The ultimate Slack, Teams guide

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic led workplaces across the world to either completely switch to digital or adapt a hybrid working model, internal communication channels have been in use. But with workplaces embracing the digital transformation that came with surviving a pandemic year, communicating correctly using these channels has become extremely important.

After all, we’ve all seen someone break the unwritten rules in platforms like Slack or Microsoft Teams and wished for a guideline of some sort. In this article, we tell you some of the mistakes to avoid, so that you don’t attract the wrath of your colleagues.

1. Don’t send multiple texts

Be it Teams, Slack or even a simple WhatsApp message, it is not very pleasant when you get bombarded by texts, one after the other. Have the same courtesy when you send messages and make sure that you don’t send multiple short messages. Instead, write everything in a single message as much as possible. Be sure to also add sentence breaks so that your text does not look like an essay.

2. Stick to dedicated channels

One of the worst things you could possibly do is to send the wrong message to the wrong channel. Messaging platforms allow for different messaging threads or channels to be created and in a workplace, these dedicated channels are used to communicate different topics or cater to different audiences. It is therefore important to not mix up the channels when sending a message. Not just the audience, more often than not, different channels also have different tones and sending a casual text to a channel with colleagues higher up the ladder will not look good.

3. Respect DND

Digital communication platforms have certain features to serve dedicated purposes, aimed to make our lives easier. For instance, you can always understand when your colleague does not want to be disturbed and is focusing on work. When using digital tools to connect, it is important to always check the ‘status’ of the colleague you want to reach out to. Do they have a ‘do-not-disturb’ or ‘busy’ or ‘in a call’ as their status message? Then hold on until they become ‘available’ to send your message. Make sure to respect (digital) boundaries.

4. Short response? Use emojis

Not every message needs a written response. This is also because one more message means one more notification. So in situations where you don’t have an elaborate response, but want to convey that you agree with something, stick to using emoji reactions. If you were sitting across your colleague in the office, you would probably just nod to show agreement. On digital communication channels, a ‘thumbs up’ reaction is appropriate.

5. Don’t overuse emojis

Using emojis appropriately is an essential skill in any group! Be vary of unnecessarily using them. Be it in a private chat or a group chat, remember that it is still a work communication channel and not a social messaging platform. Understand what is appropriate and what’s not and avoid bombarding your messages with emoji reactions.

We hope this article will help you navigate the unwritten rules when using digital communication tools!