Why Mastering Asynchronous Communication is Key for Productive Hybrid Workforces

It’s a scenario more common than ever. A marketing manager has a tight deadline for a new campaign and is coordinating with her team as their launch date approaches. She needs to align her SEO lead in Palo Alto, her PR agency in New York, her content writer who works from home in Boston, and report her progress to her boss who’s always travelling to other offices.

While remote and hybrid work have advantages, they’ve also added layers of complexity and a greater possibility of miscommunication to teams already coping with high-demand projects requiring skill and alignment.  

New research shows communication tools need to evolve in tandem with remote and in-office workers

>> To get your copy of the complete research report, download The Asynchronous Advantage Report: How to Keep Hybrid Sales Teams on Track.

Many employers are going hybrid, giving employees far greater flexibility and control over where they want to “office.” Flexibility is great for workers, but a hybrid approach introduces unique challenges into how, when, and most importantly, how well employees communicate. 

Challenges Facing Hybrid Teams

Team collaboration was already a challenge when everyone was face-to-face in the office. But now, the complexity is leveled up because employees need to juggle communication with coworkers who are sometimes in, sometimes remote, and sometimes both.

Many companies are using asynchronous communication tools—for information that doesn’t require an immediate response—as a way to strike a balance with workers who are both in and out of the office.

Of course, asynchronous communication tools such as email, text messaging, and internal feeds like Slack have been around forever, but what’s new is how organizations can use asynchronous communication now that workforces are more blended than ever with respect to location.

And while nothing can replace live communication, asynchronous sales communication does have some unique advantages that help organizations run smoother and accomplish more. 

New Research Shows Advantages of Asynchronous Communication

Allego, a leader in sales enablement, wanted to understand how asynchronous conversations have helped employees work better and create archives of institutional knowledge.

Allego commissioned an independent research firm to survey 250 B2B business leaders about asynchronous communication and its impact at their organizations. The margin of error for this study is +/-6.2% at the 95% confidence level. 

Here are some of the study’s key findings:

Building Institutional Knowledge

Live worker conversations don’t enshrine knowledge. Leaders say that if companies could document the knowledge locked in the minds of employees, they could increase revenue by nearly 6x.

Institutional knowledge drives growth. Growing companies are nearly 2x more likely than stagnant companies to have a process for capturing institutional knowledge from asynchronous conversations.

Employees take valuable knowledge with them. 60% of leaders say they lose at least $50 million worth of institutional knowledge every year when employees leave.

Workers want an “instruction manual” from those previously holding their job. 83% of managers say they would be more effective if they had a record of previous employee conversations to offer guidance on current tasks.

Managers want records of previous work-related conversations. 83% of managers say they would be more effective if they had a record of previous employee conversations to offer guidance on current tasks.

More companies can do better at archiving employee work conversations. Only 59% of leaders say their company is effective at collecting and archiving insights from asynchronous conversations.

Optimizing Communication

Successful companies use asynchronous communication tools. Growing companies are nearly 4x more likely than stagnant companies to provide tech tools for asynchronous communication.

Workers want more asynchronous communication after COVID. 77% of managers who worked asynchronously because of COVID say they prefer to work that way even when they return to the office.

Boosting Productivity

Many managers remember more with asynchronous tools. 34% of managers say they retain information better when they consume it asynchronously at their own pace versus live with other people.

Video is the top communication channel. Managers said that the best ways to archive asynchronous communication are video, workflow platform, and searchable database.

Live conversations should still take the lead. The right balance between asynchronous and live communication? Leaders say 33% should be asynchronous and 67% should be live.

The future is hybrid. Just as customer communication is changing, the nature of team communication is changing with it. Companies that optimize collaboration, archive important conversations, build institutional knowledge, and allow workers to communicate when they want will see competitive advantages in creativity, speed, error avoidance and productivity. 

Learn More

To get your copy of the complete research report, download The Asynchronous Advantage Report: How to Keep Hybrid Sales Teams on Track