and get the latest status instead of pinging you. (They’ll also get a bird’s-eye view of everything you’re working on—which will squash any fears you’re twiddling your thumbs at home.)
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SCHEDULE A WEEKLY “NO MEETINGS” DAY. It’s invaluable to have one workday each week to tackle meatier projects, get deep into your “flow state,” and handle all the tasks you’ve been putting off. Choose a day that’s typically lighter on meetings (Friday is a good bet) and block it off on your calendar. Depending on how normal this is for your company and team, you may want to get permission from your boss first. But be flexible about it. Occasionally, you’ll need to have a meeting during your “no meetings” day. Name the calendar event something like “No Meetings Friday—please ask before booking!” so people know you’re available if necessary.
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GIVE YOUR COWORKERS THE HEADS-UP ON POTENTIAL INTERRUPTIONS. If you know there’s a decent chance you’ll need to take a call from your kid’s school during a meeting, or run out in the afternoon to take a sick pet to the vet, don’t keep that information to yourself. At first, it might feel weird to share personal details with your coworkers, but they’ll appreciate the transparency—and when the interruption does happen, they won’t be surprised.
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HAVE “JOINT WORKING” SESSIONS. To re-create the communal feeling of working together in one place, have weekly one- to two-hour calls when the team switches on their webcams while they work. This works best with silent tasks, like coding, writing, editing, and so on. After everyone’s said hello and gotten settled in, encourage quiet by saying, “Let’s mute ourselves unless we have a question we want to ask the group.” To make the vibe more fun and casual, play music. You can even take turns DJ-ing.
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SET AN AWAY MESSAGE ANYTIME YOU GO OUT OF THE OFFICE. When you work in an office, your coworkers and boss always know about your out-of-office time—not only do you chat about your plans while you make coffee, stand at the printer, and take the elevator, but your empty desk or office reminds them you’re gone. As a remote worker, you should overcommunicate your absence. Set an away email anytime you’re leaving for two days or more. (If you don’t want anyone who emails you to get this response, Gmail lets you set an away message only for people at your company and/or in your contacts.)
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COORDINATE VACATION PLANS ON A SHARED TEAM CALENDAR. To make sure you’ve got appropriate coverage across the team, set up a calendar for vacations that everyone can edit. After their out-of-office time has been approved by their manager, they should add it as an event to the calendar. You can also use this calendar for communicating travel plans if people are temporarily working from different time zones.
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LOOK AT A FILE’S ACTIVITY LOGS BEFORE ASKING IF YOUR COLLEAGUE HAS REVIEWED IT. This feature is available in most file management tools. (Just make sure you have edit access, or you probably won’t be able to see the activity for a file.) To find it, click “Activity” in the sidebar (Dropbox) or top menu (Google Drive). If your coworker’s name appears here, you have your answer.
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GET AN OFFICE BUDDY. If some or all of your team works in the office, you might start to feel like the odd one out. Spontaneous conversations happen that you miss; people go out for lunch, coffee, or drinks together; and in meetings, you struggle to be heard over people who are actually in the room. An office buddy can help you stay up to date and visible. When a relevant discussion is happening without you, they can say, “Hey, should we make this a meeting so (your name) can attend?” When you can’t get a word in during a call, they can create some space: “It looks like (your name) has a comment.” Obviously, this needs to be someone you trust and has some clout, so pick the person you ask carefully.
Like it or not, written communication became a major part of your job when you started working from home. Remote workers tend to use chat more frequently than in-office employees, and, because you don’t have regular face-to-face time with other employees, the impact of your words matters more. If you write an unintentionally aggravating email, you can’t patch things over with a brief chat. You might not even notice the email got a negative reaction in the first place, since you can’t see the recipient’s face or notice they seem a little less friendly in the hall than usual. All this is to say that strong communication skills will make you more successful at remote work. To up your writing game, try these ideas.
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TAKE A BUSINESS WRITING COURSE. There are hundreds of virtual classes, covering everything from how to write proposals and reports to proofreading your work and using proper syntax and grammar. Figure out where you need to improve (your boss should be able to help) and look for a relevant course.
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JOIN A WRITING GROUP. If you work in a creative field, this hack is a no-brainer…but it’ll be helpful even if your writing is solely professional. Writing groups typically meet once or twice a month to share, discuss, and get feedback on their work. Some are in person; others are virtual. Most writing groups focus on creative work, not business writing; however, in the process of writing a novel, short story, or personal essay, you’ll become an all-around better writer. A group will also make you better at giving and receiving critical feedback. If you have creative aspirations and want to meet others in the local writing community, this is a great option.
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FIND A WRITING MENTOR. Ask your writing mentor to read and critique everything from drafts of important emails to memos to major presentations. They’ll catch your mistakes (“This sentence is confusing”) and identify recurring patterns (“You tend to bury your most important point in the second or third section”). It’s helpful if your mentor works at your company so you don’t need to worry about sending them sensitive information. If you’re not sure whom to ask to mentor you, your boss might have some ideas.
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SAVE EXAMPLES OF EFFECTIVE PROFESSIONAL WRIT-ING FOR INSPIRATION. Create a folder on your computer or in the cloud; every time you come across a well-written piece at work, save it to this folder. Give it a descriptive label so you remember the type (“email,” “proposal,” “one-pager,” etc.). Consider adding a few notes about its strong points so you can jog your memory later. Take a look at these examples:
Next time you’re writing something important, find inspiration by reviewing similar pieces.
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HIRE A WRITING COACH. This option isn’t cheap, but it’ll pay dividends over your career. A coach will work with you to identify focus areas, develop a personalized plan for addressing those areas, and give you ongoing feedback and advice. Ask your company whether they’ll help finance a coach. If you’re an executive, the organization may handle all the costs.
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READ FOR FUN. It’s no coincidence most great writers—professional or creative—are voracious readers. Reading improves your own writing skills by osmosis. You’ll learn how to structure a sentence for maximum impact, which words convey the right emotion or meaning, how to persuade your reader without hitting them over the head with your point, and much, much more. For the best results, read a variety of authors, genres, styles, and topics.
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USE A VIRTUAL WRITING ASSISTANT. Tools like Grammarly and ProWritingAid give you live recommendations on your style, grammar, tone, and more as you type—it’s like having a writing coach looking over your shoulder. They integrate with popular Internet browsers, websites, office tools, and writing software, including Chrome, Safari, LinkedIn, Medium, Slack, Salesforce, JIRA, Microsoft Word, and more, so no matter where you’re working, Grammarly and ProWritingAid are too. These are fantastic options if you’re focused on the basics, but you may want to pursue others as well if you want more sophisticated recommendations.
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DON’T SAVE YOUR FILES TO YOUR COMPUTER—KEEP THEM IN THE CLOUD. It’s easy for information to get lost when everyone’s saving files to their individual computers. If someone leaves the company or forgets what they named a file, you might never find it again. Plus, if multiple team members are working on a document, design, or presentation, their versions can quickly diverge. To save your team the hassle, use an online team file management tool like Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive. These platforms make it easy to share, organize, and collaborate on every document your team needs.
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WRITE A BRIEF PROGRESS REPORT BEFORE YOU LOG OFF. Shifts are pretty common for global developer and customer service teams. Don’t ask the next shift to read through a huge backlog of messages that popped up while they were away. (Spoiler alert: They probably won’t.) Before you call it quits, send a summary of what you or your entire shift accomplished, blockers you ran up against, questions you have, and any other pertinent info. This recap is also a nice way to collect your thoughts and tie up loose ends for the day.
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GIVE SPECIFIC DEADLINES. You might feel awkward giving your peers due dates, but they’ll appreciate the specificity. Knowing exactly when you need something done helps them prioritize the work and avoids confusion. To give you an idea, here’s a too-vague request: “Can you take a look at this analysis before I send it to the rest of the team?” A better version: “Can you take a look at this analysis today before I send it to the rest of the team?” Best of all: “Can you take a look at this analysis sometime before 4 p.m.? I’m aiming to send it to the rest of the team by 5 today.”
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SKIP THE SARCASM. Sarcastic comments don’t translate well over text. Maybe you want to playfully poke fun at your team’s low energy, so you type, “Wow, glad everyone had their coffee today.” No one can see your smile or hear your lighthearted tone, so they may assume you’re annoyed. And even if you think your intention is obvious…you’re probably wrong. A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology shows people commonly overestimate how effectively they communicate in writing. Next time you’re tempted to use sarcasm, reconsider (and if you really can’t resist, add an appropriate emoji).
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GET EVERYONE ON THE SAME PAGE WITH A TEAM HANDBOOK. This handbook should list things like the following:
Not only will the handbook cut down on questions; it’ll also help your coworkers standardize their processes and work more efficiently. You can send this handbook to new hires during the onboarding process as well.
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GET THE LAY OF THE LAND BEFORE YOU START TALKING IN A NEW CHAT CHANNEL. You might be eager to participate, but you can get valuable context simply by scrolling up and reading the last fifteen or so posts. How formal or informal are people in this room? Do they use emojis and GIFs, or keep things professional? Do they rely on mentions to call out who their message is directed to, or let people figure it out for themselves? Do they share interesting links and articles, or do their conversations stay focused on work? Once you’ve gotten a feel for the room, you can tailor your style accordingly.
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POSITION YOUR WINS AS LEARNINGS FOR THE ENTIRE TEAM. As a remote employee, intentionally highlighting your achievements helps you stay visible. But there’s a fine line between promoting yourself and bragging. The key? Don’t just say what you did—explain what you learned or why you think you were successful and how it can be useful in the future. Instead of saying, “Awesome news, everybody: The campaign I planned last month generated 150 percent of its lead goal,” say, “The campaign I planned last month hit 150 percent of its lead goal! Just goes to show how finding the right co-marketing partner makes a huge difference. I’m wondering if we’ll be able to utilize what we’ve learned here to…”
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USE CHAT FOR DISCUSSION, NOT DOCUMENTATION. Want feedback on a decision? Use chat. Need to document the decision you made? Record it via email or on your company wiki, knowledge base, or decision log. Chat shouldn’t be your source of truth—it moves too quickly and gets too chaotic. With that in mind, move evergreen information to a platform people can reference for as long as necessary.
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HAVE CONVERSATIONS IN THREADS. If you want to respond directly to someone’s comment or point, don’t send a message to the entire channel. Your coworkers will quickly get fed up with the flood of notifications. Threads also make it easier for people to quickly skim through the latest activity and see what they need to read and what they can skip.
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ASK FOR A DEADLINE. If your coworker or boss doesn’t provide a deadline along with their requests or assignments, don’t be afraid to ask for one directly. Never assume you know how time-sensitive (or not) the task is. Say something like “I’m happy to do this. When should I get it back to you?”
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DO A QUICK SEARCH BEFORE ASKING GENERAL QUESTIONS. Don’t be the person who asks for information or a link that was already shared. Try a few variations on your search to make sure what you’re looking for isn’t easily found—then and only then, say, “Can anyone point me in the direction of X?” (If your company uses Slack, make sure to check out any pinned posts too. People usually pin commonly requested and important resources there. Unfortunately, this feature isn’t available in other chat platforms yet.)
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THINK TWICE (EVEN THREE TIMES) BEFORE USING @HERE. Your teammates will get irritated if you overload them with unnecessary notifications…so pause before you type @here, @channel, or @team (the last is specific to Microsoft Teams). Ask yourself, “Does everyone in this room—including people who might be sick, logged off, or out of the office—need to see this message?” The answer is no 99 percent of the time. (Don’t forget, you can mention individual users if there are a few people who do need to see your message straightaway.)
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FOLLOW THE MAXIM TO “PRAISE PUBLICLY, CRITICIZE PRIVATELY”…ESPECIALLY ON CHAT. Giving constructive feedback in a public channel should be avoided at all costs. After all, those comments won’t just be visible to the other people in that channel—they’ll also be searchable so the entire organization can find and read them. Plus, anything you write over chat is preserved forever. Comment publicly when you’re recognizing someone’s hard work or achievement, and save criticism for a direct message (or, better yet, a video call).
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USE A PERSONAL CONTACT DATABASE TO MANAGE YOUR PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS. Most (if not all) of the interactions you have with your network happen virtually, making a central place to store information on your network valuable. You can create a record for every contact, logging basic facts like their location, job title, LinkedIn page, and contact details; your relationship to them; notes on your conversations, like commonalities or running jokes; and any other details that’ll come in handy. Whenever you need to reach out to this person (or they reach out to you), pull up their name in your list, and you’ll have all the information you need at your fingertips. Create a basic database in Google Sheets or try Monica or Airtable for a more powerful option.
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ASK YOUR MANAGER AND PEERS FOR THEIR TOP FIVE CHANNELS. The older or larger a company is, the more channels it tends to have. Figuring out which ones you should belong to and keep up with is really tough—especially when you’re remote and already somewhat cut off from the conversation. Track down any channels you should belong to by asking your boss and teammates which they read or participate in the most. If they exclusively name channels you already belong to, good news: You’re fully in the loop.
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FIND (OR CREATE) A CHANNEL FOR REMOTE EMPLOYEES. Most companies with multiple people who work from home have a chat room just for them: a place to share advice, commiserate about remote work challenges, pass on information, and more. This is a brilliant way to get to know colleagues across your organization, pick up valuable tips, and find a sense of community. If your company doesn’t already have a channel set up—and you’re not the only person working from home, of course—make one.
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CREATE CHAT CHANNELS FOR COMMUNICATING WITH EXTERNAL FOLKS. If you have long-term relationships with agencies, freelancers, vendors, clients, or anyone outside your organization that you talk to often, create a channel in your platform of choice and invite them to it. They’ll only have access to that channel—so don’t worry about accidentally giving them visibility into your entire organization’s chat. Now, all your communication will be in one place. (Not sure which relationships merit a channel? Keep an eye on your email inbox; anyone whom you’ve emailed five or more times in one week should get a channel.)
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TAKE ADVANTAGE OF AUTO-TRANSLATION FEATURES. Perfect for global teams, Microsoft Teams offers in-line translation for thirty-plus languages, from Welsh and Lithuanian to Italian, German, Spanish, and French. In your settings, choose the language you want to translate messages into. When you want to translate an individual message, right-click it and select “Translate.” While Slack doesn’t currently offer its own translation feature, you can install Translate. This plug-in (which has free and paid plans) lets you turn on automatic translation for a channel or direct message—handy if you work frequently with a team in another country. You can also translate your own messages into another language by typing “/translate.”
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QUICKLY SURVEY YOUR TEAMMATES OR COMPANY WITH POLLS. Your response rate will increase dramatically when you start running polls over your chat instead of emailing people form links. Polly works with both Slack and Microsoft Teams and lets users set up everything from simple polls (“Where should we host our next team retreat?”) to automated and individualized check-ins and surveys (“How has your first week at the company gone?” and “Do you have ten minutes to complete an employee feedback survey?”).
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CREATE LABELS FOR EACH OF YOUR TEAM MEMBERS AND/OR KEY CLIENTS. To make sure you can easily find all of your communication with every contact, and, more importantly, that you don’t miss any time-sensitive messages, create labels that match each individual’s email address. Check these folders for new messages before delving into the rest of your inbox.
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PUT YOUR PRONOUNS IN YOUR EMAIL SIGNATURE AND CHAT PROFILE. For example, you might sign emails as “Aika, she/her,” or “Kwan, they/them.” Specifying your pronouns—no matter what they are—helps other people do the same and builds a more inclusive culture.
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SET SLACK NOTIFICATIONS FOR YOUR KEYWORDS. This hack will allow you to appear effortlessly whenever there’s a conversation happening that you should be involved in. Consider creating notifications for the following:
To set up these notifications, click “Preferences,” go to the “Notifications” tab, and then enter your words and phrases into the “Keywords” box.
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KEEP YOUR CHAT WINDOW UP ON YOUR SECOND MONITOR. This allows you to stay on top of notifications as they come in while you focus on other work in your main window. (Just make sure you’re not getting too distracted by the chatter.)
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THINK BEFORE YOU CHAT. Here’s an easy rule: If you wouldn’t say something over email, don’t say it over chat. Chatting with your colleagues feels pretty casual, so you’re a lot more likely to voice thoughts or opinions that you wouldn’t typically bring to work—especially if you’re in nonwork-related chat channels. But remember, anything you write over chat is visible to your company’s administrators, even if you’re communicating via private channel or direct message. It’s also preserved for eternity. Before you press “Send,” picture the same message as an email. Is it appropriate? If not, hit “Delete” instead.
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SPEND LESS TIME ON CHAT AND EMAIL WITH KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS. It takes a little work to memorize which key combinations do what, but once you do, you’ll save time every day. To see Slack’s list of shortcuts, press “CMND” and “/” (Mac) or “CTRL” and “/” (Windows). To see Google Chat and Gmail’s list of shortcuts, type a question mark (just make sure you’re not typing in a text field). To see Microsoft Team’s list of shortcuts, press “CTRL” and a period. Start by memorizing shortcuts to the actions you take the most: starting a new message, adding a status, running a search, and so on.
Most of your communication in the office should be fairly professional and maybe even formal. No matter how you’re communicating, whether it’s via email, chat, or phone, always put your best foot forward. But you can still have fun with your coworkers! Try these hacks to add a little charm to your in-office messages.
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“REACT” INSTEAD OF RESPONDING. It’s faster to send and read an emoji than a written-out reply. If you use Outlook for email, you can “like” a message to indicate you’ve read it but don’t have any specific action items to address. On chat platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams, you can choose from a whole selection of emojis for your response. And if you’ve reacted to a message in a public channel, your team members can double-click your emoji to send the same reaction. Everyone participates more because it’s so easy. Whenever your coworker shares positive news, makes a request, or posts something you want to acknowledge, start an emoji chain reaction.
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USE EMOJIS. A few emojis go a long way: They soften a message, add personality, and help you build rapport with coworkers. However, if your colleagues rarely or never use emojis, you shouldn’t either. And exercise good judgment—your boss probably won’t appreciate a sad face when you say you’re going to miss a deadline. If you do use emojis, save them for chat and skip them over email, since email is considered more formal.
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THROW IN THE OCCASIONAL GIF. GIFs help you reinforce your team’s culture and add some fun to your interactions. Use an appropriate GIF when your team is celebrating a win, having a silly conversation, or welcoming a new hire. That being said, you’ll raise a few eyebrows if you use a GIF during a serious and/or more formal conversation. As a general rule of thumb, ask yourself, “Would I be embarrassed if the head of the company saw this message?” If the answer is yes, don’t upload the GIF.
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ENCOURAGE LIVELY CONVERSATIONS WITH YOUR CHAT STATUS. When you’re not using your status to communicate that you’re in a meeting, out of the office, or away, give your colleagues something lighthearted to discuss with you. Open-ended prompts like “Tell me your favorite karaoke song” or “Which actor would play you in a movie?” are fun icebreakers.
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START YOUR OWN “STATUS TRADITION.” Alternatively, write a daily status based on a theme. For instance, every day you could share a new interesting fact or riddle. Your colleagues will start looking you up just to read your status—and they’ll always have something to talk about on your calls. However, this hack won’t work for every company. If your organization is more buttoned-up, skip it.
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ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR PEERS’ CONTRIBUTIONS AND HELP IN A #SHOUTOUTS, #PEER-RECOGNITION, OR #GRATITUDE CHANNEL ON SLACK. This is a powerful way to build morale and encourage teamwork—and best of all, it’s completely free. If a channel like this doesn’t exist, ask your manager if you can create one. You’ll brighten your coworkers’ day by calling out their accomplishments.
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CREATE A SHARED CALENDAR FOR CELEBRATIONS. Add a little excitement to the calendar by including recurring events for each team member’s birthday, work anniversary, and any other relevant dates (like the company’s anniversary). Share this calendar with your coworkers so everyone knows who’s celebrating a birthday or work anniversary and can send them a “congrats!” GIF or mention it in a meeting.
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AMUSE YOUR TEAM MEMBERS WITH GOOGLE HANGOUTS EASTER EGGS. Next time you’re chatting on Hangouts, type any of these commands into your window:
Use them wisely, of course, but they can be a fun way to cheer up a coworker, share a laugh, or even make a simple decision (just choose “odd” or “even” on the die and roll away).
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JOIN THE #POLITICS CHAT CHANNEL AT YOUR OWN RISK. At many companies, employees have started channels to talk about current events, upcoming elections, local politics, and more. And if you care about these topics, you’re probably tempted to join! But here’s the thing about political conversations: It’s too easy to unintentionally offend or alienate people. Steer clear of these channels if you can or at least “lurk” behind the scenes without participating.
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CRAFT IMPORTANT MESSAGES IN A GOOGLE DOC OR WORD FILE BEFORE SENDING THEM. This hack gives you a chance to perfect your message without any stress (just make sure you’re drafting it somewhere you can’t unintentionally press “Send”). Once you’re happy with your message, copy and paste it into the appropriate channel, message, or email.
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SEND MESSAGES TO YOURSELF FIRST TO SEE HOW THEY’LL COME ACROSS. Did you know you can send chat messages and emails to yourself? Just enter your name or email address (depending on the platform) into the “To” field and type your message like normal. You can proofread your message before you send it to its actual recipient. This is also a valuable hack for passing on bad news or relaying sensitive info: You can put yourself in the other’s shoes and imagine how the message will read to them.
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LET GOOGLE FINISH YOUR SENTENCES SO YOU CAN FLY THROUGH EMAILS. Thanks to Google’s “Smart Reply” feature, which is available for Gmail and Google Hangouts, typing is easier than ever before. Turn it on in the “General” tab of your Gmail Settings: Scroll down to “Smart Compose” and choose “Writing suggestions on,” and “Personalization on.” When writing emails, Google will give you options to finish your sentence. You’ll be surprised at how accurate the recommendations are—and the more you type, the better the suggestions become.