How to get work done when you not all together
Psst prefer to watch rather than read? Then check out my youtube on the topic
Last week I posted about how important it is we start to breakdown meetings and translate some of those activities into asynchronous work for better collaboration and less time in meetings (psst you can see/read it here: 🎥 Youtube link / 📰 Article link)
It’s not that simple though.
I got a bit of the feedback that it all sounds good on paper, but how does it work in reality? So here are the steps you need to do in order to be successful.
1. As a team, decide what sync work can be done async and how you will do it
The first thing is you need is agreement with your team (or whoever you're trying to work this way with) what you will transition from doing sync to async.
Start by listing out what you currently do synchronously. This includes any type of collaboration - meetings, workshops etc. Next list out the typical components of each. For example:
Now, as a team, decide which components make sense to be done asynchronously and how. For example:
As I mentioned in my previous article, ideally:
sync is for discussions and decision making
async is for context setting, reviewing content, pre-reading for meetings and brain storming
If at the end of this you find little to no activities that can be done async I challenge to to think more creatively. See my last post for an example of how you can work through this with your team: 🎥 Youtube link / 📰 Article link
2. Decide on rules to ensure accountability
Deciding something is sync / async is one thing. To put it into practice needs agreement on what that looks like from a practical standpoint - this is where most teams fall down. Without agreement on the rules you’ll have people reverting to the old ways. Simple things like:
No agenda, no meeting ensures you have thought about and had a chance to pull out async work
Context is provided as part of prep versus in meeting. No one should be turning up to a meeting unsure of what you are going to talk about
Minimum timeframes needed when requesting others completion of any async work e.g. minimum 48hrs.
You may want to create a template for collaboration activities which will force you to think about the point of your meeting, what async work is required prior to the session and any timing expectations.
3. Schedule time for async work
Set aside small blocks of time every day / second day (even 15 mins) to complete any async work. I'd recommend using that time on anything needed to be completed by, or for meetings, in a couple of days time. Getting yourself in a position where you're several days ahead means you won’t be constantly rushed or stressed trying to complete things right before a meeting.
While it seems simple enough, this is a major change in the way most currently work. Rethinking the way that we're working together isn’t easy. It will take thought, effort and commitment - but it’s worth it.
If you want to give this a go within your team I've created a template for you to use here: https://links.kirstydesignsinfo.com.au/Asynctemplate.
Check it out, have a go with your team and let me know you go.
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