Async Work

Let's discuss some of the typical problems we encounter and the main gaps that hold teams back. One major issue is the increasing dependency on meetings, which often prevents teams from working autonomously or making decisions quickly. The same problems tend to appear repeatedly across companies.

Here are some activities that frequently require improvement, re-evaluation, or removal:

📅Meetings — Especially recurring ones that stay on calendars but often waste time or are not used effectively.

💥Team Clarity — Teams often have differing definitions of what success looks like and unclear expectations, leaving success up to chance.

What resonates most with you and your team?⛅

⏰ All of these challenges are often best addressed when teams have a set of well-defined habits. These habits form the essence of company culture 💢 and outline the actions that employees and leaders consider fundamental to success.

For example:

These habits help teams work more efficiently and foster a culture of clarity and progress.

Meetings have become a form of self-sabotage for many companies. It’s important to clarify that meetings aren’t inherently bad—quite the opposite. Meetings are a necessary tool for driving progress. However, how many of the meetings you attend each week genuinely contribute to making progress? 😡

Meetings have often turned into a bad habit—a way to delay decisions and progress while giving the illusion of being busy without actually being productive.

We all know something has to change, and that not all those meetings are necessary. 👉But the question is: how do you make that change?

The first step is training employees. Teams need to learn alternative ways to handle collaboration without defaulting to meetings. They need tools, strategies, and an understanding of when and how to use these alternatives. Secondly, it requires a change in habits. Finally, a few people on the team should be appointed to question the necessity of meetings and guide the team toward better ways of working.

Let’s dive into the details of the first point:

The Alternative to Meetings:

- Asynchronous Collaboration:

Many meetings can be replaced with asynchronous collaboration. This means sharing information or facilitating discussions in a way that allows team members and stakeholders to contribute on their own time, within a defined timeline. For example, you might give participants a day or a few days to respond to a session.

Asynchronous collaboration often highlights gaps and inefficiencies more clearly. In meetings, you may have discussions that feel productive but achieve little.

In contrast, an asynchronous session often reveals whether the meeting was poorly prepared or whether participants lacked clarity about their role and contributions. When working asynchronously, the person or team leading the effort must ensure the path to success is clear. This reduces the need to schedule “follow-up meetings” due to questions or lack of direction.

Watch this video to learn more about how to leverage "Visual workflows" to provide clarity.

Other videos:

How can I move my meetings to async meetings?

How to transition meetings to async formats?

Getting started with asynchronous meetings is straightforward and can significantly improve team productivity. Here’s how:

1. Define the Purpose & Provide Context

Begin by identifying the goal of your asynchronous meeting. What decisions need to be made, or what information needs to be gathered? Clarity on the purpose is key.

Share all necessary background information to ensure participants understand the objective. This can include written explanations, links to documents, or even a short video to make it engaging and clear.

2. Ask questions.

3. Set Clear Expectations

List the questions or topics participants need to address, and define what kind of input is expected from them. Be specific about the outcomes you’re looking for.

4. Establish Deadlines

Assign a start and end date for participation to ensure you receive responses on time.

5. Summarize and Share Next Steps (conclusions)

At the end of the session, compile the input, draw conclusions, and share the next steps with all participants to keep everyone aligned.

👀 When the purpose of a meeting is to gather information or gain a better understanding of something, it’s often better to handle this asynchronously.

🤯 When the purpose is to discuss opinions, share ideas, or even gather feedback, this too can usually be done asynchronously.

💬 If the purpose of a meeting is to get something approved, handle it asynchronously.

Similarly, if the goal is to inform a group of people — whether it’s about the status of a project, a change, or how something works (informative meeting) — unless you’re using it as an opportunity to connect, move this to an asynchronous format. You can create a quick video to explain the topic, share it in a session, and track who has watched it, whether they have questions, and include links to key resources. The best part is that they can rewatch it if needed. You can even add it to their calendar so they can view it at a time that works best for them.

For more tips follow our blog.