Whether you are chatting to a client on Teams or a friend on WeChat... These are the most common things that can improve your communication.
When somebody sends you an IM message, they are interrupting you.
When somebody sends you an email, they are not interrupting you - assuming you keep your notifications off as per Do you minimize your Outlook Distractions? You have made the decision to read your emails, so email is in actual fact far more polite than IM which can be a nuisance.
IM is only to be used if they would like you to do something NOW.
Please don't say just 'Hello' in chat. It's as if you called someone on the phone and said "Hi!" and then put them on hold!
When you do that, you're simply making the other person wait for you to phrase your question, which generates low productivity.
Sending an unnecessary Instant Message is a distraction to the person you sent it to. As the 5 word rule on emails, if your message is less than 5 words, e.g. "Great work!" or "Thanks!", it's probably not required.
When you realize the communication is not simple and there it is going to take much back and forth IMs, say "Can I call?" and continue the conversation through voice.
Communication using voice is much faster than typing a message and it can clear misunderstandings. Encourage people to switch to voice if possible.
It can be very jarring when somebody is called out of the blue and they are not expecting it. They might be deep in a task or talking to a client and by calling them their focus is getting disrupted.
Before calling someone, be sure not to just say 'hello'.
A good way to initiate a call is to warm them up by giving a warning (e.g. “Calling you in 1 min to talk about the Northwind production site being down 💀.”).
Always do a quick investigation before asking for help. When asking a question using IM, always start your conversation with "I have googled this and no luck".
IM can interrupt a person when they are busy, so make sure that you are well prepared and have tried to find the solution another way first. AI tools like ChatGPT are another great option for getting unblocked before bothering someone.
Do you sometimes spend time answering unnecessarily complicated questions? This can be a pain and cost valuable time. Or, when you're asking someone a question about something that is blocking you, do you ever get frustrated when the person reads your message but doesn't reply? This can lead to a series of reminders and time spent chasing them up.
Asking easy questions saves time for both the person asking and the person answering, and gets to the decision as quick as possible.
When messaging someone, it's often tempting to send a big block of text. This can make your thoughts difficult to respond to, especially if there are unrelated subjects. Instead, you should split your thoughts into several individual messages, separated by subject.
Use IM to chase up that important email. You can make it easy for everyone by pasting the email subject for context.
Always start your answer to a question with ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ first, then follow that with your opinion and more details.
Sometimes people fire a few questions at you and the tendency is to answer in all kinds of ways that can make our signal to noise ratio poor.
Tips when answering IMs:
Clear, written text is by far the best way to communicate, so always try to write down your thoughts instead of relying on emojis reactions, which can easily be misinterpreted.
For example, in Teams chats, a 👍 (thumbs up) is often used to either acknowledge a message or to indicate that a task is done. This can lead to ambiguity for the sender, especially when the task isn’t completed immediately.
Emoji reactions are effective when they’re applied consistently and with clear meaning. They are a useful way to give quick responses and visually communicate the status or progress of a message at a glance.
If you noticed the message you typed in IM (e.g. Microsoft Teams) has a mistake, make sure you edit it (or delete it if sent in error) so the recipient doesn't see the mistake.
According to Sydney Morning Herald's "Flame emails missing the mark":
> "The senders of email messages expected their partners to correctly interpret their tone nearly 80% of the time, but in fact, they only scored just over 50%... Those attempting to interpret the message believed they had scored 90% accuracy".
When updating an existing message in IM chats, others might see an indication of it, but won't get a notification, so it's important to inform them about your message changes.
This simple practice promotes transparency, avoids confusion, and ensures everyone has the most current information. By keeping everyone in the loop, you foster clearer communication and enhance collaboration within the team.
When deciding whether to send a chat message, call, or organize a meeting in Microsoft Teams, or send an email, there are a few factors to consider:
Instant messaging (IM) is great for clarifying tasks or addressing questions that are holding you back from marking something as "done." It's also useful for sending reminders and pushing critical priorities—especially for those who tend to overlook emails. However, it should never replace an email.
The golden rule is never send a task on IM (e.g. Microsoft Teams)!
If you intend to talk about someone in your chat, it's best to add that person to a group chat.
This approach is useful before starting a Teams call and you can simply say "I'll call you in 5 mins" in your group chat to let everyone in the group know that you need to chat with them.
Group chats should also be used to replace meeting chats if they need non-attendees to join.
Consistency is key in communication. Every question or task must receive a response, even if it’s just a quick reaction or acknowledgment. That’s always better than silence, which leaves people wondering if you saw it, agreed, or took any action.
Always aim to reply to tasks or questions in the same medium they were sent. It's all about showing courtesy, avoiding confusion, and keeping things running smoothly.
When handling email threads within instant messaging (IM), adding a "✅ Done - see {{ EMAIL SUBJECT }}" a clear and concise way to close off a thread.